While beans provide the blueprint, water is the framework that defines the final structure of extraction, as the filtration experts at BRITA can attest to.
Café owners, baristas, and other industry professionals will be familiar with the requirements of quality beans, a reliable machine, and excellent craftsmanship to achieving the perfect cup.
But an oft-underestimated part of the process is direct from the tap – water.
The chemical composition of water makes it a critical element when pursuing a desired flavour profile in coffee, with a combination of minerals, acidity, and decarbonisation all contributing to the final product.
According to BRITA UK, alkalinity is the most important factor for making a good coffee, sometimes referred to as “buffer capacity” or “buffer capacity hydrogen carbonate” – too high, and the delicious flavours will be lost; too low, and there will be too much acidity. Hydrogen carbonate also directly influences sourness, and is the most important mineral for a balanced coffee flavour.
For Richard Padron, BRITA ANZ Sales Director – Professional Filter, this delicate dance is constantly top of mind when working with equipment distributors, such as Coffee Works Express (CWE), to provide cafés with its range of filters, such as the BRITA Purity C Fresh, Purity C Quell, and Purity C Finest, for coffee machines.
And in a country as unique as Australia, achieving this balance comes with its own considerations.
“Filtration around the country is so vast and different,” says Richard. “No matter what state you’re in, what suburb within that state, or street-to-street sometimes, the water condition can change. Even as we change seasons, the water changes as well because of how the water is treated at the filtration plant.”
It’s due to these constantly changing conditions that cafés should check their local water conditions and regularly adjust filters.
“What we’re trying to do is, number one, provide machine protection and give the machine longevity. But number two, and more importantly, we want to be able to have the right water to produce a really good cup of coffee,” Richard says.e
He says BRITA filters are designed in a way to achieve both of these goals, where the filters soften the water enough that it gives protection to the machine, depending on the style of filter. How the filter is set up can also change the flavour profile and the aroma profile of the coffee, allowing for slight adjustments to filters and filter heads.
“As we move into the summer months, you might be able to put some more bypass (where hot water is added to coffee after extraction) in, so it will change the flavour profile. Or, if you’re changing the type of bean you’re putting in there, you can also interchange the type of filter that reacts better with the flavour profile that you’re trying to produce,” he says.
“What we try to do with our distribution partners, as they understand how our filters operate, they can make those slight adjustments to cater for what the barista is trying to make, or what the roaster is trying to do.
“There’s so much flexibility within our range, that’s why it suits the Australian market so well.”
Wild weather to warped water
Australia’s extreme weather conditions are a constant – from fires, drought, to heavy rainfall. Richard says this needs to be prioritised when setting up a machine’s filter and filter head.
“When we go through fire or flood, there’s an over-amount of filtration that happens at treatment plants, because of sediments that get into the water before it gets to the plant. [Water authorities] need to be able to treat it even further to make it safe to head down the line and reach our homes,” he says.
Richard explains BRITA regularly checks the water report for every state’s water authority – for example, Sydney Water – to look at trends and how the authorities treat the water following extreme weather.
“Looking at those reports, I see that we’ve just gone through floods, which means more sediment and grit running through the system. I know Sydney Water will use chlorine and chloramine to purify the water – we need to be aware of that because, downstream, it’s going to have a significant effect on the café.”
Richard says it’s at this point he reaches out to distributors, like CWE, to notify if customers should make slight adjustments to filter heads and take down the bypass, so more water is going into the filter, leading to cleaner water as it comes out.
“That’s part of our service, in that we spread that word out to everyone, whether they have a BRITA filter or not. We’re passionate about water and what we do with within the industry, so we put that out there as an educational piece.”
Richard says BRITA works with many partners and leverages existing relationships with roasters and cafés to hear their feedback for what’s working on day-to-day level.
“It’s a very open forum … I’ve reached out to roasters, and I’ll go to my local café who will say they’ve got, for example, a Slayer machine which has a BRITA filter attached to it,” he says. “That opens up a conversation to, what are they trying to achieve at the café, or, ‘How can I help set up the filter to give you what you need?’ It’s a very broad community.”
Making changes downstream
For café owners across the nation navigating the world of water, Richard says his best filtration advice is to take the time and test the water right.
“Do your due diligence and know the water condition where your café is, because if you don’t have a filter, maybe you need one,” he says.
“If you do have a filter, has it been set up correctly for the water condition that you have? Once a quarter, you can go out and buy little water test kits, around $30 – $40, which are great investment to test your water and set up your filter correctly. Then you’ll have more life to your machine, and you’ll make a better cup at the same time.”
Although water is the core of BRITA’s work, Richard says Australia is a fantastic market for coffee and loves to spread that word.
“We do such a good job of promoting ourselves as a country and the products that we have, and the coffee industry around Australia is brilliant, but it comes down to everyone working together,” he says.
“It’s companies like BRITA, from a filtration point of view; our dealer partners in bringing in good machinery; our roasters bringing in good quality beans and roasting them the right way; and the plethora of baristas we have – my hat’s off to them, because everyone that tries our coffee raves about it internationally.
“We should all be really proud as Australians to have such a good industry, and we’re here to support it and make it grow.”
BRITA products are available via Coffee Works Express. For more information, visit cwe.com.au.
This article appears in the April 2026 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
