I take my morning coffee seriously. Not in an insufferable way — I am not grinding single-origin beans to a specific micron and timing my pour to the second — but I use good beans, a decent grinder, and a method that produces a consistent result. I have spent a reasonable amount of time and money getting the coffee right.
What I had not considered, until about a year ago, was the water. Water makes up approximately 98% of a cup of coffee. The quality, mineral content, and taste of the water has a direct and significant effect on the taste of the coffee. I had been using Cambridge tap water, which is hard, slightly metallic, and not particularly pleasant to drink on its own. I had been making good coffee with bad water and wondering why it was not quite as good as the same beans made elsewhere.
The BWT Magnesium Mineralized Water Filter Cartridges solved that problem completely.
Understanding the Water Problem
Hard water — water with high mineral content, particularly calcium and magnesium carbonate — affects coffee in two ways. First, the metallic or chalky taste of the water itself comes through in the cup, particularly in lighter roasts where the coffee flavour is more delicate. Second, the limescale that hard water deposits in kettles and coffee machines affects the temperature and flow of water through the grounds, which changes the extraction and therefore the taste.
BWT's approach is different from standard carbon filtration. Rather than simply removing minerals, the BWT cartridge replaces calcium and magnesium carbonate with magnesium — a mineral that is beneficial for both taste and health. Magnesium-rich water has a cleaner, slightly sweeter taste than hard tap water, and it is the mineral profile that specialty coffee professionals recommend for optimal extraction. The BWT filter is, in effect, producing water that is specifically good for coffee rather than just water that is less bad.
Why the BWT Six-Pack
The BWT Magnesium Mineralized Water Filter Cartridges in a pack of 6 was the obvious choice once I had decided to try BWT. Each cartridge has a 120L capacity, which at my household's usage — two people, coffee twice a day, drinking water throughout the day — lasts approximately four to five weeks. Six cartridges is roughly six months of supply, which means one purchase every six months rather than one every month. The cost per litre of filtered water is significantly lower than bottled water, and the environmental impact is considerably lower too.
I found them through ALTOE's Water Filter Cartridges collection, which is the obvious starting point for anyone comparing filtration options. They also sit within the Water Filtration Accessories and Water Dispensing & Filtration collections, and the broader Hardware section if you want to browse the full range.
The First Morning: An Immediate Difference
I installed the first cartridge on a Sunday evening and made my first cup of filtered water coffee on Monday morning. The difference was immediate and not subtle. The metallic edge that I had been tasting in Cambridge tap water coffee was gone. The coffee tasted cleaner, brighter, and more like the same beans made at a good café — which uses filtered water as standard, which is why café coffee often tastes better than home coffee made with the same beans.
I made a second cup to confirm I was not imagining it. I was not imagining it. The water tasted better on its own — noticeably cleaner and slightly sweeter than tap water — and the coffee made with it tasted correspondingly better. My partner, who drinks tea rather than coffee and who had been sceptical about whether a water filter would make a meaningful difference, tried a glass of the filtered water and immediately agreed that it tasted different. She has been using it for her tea since.
Six Months On: The Habit Established
I have been using BWT filtered water for six months. The improvement in coffee quality has been consistent across every cartridge — the magnesium mineralisation is stable and the taste difference from tap water remains as marked as it was on day one.
The bottled water habit I had for drinking water — buying four-litre bottles from the supermarket because Cambridge tap water is not pleasant to drink cold — has ended entirely. The filtered water tastes better than the bottled water I was buying, costs less per litre, and produces no plastic waste. That is a straightforward improvement on every measure.
The kettle has also benefited. Six months of filtered water has produced significantly less limescale than the same period with tap water. The kettle heats faster and the element looks cleaner. This is a secondary benefit I had not specifically been seeking but which is a genuine practical improvement.
If you make coffee or tea at home and you live in a hard water area, the BWT Magnesium Mineralized Water Filter Cartridges are the upgrade I would recommend. Browse the Water Filter Cartridges collection at ALTOE and buy the six-pack. The cost per litre is lower than bottled water, the taste is better than tap, and the coffee you have been making with good beans and bad water will finally taste the way it should.
Tom Whitfield is a software developer and home coffee enthusiast based in Cambridge. He writes about the small upgrades that have made his daily routines more enjoyable, the products that have solved problems he had not thought to address, and the coffee that finally tastes the way it should.
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