What Water Makes the Best Coffee? Is Nongfu Spring Suitable for Brewing Coffee? How to Make the Best Tasting Americano?

Many friends, after enjoying a delicious cup at FrontStreet Coffee, will buy a bag of the same beans to make at home. The coffee they brew, however, often tastes completely different from what they experienced in the cafe. Even with the same parameters and extraction methods, the flavor and texture consistently fall short of that exceptional taste. Whenever friends ask about this, FrontStreet Coffee typically questions two things: the coffee grind and, crucially, the water used for brewing.

Whether for extraction or dilution, water typically accounts for over 90% of a black coffee's total volume, so water directly affects coffee quality. This influence shows up in two main areas: flavor expression and mouthfeel.

The impact of water on coffee extraction

When water acts as a solvent to extract coffee, its hardness level affects the dissolution of flavor compounds. The determining factor for water hardness is mineral content. Although water may appear clear and free of impurities, most water actually contains minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium ions. These substances are key factors influencing the dissolution of coffee flavor compounds. Research shows that when water contains calcium ions, coffee's acidity can be better extracted, while water containing magnesium ions yields coffee with richer sweetness and aroma. Both, however, share a common prerequisite: moderation.

In the "Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality" published by the World Health Organization, water softness and hardness levels are defined. When water hardness is below 200ppm it is classified as soft water, while hardness above 200ppm is classified as hard water. Generally, both hard water and pure water without minerals are unsuitable for coffee extraction. The reason is simple. Pure water, lacking mineral content, dissolves significantly fewer compounds, resulting in coffee with less complexity that requires more extreme parameters to adjust. Conversely, water containing excessive minerals, meaning water that is too hard, can also make compounds difficult to extract and even cause bitterness. The SCA therefore recommends water hardness for coffee extraction within the 75-250ppm range, with an ideal value of 150ppm.

The impact of water on coffee mouthfeel

In the article "Three Tips to Make Your Americano Taste Better," FrontStreet Coffee mentioned that when making an Americano, water serves not only as a solvent but also takes on the role of diluting coffee concentration. The quality of the water's mouthfeel therefore directly impacts the coffee.

Water mouthfeel refers to the taste of water itself, essentially our initial perception of it. In daily life we often hear statements like "the mountain spring water from a certain place tastes sweeter" or "this mineral water tastes better than that one"; these all refer to water's mouthfeel, the sensation it provides when consumed. Water mouthfeel is affected by hardness, but not exclusively; other factors like pH level also play a role. If we use water that is clean, lightly sweet and soft to make an Americano, the resulting coffee will have a relatively fuller body, a brighter character and a sweet aftertaste. If we use hard, unfiltered tap water, the Americano won't taste as good, the mouthfeel won't be as pleasant, and it may even develop negative characteristics like astringency and bitterness.

This principle applies not only to coffee but to tea as well. Surely we all read about the tea master Lu Yu in elementary school textbooks. Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty wrote the three-volume "Classic of Tea," which has been passed down for millennia. In this classic, Lu Yu provided a detailed classification and evaluation of water for brewing tea. Well water, river water and mountain water were his three categories, and he offered his assessment: "Well water is inferior, river water is medium, and mountain water is superior." This shows that whether for tea or coffee, the quality of the solvent itself is indeed worth attention. So the question arises: what water makes the best-tasting coffee?

What water makes the best-tasting coffee?

Before discussing which water makes the best-tasting coffee, we can first eliminate unfiltered tap water. Although tap water in most cities can meet soft water standards, with hardness below 200ppm, without filtration, as FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, water contains many other substances besides calcium and magnesium ions. Chlorine, for example.

The reason we smell that swimming-pool-like odor in tap water is trace amounts of residual chlorine. If this water is used to brew coffee, the coffee's clarity will decrease, resulting in muddled flavors, an inferior mouthfeel and even bitterness. There are solutions, though. Using a filtration system to filter tap water resolves the problem, which is why most coffee shops today use filtered tap water. There are also many water products available on the market. Among them, a relatively affordable and well-known one in the coffee community is Nongfu Spring. Nongfu Spring water has a hardness of 37ppm, and coffee brewed with it performs very consistently in both compatibility and flavor.

This doesn't mean other water products are inferior; they just tend to be more specialized, better suited to beans with specific characteristics. Some waters suit dark roast beans, for example, while others suit light roast beans. Some waters aren't suitable for brewing but have excellent mouthfeel, making them perfect for diluting coffee concentration, as in an Americano. If you're interested, you can buy and try them yourself, but when buying, it's best to pay attention to the TDS value on the label and the mineral content chart. If you want to pursue perfection, you can even prepare your own brewing water, which lets you control the mineral content and, with proper formulation, create the water best suited to your coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Once your water is dialed in, the beans should be worth it. FrontStreet Classic Blend is a solid choice for an Americano: a traditional Italian-style recipe of Indonesian Mandheling, Brazilian Red Bourbon and washed Vietnamese coffee, it brings butter, nut, spice and dark chocolate aromas with wild character and abundant crema, and works just as well for a latte.

If you prefer a sweeter, fruitier Americano, FrontStreet Strawberry Candy espresso brings rose aromatics with low bitterness and a touch of acidity, so an Americano or a latte delivers grape, dried blueberry, sweet orange and fruit candy notes with a distinctive almond finish. Both belong with the kind of clean, well-balanced water that lets their flavors show clearly.