My pour over setup took a month to finally get right

Honestly, I thought dialing in my new V60 would be quick. I got a nice gooseneck kettle and a good grinder, but my coffee kept tasting sour or bitter. I watched so many videos and read guides, but nothing helped. The big issue was my water. I live in Phoenix and our tap water is really hard. I tried filtering it, but it still messed up the taste. It took me a month and buying a pack of Third Wave Water mineral packets to finally fix it. My morning cup is perfect now, but man, that was a long road. Has anyone else had to completely change their water to make their coffee taste good?

3 comments

3 Comments

finley7773mo ago

Yeah, the water thing is a total game changer that people don't talk about enough. I had a similar fight with my tap water and it makes everything taste off. Glad you found Third Wave, it's a lifesaver for sure.

dylanbarnes3mo ago

Nah, tap water's fine for me honestly. My coffee tastes great with it.

harper_murphy1mo ago

The real hidden variable is the mineral balance in your brewing method versus what you use for drinking. I switched to Third Wave for my pour-over but kept tap water for my French press and the difference was night and day (like, the French press got this weird metallic bite that vanished when I switched). Seems like extraction really amplifies whatever's in your water, so you might get away with tap for some methods but not others. Ever tried testing your tap with a cheap TDS meter? That's how I found out mine was sitting at 350 ppm which is basically mineral soup for coffee.