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The guys that did the talk at LMNH about coffee mentioned the tesco ashbeck water as a good one to use. If you wanted a nil residue you'd look at distilled or deionised water, hence my low residue comment.
Interesting points you make, firstly playing with different bottled waters and tap water there is a noticeable difference, have tried it on friends.
lynx-
Distilled water is actually pretty awful for coffee, the water itself is not very good at extracting flavour.
also the idea that you can saturate the water with too many minerals and therefore not extract flavour is a fallacy, balance is the key.The bottled water test is fun, it's amazing how much difference it can make.
Matisse
yes and no, minerals are great, they actually aid extraction of flavour with different minerals emphasising different flavour compounds in the form of acids.
calicium, magnesium and bicarbonates are the three to look out for, especially and calcium bicarbonate is what causes scale.
look for levels of bicarbonates that are lower than 75 ideally, not much higher than 100 ugm/l
we need some though as it acts as a buffer for the acids, taming the super bright tart flavours.
calcium and magnesium can be as high as you want, but the key is balance. Its rare to find a mineral water that is super high in magnesium though.
pretty much the best value and mineral balance is waitrose essential, Tescos ashbeck spring is also very good, its just a bit low in everything so the coffee will tend to taste thin and sour.
something like Evian, which is super high in Bicarbs will tend towards flat chalky tasting coffee, with little or no acidic fruit notes.