A Peruvian coffee this AM with fruit and Jalapeño (!) undertones, and a more typical Colombian from Phil & Sebastian.
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I have never studied the effect of various cations on coffee but for beer they are critical for pH control of the mashing process , Ca and Mg specifically.
RO is designed to produce virtually pure anion free cation free water .it will reduce variabilty , nothing to vary . Some systems may bleed back un RO source or add salts to a ionic spec
Some steam generation systems depend on this purity to boil water as the resistance in an electrical circuit (Electrode Boilers)
Check out “prepared water” which is oxygen free as well.
What a can of worms to open
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Interesting read. I can attest that my “hard” water in KC produces better coffee than my softened water in AZ. I can get better results in AZ with the Third Wave Water additive to RO filtered water… but I still haven’t found what I’m looking for (and won’t be trying again until I return to the desert in the fall).
There are a LOT of variables in this endeavor, in addition to the water chemistry the nature and roasting of the beans, how recent the roast, time between grind and brew, fineness of grind, temperature of the water… probably much more.
It occurs to me that chasing the perfect cup is perhaps analogous to chasing perfect sound?
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Finishing up a bag from Denver’s Little Owl and starting a roast from Calgary’s Sought and Found, listening to acoustic guitar
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A Breville Dual Boiler! I have the Gastroback branded version of this machine (same internals, different logo, bought when I lived in Austria). The UK supplied machines are sold under the Sage brand.
Mine’s poorly at the moment. Replaced all the O-rings to resolve overheating/RCBO tripping, but it seems the triac PCB is cooked. New one on the way.
In the meantime, I’m existing solely on filter coffee:
Coffee-wise, we buy microlot from Pact. Direct sourced and roasted just down the road in Haslemere in Surrey. I’ve been a customer of theirs since the beginning. Best coffee I’ve ever tasted.
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that’s a pretty shot.
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I’m a sucker for a bottomless portafilter. They’re ruthless at showing up any unevenness in the extraction though!
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bottomless portafilters make the rocking world go round.
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Yeah, when I’m in a hurry to get the kids to school and I’m not thinking my bottomless PF sprays coffee everywhere 
I take it you fitted the PCB yerself @Graeme_Finlayson
I found the smart grinder was too inconsistent for espresso and changed to a Baratza grinder (it was three times the price though).
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Yes, it’s a relatively straight forward task, though the crimp connectors fitted in the machine to the cables the power side of the board were a bit of a pain. You also need to replace the thermal paste between the new triacs and the lid. It took about half an hour from start to finish. I’ve found the top plate heats much faster and runs much hotter since replacing the PCB
I used to find the smart grinder a little inconsistent too, though at the finer end of the scale it seems more precise. I have to recalibrate with nearly every new bag of coffee as the coffee changes from week to week. Grind to grind on the same bag seems to be within +/- 0.2 of a gramme which isn’t bad
The best improvement to my espresso game came with a new IMS shower head and screen after the original plastic one failed. I’ve also been using a puck screen for the last couple of years.
It’s a bit of a ritual - I grind into a dosing cup, declump with a needle distributor, tip into the portafilter. Redistribute with the needle distributor, distribute again with a distributor/tamper, then a quick tamp with a spring tamper, fit the puck screen and brew!
~19 gramme dose, 2.5:1 in about 35 seconds including pre-infusion is my flavour sweet-spot.
Pact beans are generally roasted on the lighter side. They got a fair bit of criticism from some customers a while back because of it, but it preserves the subtler fruity tones of the bean and makes a much more pleasant shot in my opinion. I’m not a fan of oily, dark-roasted beans.
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What’s inside EH???
I descaled mine this morning , now that’s what I call maintenance 
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Just giving them a try following your review 
I’ve been with Hasbean since they started but prices seem to be getting a little out of hand!
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If you start a plan and use my referral code, you’ll get £5 off your first order:
GRAEME-7UVGQQ
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Thanks…have ordered a sample bag and will do so if I take out a sub.
I did consider trying an IMS shower head and screen but ended up deciding against it. Basically I got confused after reading that if the shower head is made from metal it will affect the temperature stability. I am interested in tinkering with an IMS screen but after watching several videos I’m not convinced it will make any difference to my espresso.
I’m interested to hear you thoughts @Graeme_Finlayson
I generally stick with Ethiopian beans and like you I prefer a lighter roast and go with a filter roast.
I find that Ethiopian beans are more forgiving and easier to consistently dial in, although I’ve been branching out a bit more and trying more Central/South American beans.
I’m currently enjoying these:
Neither am I, my in-laws constantly get insulted when I refuse to drink their dark roasted, extremely bitter coffee. It literally makes me gag.
When I first started using the smart grinder I was worried about “clumping” (I really shouldn’t read forums ). But I thought about it and it seemed a non issue to me as I use an ONA coffee distributor and then tamp. Don’t the clumps get compressed anyway? And with the Baratza grinder there is no clumping. The only adjustments I make through the day are to tighten the grind on the fine setting as it warms up and becomes more/less humid.
I’ve been sticking to 20 grammes in the basket but it will take 22, sometimes I will fiddle a bit but If my espresso is making me go “Yummmm” then I don’t play much. For me its 20 in, 38 to 40 out, in 30 to 35 seconds.
Since we moved back to Adelaide I have to admit I’ve been struggling to get consistently excellent espresso and I can’t work out why. When we were living in Canberra the beans I used were roasted around the corner from me. I’d purchase a kilogram and you could guarantee that if it was an Ethiopian bean, that around 18 days after roast they would taste amazing. I would then decant the beans into just over 40 gramme packets (or 20 for just one coffee), vac seal them and then freeze.
The coffee tastes amazing every time as long as you use the frozen beans without letting them thaw out. I haven’t been doing this since we moved, it’s incredibly wasteful as the vac seal bags aren’t re-useable so I’m looking for a different way to accomplish this. Some of the cafes in Canberra freeze their beans in small tubes and they tell me that the oxygen in the tube makes no difference.
One of the things that really improved my espresso to much high level was changing out the basket for a Pullman 870 which is matched to my Pullman Big Step tamper. That lifted a veil on my espresso .
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James Hoffman would be impressed.
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I’ve been using Yirgacheffe beans, 100% Arabica, from Ethiopia for some years. It’s a light/medium roast with very little oil, with a fruity/citrus flavour. Readily accessible but usually cheaper in kilo packs from amazon.
Definitely worth a try at around £25 / kilo.
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Per Kilo not grams 
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Yes, Yirgacheffe is my favourite region for coffee beans.
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