TDS Meter Digital Water Tester | Check your water quality at home

I got this tester and the bottle water "Arrowhead" I have been buying tested fair "Marginally Acceptable". I guess I will try a different brand of water.

Thanks

TDS level is BS the best water in earth will have the highest TDS since is full of minerals there your body needs.

Great Informative video, Next time try doing test from best to worst water for a better accurate test.

every time after each sample douche the probe clean. with the pure water. contamination will occur if you don't . worked in a lab.

I bought the hardness tester and the PH tester as a set for $14. My water from the tap was 143. From the fridge it is 133.

I order this exact TDS water tester and tried it out as soon as it arrived today. My Tap water tested 156ppm, filtered water from the refrigerator 101ppm, got it down to 84ppm using refrigerator water + Brita filter. What I found most shocking was the 5-gallon waters I order monthly from the water company had a ppm higher than water from the refrigerator. I need to find a solution soon as my machine arrives next week😫

Have extremely hard water where I live (25+grains!). I installed a Watts Premier Reverse Osmosis system with a mineralization cartridge. Water is as good or better than bottled and taste great. TDS on the RO water is around 30 with a PH of 7. Been working great for espresso in my Barista Express. I believe water quality does make a big difference in the taste of your coffee.

James Hoffmann did a nice video on this (for coffee), pure demineralized water is not the way to go, including as main source for drinking, the devil as usual is in the details (what minerals, not only how much) when below a certain level. Your tap water probably is hard, and going down that much from your filters already is impressive, going one more step would be great (and barista express filters does that), but not up to no minerals.

Hoon, write your results down!

Great video Hoon! I don’t mean to spam but I am a coffee lover and I would like to share my first coffee video with everyone! If you could support my channel as I jump into the coffee vlogs world I would truly appreciate it. Many more videos to come!

Excellent test, great tip, thank you

My wife had one and it doesn’t work very well, I use it to check my fish tank. I use primo water with my Breville with a filter attached so I never have to worry about water quality. You can refill a 5 gallon bottle for $1.75 where I live.

Twitter id?

Hey Hoon! So you're right in the sense that tap water is rarely good to use in espresso machines. But TDS meter as specified in the other comment doesn't measure hardness but rather how much dissolved solids/minerals your water has. Hardness is generally measured in CaCO3 (calc carbonate) and TDS doesn't isolate this mineral. But you can prob infer high TDS usually means high hardness.

Also you don't want to be using low mineral (close to 0 TDS) water in anything metal (such as espresso boilers). Water is extremely unstable when it's distilled or low minerals. So when it touches metal, it strips the metal to re-ionize and stabilize itself. Also no mineral water with coffee usually makes it taste worse.

It's best to re-mineralize it yourself after distilling it or using a highly filtered water (like zero water). They sell packets like 3rd wave water that you add to 0tds water... Or what some people do is make their own baking soda / lemon concoction to mix and should bring it back to coffee-ideal water. It's subjective but I usually target around 150-180TDS to use in my La Pavoni and my water kettle.

Cheers!

Same as you hoon, i was counting on my refrigerator water.
After i bought hardness test i was shocked how hard the water is.
I am currently using bezzera magica pid, decided buying DVA 8 liter water softner (which is very cheap for long term cause using 1kg of sea salt to refresh it) the only disadvantage of the water softener is the bad taste of the water - i solved that problem by plugging coconut water filter.
You should try it!

That meter doesn’t tell hardness. You need to use a bwt water pitcher. You’re going to line up your machine

First thing I did when I got my Appartemento was to purchase the right water. I’ve had bad experience using home filtered water.For americano I use boiled water, so I save the bottled water for my espresso shots. Pretty sure that this will keep my machine in good health.

Happy to hear you keeping your Rancilio. I feel like you are starting to get the hang of it. You might consider adding a PIV to your machine. There is the issue of the warranty if you do. I made the decision to add one to my Gaggia Classic that is only a month old. I know it may screw up my warranty but I am willing to take that risk to have good coffee. I don't plan on getting rid of it for a while so I'm going to make it the best espresso machine I can.

Hey Hoon, what’s your opinion on lelit machines and grinders? Thank you:)
Edit: how did you answer my question before I asked??? :P