Thread: Coffee Enthusiasts

Nelson, my equipment is perfectly fine however using plain RO water is highly corrosive for an espresso machine, especially copper, and you would need to re-mineralize it as it's lacking some important minerals. Since it's lacking minerals it can also mess with the autofill mechanism from your machine. Same with softened water, it needs to be adjusted. Without going into too much technical mumbo jumbo just Google for the SCA ideal coffee standards. Does that mean you have to follow those guidelines. Hell no, you can use whatever water you want and whatever makes you happy. Since you mostly do Cona I believe you don't have to worry ;-).

I agree with Max on the ECM Casa V. It is a quality machine that should do you very right.
Good luck and please keep us on the loop

Originally Posted by Maximilian

Nelson, my equipment is perfectly fine however using plain RO water is highly corrosive for an espresso machine, especially copper, and you would need to re-mineralize it as it's lacking some important minerals. Since it's lacking minerals it can also mess with the autofill mechanism from your machine. Same with softened water, it needs to be adjusted. Without going into too much technical mumbo jumbo just Google for the SCA ideal coffee standards. Does that mean you have to follow those guidelines. Hell no, you can use whatever water you want and whatever makes you happy. Since you mostly do Cona I believe you don't have to worry ;-).

Yea I know. My RO unit has a remineralization cartridge built in so it adds vital minerals back into the water.

But I use pour over method so no issues either way with me.

Got my new Yama Syphon coffee pot yesterday. My old one had began to crack where the handle is around the neck. I have to say, this must have been a problem with more than just mine. The glass is much thicker now, almost double the thickness. My first one lasted about 2 years. And that was with daily use, sometime up to 3 pots

I've had my Yama for well over 10 years and it's still going strong. Of course I don't use it everyday either. I presume somewhere during the years they changed production to reduce cost or maybe they are produced in several different factories resulting in different finished syphons in regards to the thickness or end quality. I have the 40 oz and 3 cup top beaker.

My sipon is hario but it's been in close to daily service for about 8 years

I used to own an original Cona which unfortunately broke during my move to the US in 2003. They were so retro looking and beautiful.

I still have my Cona, it makes great coffee however here in high altitude land water boils around 200 F and the brew process using the spirit lamp can cause premature boiling and the stuff can come flying out of the top portion showering folks with hot liquid.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I still have my Cona, it makes great coffee however here in high altitude land water boils around 200 F and the brew process using the spirit lamp can cause premature boiling and the stuff can come flying out of the top portion showering folks with hot liquid.

I know boiling changes at altitude. But you said land water. Does distilled do different or am I reading too much into this?

I'm sure sediment or minerals in water would cause a trivial change but probably nothing to be concerned about.

I actually bought a butane portable bunsen burner and rigged it up so I can use it with the cona and thereby adjust the flame for custom boiling. it's a bit of a pain to set up because I then had to buy a tripod and some other paraphernalia but it works.