Why You Should Not Use Distilled Water In Your Nespresso Machine
If you are a new owner of a Nespresso machine, you may be wondering about what type of water you can use to brew your K-Cups. If you don’t like the taste of your tap water or if you live in an area with hard water (meaning that is high in mineral content), you may think distilled water is better for your Nespresso. After all, it is more cost effective than buying bottled filtered mineral water and easier than using a Brita or PUR home filter if you don’t have a filter built into your fridge. However, there are some important reasons why you may not want to use distilled water. Keep reading to learn more.
What Is Distilled Water?
Distilled water is made through a process called distillation. Water is boiled, the steam is collected and then the steam is cooled to turn it back into water. This process removes any impurities from the water. In addition, it removes more than 99% of the minerals that are naturally occurring in water that our bodies need.
Pros of Using Distilled Water To Brew Nespresso Pods
Some people consider using distilled water because they think that the lack of minerals will mean less frequent maintenance for their machine. This line of thinking is especially common among people who live in areas where the tap water is very high in mineral content (called hard water). When you use tap or filtered water to brew a Nespresso pod, the water leaves behind some trace minerals. Overtime, these minerals can turn into limescale buildup. The harder your water, the more minerals that are left behind.
The only way to remove that buildup in your Nespresso is by running a descaling cycle. This requires the purchase of a low cost solution for best results. Since distilled water has no minerals, it should mean that you would need to descale your coffee maker less frequently. While that may be true, there are some tradeoffs you will need to consider in the next section.
Cons of Using Distilled Water In A Nespresso Machine
You May Damage Your Nespresso
Because distilled water lacks any minerals, it tries to absorb them from anything it comes in contact with in order to try to achieve a chemical balance. As a result, if you use distilled water in your Nespresso, it may absorb some chemicals from the plastic water tank or plastic parts inside your machine. Distilled water may also try to absorb minerals from any metal components inside your Nespresso. As a result, this can cause corrosion that can damage your brewer and eventually make it unusable.
Your Nespresso Coffee May Not Taste Great
Do you know why the quality of the water you use to brew coffee is so important? For starters, about brewed coffee is about 98% water. In addition, the minerals that are found in most types of water, especially magnesium, calcium and bicarbonate, help extract more taste from the coffee grinds in the pods. That is why the choice of water you use is so important. Since distilled water loses its mineral content, using it in your Nespresso may result in your espresso or coffee tasting a bit flat. You may enjoy the taste of your Nespresso capsules more if you use tap or filtered water.
Should You Use Distilled Water In A Nespresso?
Technically nothing is stopping you from using distilled water in your coffee maker. However, the potential damage it may cause to your machine and the negative impact it may have on the taste of your coffee, and possibly your health if you drink it frequently, I would recommend against it.
Alternatives To Distilled Water
Instead of using distilled water, I recommend using home filtered water or tap water if you do not live in a hard water area. Alternatively, you can use bottled mineral spring water or purified water like Dasani or Aquafina. However, using bottled water can get expensive. It also isn’t great for the environment because of all of the plastic. If you have hard water, I would strongly recommend using bottled mineral water or home filtered water.
