Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of making a great cup of coffee is the quality of your water. Simply put, your coffee will only be as good as the water that you use.
Most people tend to easily overlook this critical aspect to making the perfect cup of coffee. It’s true: the quality of your coffee depends heavily on the quality of the water that you use.
Coffee is 99 percent water, so the quality of the water you use will have a significant impact on the taste of your brew. A good rule of thumb to remember is to only use water that tastes good enough to drink plain. If the water tastes bad by itself, it will taste bad when brewed, too.
Because of this, the best coffee is created using water that has been filtered or purified. While most of the coffee shops worth their weight will have a filtration system built into their facility, the average coffee drinker does not have access to such resources at home. (And if your coffee shop does not filter their water, stop going there immediately.)
However, there is an easy fix to this. Many refrigerators have built in filters now, so water from that source should be pretty good. The drawback to this is that many people don’t remember to change those filters. A better option, and a cheaper one, is to use a filter pitcher, such as the Brita or Pur. These easily and quickly filter enough water for your needs, and can provide cleaner water for drinking as well.