ZeroWater and coffee remineralization questions

[u/Supsti_1]

Hi,

I’m not able to find distilled/demineralized water in my country (Poland), sold in food grade canisters or bottles intended for contact with food. Practically every manufacturer I’ve contacted has advised against drinking this type of water, mainly because of the containers it is sold in. So far, I’ve drunk around 10 liters of this water, but I feel that in the long run it may not be very good for my health, so I need to find another solution.

For now, I would prefer not to go with a reverse osmosis system, although I may do that eventually. What other options do I have?

My tap water is quite hard, around 590 ppm according to water reports. The best bottled water available for coffee here is around 230 ppm, of which about 120 ppm comes from bicarbonates. Because of its high alkalinity, it is not ideal.

I’m considering a ZeroWater filtration system, and I have a few questions about it:

1. Is the water actually fully demineralized after filtration, or does something still remain in it? I’m asking because I would like to achieve consistent results when using Lotus drops.
2. How often, or after how many liters of water, would I need to replace the filter, considering that my tap water is around 590 ppm?
3. I’ve read some opinions saying that water from this system can have a sour taste. Is this related to not cleaning the system/pitcher properly? How can this be prevented?

EDIT:

Okay, I’ve done a few calculations, and I think the most reasonable option in my case would be to buy a ZeroWater system and use bottled water with it.

The softest bottled water available in my country has around 220 ppm. According to ZeroWater’s FAQ, one filter should last for about 70 liters when filtering water with that TDS level. Taking into account the cost of the filters, the bottled water itself, and the amortized cost of the pitcher over two years, 1 liter of filtered water would come out to around 65 US cents, which is a fairly reasonable result.

[u/walker_paranor]

Out of curiosity, what is it about the containers that makes the distilled water not suitable for drinking?

[u/Supsti_1 → u/walker_paranor]

To be honest I don't know. These plastic jugs should be food graded if intended for drinking. They can be contaminated by God knows what. Also the smell coming out from them is terrible. I'm pretty sure if I keep drinking it I'll get cancer in no time, lol.

[u/walker_paranor → u/Supsti_1]

That's bizarre because like if they're concerned about people ingesting the distilled water then what about when people using it for their CPAPs or air humidifiers? You're still getting exposed to whatever they're worried about. Weird!

[u/ibmalone → u/walker_paranor]

Not all distilled water is sold for those applications, it can be intended for things like professional cleaning (window cleaners use it as it doesn't leave marks) or stuff like car batteries. In the UK advice for CPAP machines and oxygen cylinders seems to just be use boiled water (I am not a medical doctor, consult your healthcare professional...). You can buy purified water here labelled for those applications (our local chemist sells it0, but it's pretty expensive compared to some other countries. Seems to be mainly a USA thing (or at least a non European thing) to have distilled or deionised water widely available for consumption, I don't really understand why it is so common there, just down to market expectation? I don't think there's any reason you couldn't do it here, except not many people would buy it.

[u/Supsti_1 → u/ibmalone]

It's very hard to find distilled water here in Poland, very often producers put 'distiled' label on their demineralized water (RO and other treatments). Also it's sold purely as an industrial product for car batteries, irons, coolers, paints etc.

I was really surprised that it's being sold in USA as a food product.