You Should Never Put Tap Water In Your Keurig. Here's Why
Because without your Keurig, you look out the window and see a desert landscape right out of Mad Max: Fury Road, but without Charlize Theron. Because if your Keurig is in working condition, you can sip on Hugh Jackman's Laughing Man coffee and pretend that you're tight with Wolverine. Or simply because you, like 44 percent of us, enjoy two to three cups of coffee a day, and without your Keurig, that's just not possible (via Statista). But here's a sneaky, little-known fact: You shouldn't put tap water in your Keurig if you want it to function properly.
The reason? Tap water is usually hard. That means that it contains varying levels of minerals, such as calcium, copper, magnesium, and sodium (via the USDA). These are your Keurig coffee maker's arch enemy. As Another Cuppa Joe points out, if mineral concentrations are high enough in tap water, over time it can clog your pipes, your refrigerator's ice machine, your washing machine, and your dishwasher. Imagine what it can do to your coffee maker.
Tap water also affects the taste of your Keurig's coffee
Even if you don't mind putting your Keurig out to pasture sooner rather than later, putting tap water into your Keurig can negatively affect the taste of your coffee. Excuse us while we get snobbish for a couple of sentences. Water is the single-most unappreciated ingredient in your daily cuppa. It makes up about 98 percent of your morning caffeine fix, per Clive Coffee. And it's also your coffee grounds principal solvent (via The Coffee Chronicler). That means that water is responsible for absorbing the approximately 1,500 aromatic and flavor compounds that define the taste of your favorite beans.
There are avid debates in the world of coffee about the exact mineral content that water should have to make a perfect cup of Joe. While some mineral content is good for the flavor of your coffee, most coffee experts agree that tap water is never the answer. What kind of water will neither kill your Keurig nor ruin the taste of your coffee? Try filtered water, which will eliminate some of your tap water's mineral content, although not all of it (via Cross Country Cafe). If you're not using a Keurig 2.0, you can also opt for bottled water, as long as it's distilled. Distilled water, unfortunately, is too pure for the Keurig 2.0's sensors.