Using the zero water jug taught me a lot in my journey with tea. The customisability is awesome and the TDS meter became an invaluable friend that’s travelled the world with me. Just to get a good benchmark on overall mineral content in the water, so I can mix a water or identify a water that’ll work ok. Notably, different bottles of the same water often vary dramatically in TDS so it’s great to take a measurement on a new batch or bottle. The zero water is unique being the only jug to reduce to zero, however I cannot recommend the product at all… the cartridges are extremely roughly produced and have crumbling particles of plastic around the edges that make me very uncomfortable. Also as a product the cartridges are very inconsistent and I started to notice that new cartridges were leaving a nasty plastic aftertaste in my mouth when brewing tea with the water. That had never been in an issue in my first cartridges and I concur with others that the units supplied with the jug seem better than those sold separately by Amazon UK. The lifespan of the filters with Bedfordshire tap water was abysmal, like 10 days if I was lucky… hence I started filtering bottled spring water just to ease the workload on the filters… If you live a stable life at home, invest in an RO filter system. For me the Zerowater was a stop gap between periods of travelling.
Here in California farm land two hours from San Francisco, right out of the box the ZeroWater never got to zero. Not even close. :) I finally put a Pur faucet mount water filter on one of my sinks (the one that uses the Pur Plus filters, not the regular Pur filters). That worked great (in terms of taste). Bottled water was too tasteless and flat and I'm happy with this solution, plus I read the faucet mount filters filter better than the jug-type filters. It was also easy to simply snap on the faucet. What I still never hear anyone discuss in coffee circles is aeration, in that I have always read coffee from the tap is better for tea brewing because it's full of air rather than flat (which may be another reason I prefer the Pur faucet-mount filter with the Pur Plus filters).
This made a lot sense to me. I tweaked your technique slightly and have had some great results. I use the zero water filter but then add in Third Wave Water (instead of tap water because ours has a lot of iron in it) until my TDS reads about 100 and 150, depending on the coffee. Did some experiments at various TDS, but I like the extraction at these levels for the coffees I buy, and the roundness of flavor I get.
The blend is probably the best solution I've found to the issue of water in coffee. Since I only brew a couple times a week at home, I think I'm gonna try getting a big jug of distilled water and blending that with some tap. Thanks for the great video
Just gave this a try, going for that 70ish range in an attempt to bring out an orangey acidic flavour from my current coffee which was previously tasting distant. The improvement was instant! :) Might aim for a more precise method in the future, but this was low effort and a satisfying result for now
3 года назад+2
Great content as always, thank you. I have used one at home. It's a great pleasure to have it around and its flexibility for different coffees is definitely worth experiencing.
Hi David - thanks for watching and for the very kind words. The ZeroWater filter actually comes with a TDS meter included, which we think works very well for the required task.
What a great idea. I've just ordered a ZeroWater filter, but I was going to add Epsom Salts and Bicarb. Simply adding tap water to filtered water would save filters, but what if my tap water's minerals weren't proportioned correctly? Yes, there would be less TDS, but it would still be out-of-whack? Again great video, and subscribed.
Interesting video, thanks 👍 Over the last 18 months I’ve gone from instant coffee to... Cheap grinder, aeropress and supermarket beans - much better than instant Added a Brita filter - that’s better. Speciality beans from a decent roaster - oh proper coffee! An Aergrind - Wow! Probably the most noticeable improvement. I’m also using a V60 and a Clever Dripper (your method is great btw, thanks 👍). I guess I’m not going to see those big gains anymore, just smaller, incremental improvements. But I’m curious to know how much of a gain I’d get from trying the Zero jug and your suggestions. I guess I’ll give it a go soon, just ‘cos it’s been a fun journey so far!
Great to hear about your coffee journey thus far! At a certain point you're totally right, that investing in more coffee equipment can potentially bring you small, incremental gains. Saying that, sorting out brew water should be prioritised early on and can make a very noticeable difference. The Brita will be helping, but if you're in a particularly hard water area there's only so much it can do to bring you into a sweet spot.
Have you tried the Peak Water jug? It can be adjusted to suit the hardness in your area as well as filter all the tap water to remove the impurities. ie you can adjust it to deliver a level of Total Alkalinity.
We have limited experience with the Peak, and in all areas we've tested it has needed to be running on maximum performance, and so the adjustability is more handy if you're already somewhere with brew water quite close to the ideal spec. Also, the performance over the lifespan of the filter might deliver fluctuating brew water quality, whereas using the zero to create a pure base which you then dial in ensures greater consistency, albeit at the cost of having another water vessel on your countertop. The two filtering methods solve a slightly different set of problems.
I looked at my area's water quality report, and my tap water's TDS level is almost at 600. Based on the chart, a ZeroWater filter will last less than 30 liters which isn't very cost effective. I need a method that is relatively cheap and not too much of a hassle. I've seen a lot of people recommending Barista Hustle's recipe using epsom salt and and baking soda added to deionised water. Should I just do that instead?
Hi Jason - you can absolutely buy deionised/distilled water. It will be a case of weighing up the cost of buying the water versus filters for the Zero and seeing what will work out best for you. Have fun experimenting!
I tried this with my zero jug and blended (east london) tap water back in at first around 70ppm then 100ppm but they both still taste very tinny and flat.......should I i just keep pushing the TDS up? Is there a a range you would not recommend? Obviously not going back up to tap water levels again (which is 344 ppm) hah
Is the stainless steel better usage experience? Not sure its worth the extra money for the increase volume and nicer materials, but if its just flat out nicer to use then maybe it would be worth springing for.
The 1.7L version in blue and white plastic will suffice in terms of creating the right sort of water, but we wanted to also stock the larger, stainless steel version for a few reasons. The materials look and feel nicer, and are more in keeping with most other dedicated coffee equipment you'll see, grinders, automatic brewers and kettles etc. The larger volume is helpful if you want to just create brew water once or twice a week as well.
Reverse Osmosis systems use a pressurised membrane system to 'purify' water before then blending in carbon filtered water to a desired hardness, so in essence it is a similar approach using different technology. Chlorine can be alleviated when water is left to stand, which if you're batching up a few litres of brew water at a go should make the issue go away. If you're concerned about it you can do a taste test using filtered water mixed with the zero versus tap water mixed with the zero and see if the 'tap' flavour carries through into your coffee.
Only problem is that if your tap water tastes really bad or chloriney, you need to filter that through carbon before you blend it with the zero water!!
This was a concern during early testing. At home I was initially mixing BWT filtered water, with the magnesium remineralisation cartridges, and blending that with zerowater. I then did a lot of comparative tasting with tap water as the base and found the differences to be negligible, I imagine because the small amount of tap needed in the mix dilutes any perceivable off flavours. If it is really bad with a strong chlorine smell then it is likely you'll be employing some sort of filtration for your regular drinking water, so this could be used with the Zero to create a cleaner taste. I hope this helps.
In many ways you're very lucky to have that as your starting block. You might benefit from some remineralisation for coffee brewing. Making up a concentrate to dose into your brew kettle each time you make a cup might be a simple way to approach things.
Using the zero water jug taught me a lot in my journey with tea. The customisability is awesome and the TDS meter became an invaluable friend that’s travelled the world with me. Just to get a good benchmark on overall mineral content in the water, so I can mix a water or identify a water that’ll work ok. Notably, different bottles of the same water often vary dramatically in TDS so it’s great to take a measurement on a new batch or bottle.
The zero water is unique being the only jug to reduce to zero, however I cannot recommend the product at all… the cartridges are extremely roughly produced and have crumbling particles of plastic around the edges that make me very uncomfortable. Also as a product the cartridges are very inconsistent and I started to notice that new cartridges were leaving a nasty plastic aftertaste in my mouth when brewing tea with the water. That had never been in an issue in my first cartridges and I concur with others that the units supplied with the jug seem better than those sold separately by Amazon UK.
The lifespan of the filters with Bedfordshire tap water was abysmal, like 10 days if I was lucky… hence I started filtering bottled spring water just to ease the workload on the filters…
If you live a stable life at home, invest in an RO filter system. For me the Zerowater was a stop gap between periods of travelling.
Here in California farm land two hours from San Francisco, right out of the box the ZeroWater never got to zero. Not even close. :) I finally put a Pur faucet mount water filter on one of my sinks (the one that uses the Pur Plus filters, not the regular Pur filters). That worked great (in terms of taste). Bottled water was too tasteless and flat and I'm happy with this solution, plus I read the faucet mount filters filter better than the jug-type filters. It was also easy to simply snap on the faucet. What I still never hear anyone discuss in coffee circles is aeration, in that I have always read coffee from the tap is better for tea brewing because it's full of air rather than flat (which may be another reason I prefer the Pur faucet-mount filter with the Pur Plus filters).
This made a lot sense to me. I tweaked your technique slightly and have had some great results. I use the zero water filter but then add in Third Wave Water (instead of tap water because ours has a lot of iron in it) until my TDS reads about 100 and 150, depending on the coffee. Did some experiments at various TDS, but I like the extraction at these levels for the coffees I buy, and the roundness of flavor I get.
Thanks for watching, Joshua, and glad this was useful for you.
The blend is probably the best solution I've found to the issue of water in coffee. Since I only brew a couple times a week at home, I think I'm gonna try getting a big jug of distilled water and blending that with some tap. Thanks for the great video
Just gave this a try, going for that 70ish range in an attempt to bring out an orangey acidic flavour from my current coffee which was previously tasting distant. The improvement was instant! :) Might aim for a more precise method in the future, but this was low effort and a satisfying result for now
Great content as always, thank you. I have used one at home. It's a great pleasure to have it around and its flexibility for different coffees is definitely worth experiencing.
We completely agree, Yunus - the ability to experiment with a spectrum of brew waters is great.
Which TDS meter do you recommend? Your videos are inspiring and I look forward to each weekend to begin my ritual of making great coffee!☕️
Hi David - thanks for watching and for the very kind words. The ZeroWater filter actually comes with a TDS meter included, which we think works very well for the required task.
What a great idea. I've just ordered a ZeroWater filter, but I was going to add Epsom Salts and Bicarb. Simply adding tap water to filtered water would save filters, but what if my tap water's minerals weren't proportioned correctly? Yes, there would be less TDS, but it would still be out-of-whack? Again great video, and subscribed.
Interesting video, thanks 👍
Over the last 18 months I’ve gone from instant coffee to...
Cheap grinder, aeropress and supermarket beans - much better than instant
Added a Brita filter - that’s better.
Speciality beans from a decent roaster - oh proper coffee!
An Aergrind - Wow! Probably the most noticeable improvement.
I’m also using a V60 and a Clever Dripper (your method is great btw, thanks 👍). I guess I’m not going to see those big gains anymore, just smaller, incremental improvements. But I’m curious to know how much of a gain I’d get from trying the Zero jug and your suggestions.
I guess I’ll give it a go soon, just ‘cos it’s been a fun journey so far!
Great to hear about your coffee journey thus far! At a certain point you're totally right, that investing in more coffee equipment can potentially bring you small, incremental gains. Saying that, sorting out brew water should be prioritised early on and can make a very noticeable difference. The Brita will be helping, but if you're in a particularly hard water area there's only so much it can do to bring you into a sweet spot.
Thanks! Live in london, im very guilty, i’ve been using bottled water which is obviously wasteful. Will get on board with this.
We really hope you enjoy the new regimen, welcome to the fold!
Have you tried the Peak Water jug?
It can be adjusted to suit the hardness in your area as well as filter all the tap water to remove the impurities.
ie you can adjust it to deliver a level of Total Alkalinity.
We have limited experience with the Peak, and in all areas we've tested it has needed to be running on maximum performance, and so the adjustability is more handy if you're already somewhere with brew water quite close to the ideal spec. Also, the performance over the lifespan of the filter might deliver fluctuating brew water quality, whereas using the zero to create a pure base which you then dial in ensures greater consistency, albeit at the cost of having another water vessel on your countertop. The two filtering methods solve a slightly different set of problems.
Thanks for another great and very useful video. My favourites are washed Ethiopians, should I aim for 60-75?
For us, that would be the perfect starting point, Daniel. Thanks for watching and very glad you found it useful.
I looked at my area's water quality report, and my tap water's TDS level is almost at 600. Based on the chart, a ZeroWater filter will last less than 30 liters which isn't very cost effective. I need a method that is relatively cheap and not too much of a hassle. I've seen a lot of people recommending Barista Hustle's recipe using epsom salt and and baking soda added to deionised water. Should I just do that instead?
Hi Jason - you can absolutely buy deionised/distilled water. It will be a case of weighing up the cost of buying the water versus filters for the Zero and seeing what will work out best for you. Have fun experimenting!
I tried this with my zero jug and blended (east london) tap water back in at first around 70ppm then 100ppm but they both still taste very tinny and flat.......should I i just keep pushing the TDS up? Is there a a range you would not recommend? Obviously not going back up to tap water levels again (which is 344 ppm) hah
What about a dry processed Ethiopian Worka - 60 - 75 or 90 - 100 ppm?
We'd be starting ay 70ppm and then taking things from there.
Are the TDS values good for espresso machines as well?
They certainly are, Allan.
Is the stainless steel better usage experience? Not sure its worth the extra money for the increase volume and nicer materials, but if its just flat out nicer to use then maybe it would be worth springing for.
The 1.7L version in blue and white plastic will suffice in terms of creating the right sort of water, but we wanted to also stock the larger, stainless steel version for a few reasons. The materials look and feel nicer, and are more in keeping with most other dedicated coffee equipment you'll see, grinders, automatic brewers and kettles etc. The larger volume is helpful if you want to just create brew water once or twice a week as well.
Great and informative video ! (see our Taiwan coffee videos too)
Thanks for watching.
btw can I blend some high mineral water with filtered water?
Yes, most definitely that would work.
Is this essentially what an RO system does?
Also, would chlorine in the tapwater not be an issue taste-wise?
Reverse Osmosis systems use a pressurised membrane system to 'purify' water before then blending in carbon filtered water to a desired hardness, so in essence it is a similar approach using different technology. Chlorine can be alleviated when water is left to stand, which if you're batching up a few litres of brew water at a go should make the issue go away. If you're concerned about it you can do a taste test using filtered water mixed with the zero versus tap water mixed with the zero and see if the 'tap' flavour carries through into your coffee.
Only problem is that if your tap water tastes really bad or chloriney, you need to filter that through carbon before you blend it with the zero water!!
This was a concern during early testing. At home I was initially mixing BWT filtered water, with the magnesium remineralisation cartridges, and blending that with zerowater. I then did a lot of comparative tasting with tap water as the base and found the differences to be negligible, I imagine because the small amount of tap needed in the mix dilutes any perceivable off flavours. If it is really bad with a strong chlorine smell then it is likely you'll be employing some sort of filtration for your regular drinking water, so this could be used with the Zero to create a cleaner taste. I hope this helps.
my fresh tap water is 20 tds 😂
In many ways you're very lucky to have that as your starting block. You might benefit from some remineralisation for coffee brewing. Making up a concentrate to dose into your brew kettle each time you make a cup might be a simple way to approach things.