Its 6am and the alarm goes off. I drag myself out of bed, and get dressed in the dark so as not to wake my sleeping husband. A quick teeth brush, and a brush through my hair, then on to the kids’ rooms to wake them up for school (and yes, right now, we’re dealing with the difficultly of virtual school at home!). Sleepy eyed they roll out of bed, and I’m already in the kitchen making breakfast and making individual lunches so that everyone is able to be set up for their day. By 7.30 our school day starts. The headphones are put on, and the kids are checked in with their teachers on Google Meets.
Then it’s my time… I get to sit down and enjoy my morning coffee! Ah, I feel accomplished and it’s still early enough for me to have my 10 minutes of relaxation before I need to open my laptop and join the kids on the “work-from-home” train we are living on!
Coffee comes in so many varieties, but also I feel that coffee has social classes of its own! There is the “I need a fix” cheap and cheerful instant coffee that make a career barista’s stomach churn, followed by at-home coffee shop pods and pucks that allow you to bring your favorite coffee shop to your kitchen! Then you have the super-duper coffee machines, with beans and coffee grinders that make coffee an art. I’ll be honest, I am a morning pick-me-up kinda girl, but my husband has his espresso machine that whizzes and whirs and grinds beans into a perfect espresso with a little crema on top, which I equally appreciate!
People choose their coffee carefully. Some choose their favorite brand, like Starbucks or Dunkin. Some are happy with cheerful and easy options like Nescafe or Folgers instant granules, while others want luxury like Nespresso pods. Some like their coffee dark roasted, and some prefer it light. We like different amounts of cream or sugar or added flavors, foam or no foam, different milk options.
There are those who choose Organic like the eco friendly Java Planet, and those who are conscientious buyers choosing ethical or sustainable farmed coffee such as Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s “Laughing Man” coffee! My kids always joke that “Mummy needs her coffee in the morning in order to be herself”! I totally could have starred in the Laughing Man commercial with the Ryan Reynolds narrating saying Laughing Man coffee “brews the exceptional flavor that is 100% responsible for the Hugh Jackman you know and love”. It had the kids on the floor in stitches comparing that commercial to me.
But although I may not be a connoisseur of coffee, I consider myself a connoisseur of water! Did you know that almost all of the best coffee houses filter their water prior to making their brew? I bet many of you haven’t even considered it? Well let’s take Starbucks, for example, is said to use the same three stage filtration system in every store to take the municipal tap water and filter it for use in coffee. The removal of contaminants in the water obviously affects the health benefits of the water, but it also greatly affects the flavor of your coffee too! Why?...because water is the main ingredient!
This is how, whether you are a fan of their brew or not, a cup of Starbucks coffee tastes the same wherever you buy it!
Ever buy an expensive pound of gourmet coffee, a cup of which you fell in love with at your favorite coffee shop? When you brew it at home, it just doesn’t taste the same. Ever wonder why…? Again, because water is the main ingredient. If you’re brewing chic and pricey coffee at home and you do it with tap or bottled water, let’s face it, you are wasting your money.
So… what is the best water for coffee?
Let’s start with TAP water! By heating tap water for your coffee you are adding a bunch of extras to your coffee… such as Chlorine and Chloramines, pharmaceuticals, maybe some iron or even lead if you live in certain areas of the USA. Sounds… um… tasty? Chlorine can dissipate from the water over time, so if you want your water chlorine free without a filter, you must boil it constantly for around 15 minutes. Who has that time anyway, but remember, the water going up in the steam is the “clean”, purified water. And the water left behind is now a more concentrated mix of contaminants left behind.
Okay, so now you are going to go to your fridge and grab a bottle of water and empty that into your kettle or into your coffee machine? Most bottled water is either basic filtered tap water, or distilled water. But studies have shown that 93% of bottled water has traces of micro-plastics in it from the packaging, which doesn’t sound a very appealing addition to my morning coffee. Also, boiling the water for 15 minutes will do you no good! Micro-plastics are unfazed by boiling methods, and like to stick around for hundreds of years.
How about Distilled or RO (Reverse Osmosis) water? Well the good news is that this water has no bad stuff in it! YAY! But it also unfortunately lost all the good stuff too because, in the process of cleaning the water, the distillation and RO cannot differentiate between the things we want gone and those we want to keep, therefore everything is removed and the water becomes very acidic. Specifically Coffee related, RO water or distilled water is missing the natural minerals that are not only good for you, but help bring out the flavors in the coffee!
RO, distilled, or purified, are all ways of describing de-ionized water, meaning there is a lack of both positive and negative ions in the water. This lack of ions make your taste buds less receptive to the flavors of foods. Its part of the science of flavors and how your brain receives the information and decides if something is bitter, or sweet, sour or spicy. In the case of Coffee, the lack of ions in the water has an adverse effect, and will make your brain register that the coffee tastes more bitter than it would even if it were brewed with plain un-filtered tap water.
So how can you brew the best tasting coffee? Choose Ionized, Mineralized and Hydrogenated water, which has all the properties (and the positive and negative ions) that help send the right signals to our brain and, in turn, enhance the flavor of the coffee!
Our Alkaline Plus water has unique properties that make it ionized, with a balance of minerals and hydrogen ions that all assist in enhancing and “bringing out” the flavor of coffee. This is why when you cook with naturally mineralized and ionized water, or bake using naturally mineralized and ionized water, the food just tastes better! ! (Note… there is a big difference between water ionized by electrolysis vs ionized using natural minerals, so be aware and educated on what you buy!).
Because our water filtration and re-mineralization systems are plumbed in under the sink in the kitchen, it is so easy to get perfect water for your coffee. Our 5-stage process removes all the bad stuff and adds back all the good stuff for the best taste, hydration and more. For coffee machines that are plumbed in we can usually help you get our Alkaline water straight into your coffee machine.
A PUR2o technician recently went to a swanky apartment building in NYC to service a filter and walked straight into one of the celeb-owners of Laughing Man coffee himself! I wonder if he realizes how our Alkaline Plus water helps enhance the flavor of his coffee when he is drinking it at home vs at one of their hip NY café’s? Laughing Man coffee is company founded on ethics, and I completely vibe with their goals. PUR2o is a company founded on ethics as well, but instead of an Ethiopian coffee farmer like Dukale inspiring us, Mother Earth is our inspiration! #saynotoplastic!
So… What is the moral of today’s story? Next time you make yourself a cup-of-joe, stop and think about how it tastes! From now on, whether you like an instant brew, or you are using a posh barista machine at home, make sure that you put as much thought into your choice of water as you do your choice of Coffee!
About PUR2o We are striving to provide as many people as possible with filtered, purified, naturally alkaline and ionized water for drinking and cooking straight from the tap, for three reasons. We care about the health of YOU, the health of our PLANET and the health of your POCKET!
THE HEALTH OF YOU Our goal is to provide as many people as possible with pure, crystal clear, safe & healthy water. PUR2o Alkaline water is shown to benefit: Overall health and energy, weight management, muscle stimulation, brain power, digestive system, mood, body temperature, youthfulness, complexion, lifespan, and boosting your immune system.
THE HEALTH OF OUR PLANET We are also committed to creating a greater awareness of how plastic and plastic bottles are polluting our planet and our bodies by providing the best water out of your tap, eliminating the amount of plastic we dispose of and how much water we consume out of plastic bottles.
THE HEALTH OF YOUR POCKET Aside from all the health benefits of Alkaline Water, you save a tremendous amount of money with our systems! Did you know?…. If you drink eight glasses of water each day, it will cost approximately $55 per year; vs $1,700 if you were to drink the same amount of bottled water instead. The PUR2o system pays for its self in only one year by one persons water consumption.