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Water filtration is a big, complex subject, but one that really matters! Mineral content in water is the number one killer of espresso machines. With this in mind, it's extremely important to properly filter and read your water. Using hard tap water can lead to premature limescale buildup. This can cause real damage to your machine in the worst case, and will at least demand more frequent maintenance.

There is, however, good news! Thanks to chemistry there is a whole world of resources to help you use the perfect water with your machine. So where does it start?

Water Hardness

Filtration starts with the source of the water. Depending on your location and the quality of your water, filtering it can be more or less of a strain. Most espresso machines come with test strips that help you determine your water hardness. Hardness refers to the level of minerals in your water. For water that has higher lime content, you'll need to change filters more frequently.

Many machines actually offer helpful tracking of your filters based on hardness. Jura, Saeco, Breville, and others all track when you install a filter, and what your water hardness is. From there, the machine will remind you when its time to change the filter. Many of these machines do this simply over time, but there are some machines that even read the amount of water that comes through the filter. These machines allow you to track when you should change the filter more exactly.

The main way the above manufacturer's filters differ is in how you pick them. Jura's Clearyl filters have plastic parts that match the receiving parts on the tank. From there you can determine if you need a white or blue filter. In the case of Saeco, they offer a single AquaClean across their currently supported line of machines, making filtration easy. Finally, Breville offers two simple filters that are easy to tell the difference between.

But what if your machine doesn't offer a proprietary water filter?

Bottled, Pre-filtered, and More

In many cases, if you don't have a smart filtration system you'll want to pre-filter your water. Not all filters are created equal, so it's a good idea to check the hardness of your filtered water carefully as well. Based on this hardness, you can determine how safe it is to use pre-filtered water to fill the tank of your espresso machine. Some manufacturers, like La Marzocco, suggest that if your water is too hard, use bottled water. Using bottled water isn't as simple as using spring water though, as certain bottled waters can have high mineral content as well.

Make sure you check the bottled water you use. If you're not sure a brand should be used in your machine, contact the manufacturer for the ultimate yes or no answer.

It's important to remember that water filters must be changed and maintained too. Whether using a smart filter or pre-filtered water, make sure that you change your filters regularly. Water run through an expired filter could be too hard, causing real maintenance issues for your machine. In the case of certain E61 Grouphead machines, at home descaling can actually damage your machine. For this reason you'll need to take it to a technician for its regular maintenance. By properly filtering your water you'll have more time between those descalings!

On top of all of this, filtered, fresh water just makes better coffee. By using the best possible water, you eliminate that variable from the brewing process, and allow the coffee to truly speak for itself. So make sure your filters are fresh and your water is clean today!

Welcome back to another video roundup!

This week we've got a Commercial Crew Review of a barista favorite, some Breville tips and tricks, and a new Coffee Collaboration with Clementine!

First up, Gail offered up some Barista Pro tips!

Next, John gave us a Crew Review of the fabulous La Marzocco Linea PB.

Finally, it's another delicious (or is it?) Coffee Collaboration with Clementine!

That's all for now! We hope you enjoy and we'll see you next week!

TOCA Coffee is a brand new roaster to SCG coming all the way from New Jersey! This roaster is available in coffee shops across that state and in New York, and has an excellent reputation for quality. TOCA is a family business, with a deep dedication to providing high quality coffee. Obvious as that may sound, this roaster's commitment to quality is notable in the ways it informs the roasting process, and it shows in the roasts! TOCA's blends offer a balance and drinkability that doesn't sacrifice interesting notes. This is an exciting prospect for any coffee drinker that is interested in exploring a wider range of roasts but doesn't like more challenging, intense coffees. On the flipside, TOCA's single origins maintain the sense of adventure you'd expect from that style of roast.

Maya Blue

This blend of Latin American beans tastes darker than you'd expect from a medium roast. The result is coffee that is approachable for fans of lighter coffee that maintains a smokier flavor. We're impressed by this blend in a drip/filter brew.

Halcyon Days

This blend offers a brighter take on blends than what you might be used to. Full of brighter citrus and sweet notes, Halcyon Days also brings a smooth body with just enough acidity. Perfect for a range of brew methods, this blend of Ethiopian and Sumatran beans is a great place to start for fans of lighter roasts.

Amasia Espresso

No roaster's catalog is complete without a delicious espresso blend! Amasia is so named in reference to colliding tectonic plates bringing the Americas and Asia together in the distant future. This inspiration comes from the blend's mix of Sumatran, Guatemalan, and Brazilian beans. The result is a sweet, syrupy set of notes with smokey undertones, perfect for espresso!

We hope TOCA's roasts tickle your tastebuds for years to come. Check out their full catalog here!

One key element of owning an espresso machine is maintaining it. This means regular cleaning and maintenance. We get a lot of questions about how often one should backflush and descale, so we wanted to talk a little bit about that here! We'll start with more frequent maintenance like cleaning the grouphead and backflushing, then get into descaling.

A lot of your cleaning schedule will revolve around usage. If you brew multiple drinks per day, you'll want to clean more frequently. For the purposes of this article we're assuming you make 1-3 drinks per day. Another thing to note is that we're keeping this general. Most machines, from Brevilles and DeLonghis all the way up to Rockets and Izzos will require the maintenance outlined here. You should, of course, take the guidelines of the manufacturer into account when planning maintenance! We're also catering this piece for those with semi-automatic machines. Superautomatics have more guided cleaning cycles, but we'll talk more about maintaining them in future posts as well!

Daily and Weekly Cleaning

One easy to do thing that will keep your machine making great espresso day to day is to ensure that your portafilter and the screen in the brew group is free of coffee grounds. This means giving your portafilter a quick wipedown after every shot, ensuring it is dry and clean. You should also run a quick rinse of water through the screen after each shot before you reattach the portafilter. Simply start a brew cycle and stop it to push some water through. This clears and grounds that may have clung to the screen during brewing. It's also VERY important to purge the steam wand whenever you steam milk! This is as easy as turning the steam on outside of milk after you finish steaming. This will clear any milk that gets sucked back into the wand during steaming. You'll want to be sure to completely wipe off any stuck on milk as well. As always, when handling the steam wand, be careful not to touch a hot wand or the steam it produces.

You will also want to perform regular backflushing of the grouphead. Backflushing is done by using the blind basket (the one with no holes!) in your portafilter along with a little bit of water and/or backflush detergent. You'll then run a backflushing cycle, which differs from machine to machine (your manual should explain how to do this). It's worth it to backflush with water every day or two, but detergent backflushing is only needed every 1-3 weeks depending on use. A busy cafe might backflush with detergent daily, but this isn't necessary for home use.

It's also worth using a grouphead brush to scrub the grouphead every week or so. This can free and clingy grounds and keep the screen clean. These tools make this easy, but a used toothbrush or other small, handheld brush can work to clean the screen too.

Descaling and Steam Wand Cleaning

The two maintenance items you'll perform less frequently are thorough cleaning of the steam wand and descaling. The former involves using a milk system cleaner with your machine's steam wand to clean out any milk gunk stuck inside the wand. This process can vary from system to system, so refer to your manual and the cleaning product's guidelines to clean it properly! This process should be performed every month or two on your espresso machine. Soaking the steam tips in a cleaning solution like the one above in this timeframe can also keep your steaming system fresh! Just be sure to fully wipe down and purge the wand to ensure no cleaning solution ends up in your latte!

Descaling is, of course, one of the most important things to stay on top of to maintain your machine. You can descale with a 50/50 mix of water and white vinegar, or with a dedicated descaling cleaner. To descale, you'll want to run the water/cleaner mix through the machine until you've pulled through about a cup of water. This allows the mix to fill the boiler and pipes of the machine. Next, you'll shut of the machine for 20 minutes to an hour. This will give the solution time to remove the limescale buildup inside the machine. Next, run about a quarter of the reservoir through the brew head and the steam wand, then shut the machine off for another 20 minutes. Finally, run the rest of the reservoir through the machine, and then run two or more reservoirs of clean water through the brew head and the steam wand. In the end you'll have a freshly descaled machine!

It should be noted that some machines should NOT be descaled by anyone other than a professional technician. This is true, most notably, of Rockets. A quick search for your machine + descaling should help you determine if its safe to descale your machine at home. This is a process that should be performed every 3-6 months. The main factors affecting time between descales are how frequently you use the machine and the hardness of the water you run through it.

We hope this look at normal maintenance is helpful for you! By adhering to a simple schedule like this you can keep your machine running in great shape for many years.

Hey coffee fans!

We have a couple of new videos to share with you this week!

First up, John took a look at the Curtis GSG Commercial grinder!

Next up, we tasted our Roast of the Month, from Intelligentsia!

Be sure to check out or YouTube page later today for the newest Coffee Collaboration with Clementine!

Last week we took a look at the Jura D6, but that's not the only new Jura machine! The Z8 is a high end machine with an extensive featureset that justifies its high price point. So what sets this machine apart from its sibling machines?

Connectivity and Performance

The Z8 takes the stellar performance of Jura's existing machines and adds in a whole lot of connectivity and ease of use features.

The most noticeable addition is the 4.3 inch touchscreen. This display is clear and concise, and reminds us of a high quality mobile device. The interface is extremely clear and easy to use, giving you a huge degree of control over your drinks.

This machine also features smart visual touches like a blue-lit water tank, smart tracked filtration, and one-touch options for your favorite drinks. On the whole the Z8 offers 21 drink recipes, most of them with a high degree of customization.

The Z8 also connects to Jura's J.O.E. mobile app, giving you control of this machine via bluetooth.

None of this would matter if the machine didn't perform, but thankfully, the Z8 does. Using Jura's P.E.P. brewing process, this machines brews hot, well extracted espresso. The Z8 also steams impressive milk using the included cappuccinotore.

Overall, this is a strong machine operating at the top end of the superautomatic price range. Check out the Z8 on Seattle Coffee Gear right here!

It's time once again for Roast of the Month! We like to celebrate a coffee each month that brings something especially unique, enjoyable, flavorful, or special in some other way. We're excited to highlight Intelligentsia this month with their new Illumination Blend!

Satisfying and a Little More Than Simple

We often feature single origins here, but we really like to bring you a blend when we can! So many roasters have a "signature" or "seasonal" blend that we don't get that many wholly new ones in. This month we really grew a soft spot for this one from Intelligentsia, so we wanted to make sure you give it your attention!

A lot of blends focus on getting classic coffee flavors going right at the top. This isn't a bad thing, we happen to like "classic," but seldom does the blend arrive that evokes the more diverse flavors of a single origin. This blend of Ethiopian and Peruvian beans is one of those rare exceptions! While it does offer balance and richness alongside just enough of a chocolate note, this blend goes a bit further.

The first thing you might be surprised by is the tarter cranberry note. This forward tart note then blends with a satisfying sweet citrus flavor. This mix of tastes gives this roast a delicious profile on its own, and mixes with the rich sweetness of molasses for a truly satisfying mix of notes. All of this flavors combine with a little bit of bitterness and chocolate to round out the roast and give it some balance.

Brew Methods

This is also one of those roasts that works in a wide variety of brew methods. A pourover will separate and amplify the brighter, sweeter notes and blend them with that tart cranberry nicely. A drip brew will provide more balance and bring out the "coffee" notes a bit more, with a press intensifying the richer notes. Finally, an espresso will lend a rich, syrupy quality that highlights the sweeter bits.

No matter the brew method, we're sure you'll find this roast to be a treat! Check it out here today.

Happy Friday!

We're back this week with another video roundup! This week we've got a couple of good ol' fashioned Crew Reviews along with a brand new coffee collaboration!

First up, a look at the new Baratza Virtuoso!

Next up, yet another Crew Review with Allie! This time of the brand new Jura D6!

And finally, Clementing brewed up something out of this world in Coffee Collaboration!

Thanks for joining us this week. We'll be bringing you more videos to enjoy next week!

Jura's line of superautomatics gets a new machine this week in the D6 espresso machine! This machine is the brand's most affordable superautomatic yet, without sacrificing a wide range of options. Read on for a look at this brand new brewer.

Fully Featured Espresso

From the A1 to the Z6, Jura's line of superautomatics offers something for everyone. The D6 offers Jura's extensive knowledge of superautos at a lower price than their other machines. The result is a satisfying experience that's great for cappuccinos and espresso! Instead of a screen or button interface, the D6 uses a simple set of nobs to control your drink production. We found this interface to be intuitive and simple to use, even if it doesn't feel as "premium" as some more expensive models.

The milk system is delivered via a carafe and pipe system similar to the Saeco Xelsis and Miele 6300 series of superautomatics. This system produces excellent cappuccinos, though it steams just a little bit foamy for a latté. What really sets this machine, and Jura's whole line, apart is the P.E.P. brewing system. P.E.P. stands for pulse extraction process. This brewing process pulses water through the coffee grounds to maintain the perfect temp and brew pressure. This results in balanced coffee, fantastic aroma, and beautiful crema in every cup.

To top it all off, the D6 uses Jura's CLEARYL Smart Filtration. This system helps you to maintain perfect filtration to cut down on limescale buildup. These filters are monitored by the machine, giving you a notification when it's time to change them. Other helpful features include an auto-off timer for power saving and on the fly brew strength adjustment that you can use mid-brew.

Overall, the D6 is a compelling option at its price point, and opens Jura brewing up to a whole new price range! Check this machine out here today.

It's a common refrain: The perfect water temperature for brewing coffee is 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit. But why is this? In most brewing guides it will explain that this is the ideal temperature for "proper extraction," but what IS extraction? What are we even talking about!? Read on to learn more about water temps and coffee extraction!

What's Extraction?

So what do we mean when we say extraction? Extractions is simply the act of dissolving the solubles from the coffee grounds and bonding them with the water. One way to conceptualize this is to imagine water saturating your grounds during brewing, and that water pulling the good parts out of the grounds as it passes through them. The filter then stops the leftover gritty, grimy bits of the coffee. The stuff that ends up in your cup is water bonded with the flavorful, caffeinated parts of the coffee.

But what does temperature really have to do with this?

Coffee extraction, or brewing, is a chemical process. Things like grind fineness, amount, and water temp matter because chemistry happens in the brewer as you brew! On a simple level, things like grind fineness can make it easier for the water molecules to bond with the coffee grounds. Temperature plays into this as well! In truth, you can actually brew coffee with water of any temperature, the problem is control. Cold water extracts very slowly, which is why cold brew can take many hours to properly, well, brew. On the flip-side, near boiling water extracts coffee VERY quickly. Since varying flow rate is even more challenging than controlling temperature, and since temperature is constant, it's the variable that is easiest to control.

For all of these reasons, we've determined a 195-205 degree Fahrenheit range as being the best for coffee. The remaining question, of course, is where exactly should you set your kettle? 204? 196? This is going to come down to the roast and brew method more than anything. Some brew methods, like AeroPress, work even better below 195, but for simplicity's sake we'll stick to the 195-205 range. In general, presses work best lower in the range, as the pressure of the press aids in extraction. On the opposite side is pourover, which is usually better brewed around or above 200 degrees Fahrenheit. That said, all of this really comes down to the taste of the roast.

More bitter roasts tend to want cooler water, closer to 195. On the other hand, if your coffee turns out sour, try brewing a little hotter to aid in proper extraction.

Either way, there's plenty of room for experimentation! The most important thing is using an adjustable kettle like the Fellow Stagg or the Bonavita Variable kettle. Armed with these tools and the knowledge above, you'll be ready to really experiment with water temp!