You may have noticed that the regular drip coffee from your local café just seems to hit harder than the stuff you make at home. Even when using a bag of beans from your favorite coffee shop, you may find that they don't turn into the same amazing cuppa when you use your own kitchen equipment, so what gives?

There may be hundreds of varieties of coffee, but its only ingredients are beans and water; a typical cup of coffee is about 98% water, which can dramatically impact your final product. Coffee Mag explains that minerals and alkalinity can neutralize flavor notes, turning your coffee from creamy and fresh to bitter, neutral, or even sour.

Coffee shops are more likely to have access to commercial filtration systems that can regulate taste and aroma or even enact reverse osmosis through the brew. These systems help filter out chloramines, chlorine, and other minerals that impact the flavor of your finished cup, all while maintaining the optimal acidity for brewing.

Balance Coffee recommends using filtered water and avoiding softened or bottled water, which contains added minerals. For true coffee fanatics, Bean Poet recommends starting with distilled water and adding minerals yourself, like magnesium and calcium, two of the most important minerals in good brewing water.