Why is water so important? 

Espresso is 98% water and using the wrong water will cause extensive damage to your espresso machine, void its warranty, and will negatively impact your espresso flavor.

What water should you use with your espresso machine? 

In short, there are two minerals that directly impact an espresso machine, Calcium Carbonate and Chlorides. Calcium carbonate is the mineral that causes the white crusty build up on your shower-head or sink faucet and is the number 1 cause of failure in an espresso machine. Chlorides slowly corrode stainless steel and cause boiler failure/pitting and internal leaks. Regardless of the brand of espresso machine, the below numbers are your target for good water:

Calcium Carbonate (CaCO₃) levels of 0-40ppm 

Chloride (Cl-) levels of 0-30ppm

Pasquini's recommended water filtration methods:

While not 100% exhaustive, this list is a collection of the best and most easily available filtration methods to acquire good water to use with your espresso machine and keep your warranty intact. 

• Filtered water with a BWT Bestsave S water softening packet. 

  • While the BWT Bestsave S does a great job of removing calcium carbonate, it is not a taste and odor filter. The BWT Bestsave S can be used with tap water, but it is recommended to use it with filtered drinking water, such as bottled water, a Britta pitcher, or your refrigerator filter.  Make sure to use a Vivreau water hardness test kit to ensure your water quality and follow the instructions on the item page and packaging. 

• Vivreau Purity C Quell ST inline water filtration system. 
  

  • For those that have the ability to use an inline water filter such as an under-cabinet filter attached to a gooseneck water fountain, we recommend the Vivreau Purity C filtration system. This system not only removes calcium carbonate from the water supply but also doubles and a taste and odor filter for perfect quality drinking water. 
  • Free Vivreau Filter-head Rebate: If you already have an existing under-counter filter, Pasquini will offer a free head unit discount (approx. $100 value) on any Vivreau filtration system purchased from pasquini.com. Contact us for more information on the free filter-head rebate. 

• Distilled water with tap water 

  • Distilled water on its own will not work in your espresso machine as it is void of any mineral content and will cause the machine's water sensors to malfunction. However, you can add minerals to distilled water and the best way to do this is to add drinking water or tap water to the distilled water until the mineral content reaches 10-40ppm of TDS. 

• Bottled drinking water 

  • Unfortunately there is no safe brand of bottled water that is universally good for espresso machines. The only way to tell if a bottle is safe is to use a Vivreau water hardness test kit before using each bottle to determine if the water passes quality standards. 

• Reverse Osmosis

  • This is still the best overall water filtration method but is also the most complicated. This system should only be installed and maintained by a professional water filtration expert and needs to be calibrated for espresso machine usage as using a non calibrated reverse osmosis system will cause permanent damage to your espresso machine. 

If you are still uncertain about your water quality or your desired filtration method is not listed, contact us and a Pasquini technical expert will get back to you.