Time and again, an underextracted coffee is served at a speciality coffee shop. A bag from a well-known roastery, the EK43 on the bar counter and a barista making a pledge: the sweetness of wild strawberries and a cocoa aftertaste. And in the cup: emptiness and an aroma hard to define. A boring, generic, slightly sour flavour devoid of life. Speciality coffee is in many ways a complex product; it is, in fact, complicated almost to the point of absurdity. One mistake at any stage of the journey can make you bid farewell to all those fancy sensory notes from Instagram.

Depending on how the properties of water at your premises differ from the ‘ideal’ ones, you will need to use more and more effective water filtration methods. Below, we describe them from the simplest to the most complex ones, which also have the most to offer.

An espresso cup is over 90% water, whereas a pour-over – over 98%. It is therefore worthwhile to understand how important water is for bringing out the optimal flavour of coffee, keeping your machine in good condition and reducing the risk of a breakdown. In this article, we explain water properties and the influence of water on coffee extraction. In the next part, we will focus on water filtration methods used in business.

You don’t have to be a coffee lover or work for several years in the industry to come across the term: ‘speciality coffee’. What does it mean? And are speciality coffees really so exceptional, do they deserve so much attention from both the consumer and the business owner?