Sometimes, and the label decides it rather than the word “spring”.
What to read
Every bottle carries a mineral analysis. Two numbers matter for coffee.
Bicarbonate (HCO₃⁻) — keep it low, under about 50 mg/l. This is what buffers acidity and forms scale.
Total dry residue or TDS — aim for roughly 50 to 150 mg/l. Higher and the cup goes heavy and dull; much lower and extraction suffers.
The trap
Waters marketed on their mineral richness are usually the wrong choice — several popular European spring waters exceed 300 mg/l of bicarbonate, which will both flatten your coffee and scale your machine faster than most tap water.
Waters described as low-mineral, or as suitable for infant formula, are frequently close to ideal.
The cost problem
A machine using two litres a week gets through about a hundred litres a year. At bottled prices that is a substantial bill and a lot of plastic, for a result a thirty-euro filter achieves.
When it makes sense
If your tap water is genuinely extreme — very hard, heavily chloraminated, or unpleasant in ways filtering does not fix — bottled is a reasonable interim answer.
For most people, filtered tap water is cheaper, greener and just as good.
Consistency
Whichever you choose, stick to it. Switching waters changes extraction and adds a variable you cannot see.
Last reviewed 8 August 2026