Does a standard coffee maker really boild the water?
Do coffee makers boil the water to a significant degree that the final water can be considered "more pure"? Some people use this claim to suggest using tap water or bottled water in the coffee maker is the same.
Tagged with: bottled water • coffee maker • Coffee Makers • tap water
Filed under: Coffee Brewing
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Generally when water is boiled it kills germs and thus is useful for drinking. For the germs to be killed, the water has to be boiled to a certain point and remain in that state for almost 1 minute.
The water in a coffee machine is not boiled to this point, since it is used for coffee and the contents of the coffee mug has a heater under the surface to keep it hot.
When you pour in cold water, it flows from the bucket through the hole in the bottom of the bucket and into the orange tube.
The water then flows through the one-way valve into the aluminum tube in the heating element, and then partially up through the black tube. This all happens naturally because of gravity.
When you turn on the switch, the heating element starts heating the aluminum tube, and eventually the water in the tube boils.
When the water boils, the bubbles rise up in the black tube. What happens next is exactly what happens in a typical aquarium filter: The tube is small enough and the bubbles are big enough that a column of water can ride upward on top of the bubble.
The water flows out the end of the black tube to drip into the coffee.
This boiling-water pump, by the way, is the same mechanism that drives a percolator-type coffee machine.
As you can see, there is no mechanical pump of any type and really no moving parts (except for the moving portion of the one-way valve). This makes coffee machines extremely reliable.
hope this helps
it doesnt heat the water past 160 degrees. Since boiling point is 212, that kinda throws out that theory
The purpose of heating the water depends on which standard you are using. Percolating pots must heat the water to force it up the pipe and out over the ground coffee. No heat, no perk.
Drip pots get the water to flow another way, but the heat is necessary in both cases to extract the coffee flavor from the ground coffee.
The only filtering that occurs in a pot is to keep the ground coffee from flowing into the coffee liquid. The filters are not designed to purify the water. Some pots use only a fine wire mesh to contain the grounds.
Wrong!
More pure? hmmm…
I don’t see that being true, even if the water was boiled. There are no filters taking out the "impurities" from your water you put into the reservior. You’re getting the same water you put in… it’s just hot water.
The only reason people use bottled water is when the tap water has off-flavors. Some people can tell the difference.
When I’m the first in the office, sometimes I brew a pot using bottled water without telling anyone. Some people do notice the difference at their first sip.