The brew meister...

The new Berkey 'Royal' water filter is really everything it was said to be in terms of water taste. But the proof is in the cup and I was emphatically not impressed with the first taste of Colombia Timaná; C, however, thought it was great.

When it comes to water, one of the things that can ruin a cup of good coffee is water that lacks minerals (think water softener). But the Berkey does not remove dissolved minerals from the water. And as good as it tastes I have to think that's right.

We use #6 Melitta filters to drip our coffee (not this but close). I expected good things with the great water coming from the new Berkey. But to my taste the coffee was blah and I thought more acidy. Both C and I have years of using Melitta filters, in my case going back to about 1955. I remember reading the instructions that came with that porcelain filter holder telling the user to pour about 1/4 of the water to wet the coffee, let it sit about 45 sec, then slowly add the rest of the water.

That never made sense to me (always in a rush I suppose) so I had always just added all the water at one time pausing only long enough to get space to add more water. For some weird reason, those instruction that I never followed came to mind. I did the pre-wet thing, then added the rest of the water. I'm not sure what I expected but it certainly wasn't the improvement I tasted. I have a neighbor that has done pour-over (single serving drip) coffee for over 35 years and when I mentioned that I thought I tasted less acidity he told me "that's exactly right!"

Well, that was a week ago and now I'm wondering what they hell took me so long to get it right! Unfortunately I no longer know what to expect from my morning cup. This morning's Ethiopian Guji Dammi Uddo was amazing. Good right down to the last not-quite-warm-enough sip (something special that is characteristic of certain Ethiopian coffees).

This is me looking embarrassed. Again.

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