BWT Penguin Pitcher

BWT - Best Water Technology

Intro
A newly added espresso machine to my collection is requiring optimal water condition to keep the warranty intact, therefore I´m bound into finding a solution, because my local water is extremely rich of  calcium and is considered very hard.

The reason for the drop of warranty is because the calcium is stopping the internal piping, causing a slowly suffocation of the machine - therefore has BestMax been invented for espresso machines, which is used between your water intake and espresso machine, but this requires the machine to be plumbed, which I´m not planning anytime soon.

Within here lies my problem, because normally mostly of the espresso machine is tapping water from the water reservoir through a hose - but the Rocket espresso machines uses a valve, where a internal scale filter isn't fit-able.

Therefore I´m left with two options;

1. Abandon all warranty and hope for the best.
2. Filter the supplied water before it goes into the water reservoir.

You guess right, I took option number 2.

Global Water Reserves according to BWT

Global water status

Looking at the earth from space affords a breathtaking view: 75% of our planet is covered with water - in liquid, gaseous or frozen form. This vital element distinguishes the earth from all other planets in our solar system.  

This seeming abundance is, however, misleading. Approx. 97% of the water supplies on earth are salt water. A considerable part of the freshwater resources is stored on the ice caps of the poles and the glaciers.  

1,386 m. km3 worldwide water reserves from which are;

• 97,6% Saltwater
• 1,5% Frozen in glaciers, ice and snow
• 0,8% Groundwater
• 0,1% Surface water

and merely 0.649% of all water supplies can be used as drinking water. 

Therefore BWT ressearches, develops and work every day on innovative solutions for the treatment of 98,5% of water available worldwide. This corresponds to 1.32 billon km3 of salt water, groundwater and surface water. The conditioning systems giving by BWT prepare drinking water and mineral water, process, pure and ultra pure water. Quote BWT

The BWT pitcher keeps track off how many filtration has completed

Filtration system
The pitcher from BWT works by inserting a "perfect water" filter, which provides a patent technology MG2+ and seeks to remove excess calcium, lead, chlorine, copper and carbonate hardness within the water. The MG2+ system provides the water with minerals, and also magnesium - this will help enforce a fresh flavor and a more soft, smooth feel to the water. The internal "perfect water" filter is removable and lasts about 100 liters with a local carbonate water hardness around 10 (kH) - but its to be replaced at maximum within six weeks.

The Penguin pitcher that I have purchase is capable of keeping 2,7 l. water, which is plenty when refilling the espresso machine or keeping in the fridge - this is also easy refillable because the lid of the pitcher contains an "easy-fill" opening combined with a display which is keeping track of the total numbers of refills.

When the six weeks has passed or you have filtered 100 l. water, you will need to replace the filter like described above; this is simply plug and use solution - but the display is capable of resetting along with the replacement of a filter, just hold the button down for +10 seconds, which will reset the count.

Judgement
I bought this pitcher with a single and simple feature - just to refill my espresso machine, but when it was introduced into the households routine, it quickly became a must have inventory inside the fridge, because the water quality is very alike bottled water, which in my book is delicious when cold. Therefore the pitchers task lists were expanded rapidly from only refilling the espresso machine, to our only water drinking resource, and also water resource for tea making.

With that said I simply enjoy the Penguin pitcher, because its taking me a step further of achieving a cafe made espresso taste, which I have been seeking for a couple of years now. The filtered water simply provides a round, soft and smooth feeling to the water, which also positively effects the final extracted espresso.

I paid about 200 DKK ($33) for the pitcher and I haven´t regretted it yet and I think I never will, because there´s no way back, when you had great water in your own home, that you haven´t paid a fortune for.

Final notes
 Be care of the pitcher only removes about half the carbonate hardness per filtration, which leaves me the pleasure of running the water through the pitcher twice, before refilling the espresso machine.

Pros

• Better extracted espresso flavors, because the water is more aligned to the optimal water conditions and will therefore affect the taste in a positive matter - example softening the drink.
• Increase your espresso machine life-time, by using approved water and thereby avoiding a slowly suffocation of the internal pipes. 

Cons

• It will take a little longer to filtrate your water instead of using the tap water resource to fill your water reservoir.
• This solution requires a little investment in the BWT pitcher, but also these "perfect water" filters, which lasts about 100 l. or six weeks.

// Hendrup