Future historians:

[conuly]

"People of the 20th and 21st centuries only drank soda and beer, because they knew that water was unsafe and had no way to make it safe."

Awful thing to happen to that poor kid and his family, though.

Comments

[acelightning]

My observation is that people drink coffee, beer and soda - at least brewing coffee sterilizes the water. The prevailing wisdom is that if you use a neti pot, you should either boil the water and let it cool to room temperature before you pour it up your nose, or else you should buy distilled water and warm it gently. I used to just use pleasantly warm water from the tap, but someone in Louisiana got the brain-eating amoeba that way. But just drinking the water won't infect your brain - the amoeba-infested water has to go up your nose, either by doing silly things with a garden hose, or from a neti pot.

[conuly]

Brewing coffee doesn't sterilize the water unless you boil the water to brew. Do most coffee makers get that hot even?

[acelightning]

I believe that the optimum tempertature for brewing coffee is 192 ° F. The boiling point is 212. And for food safety purposes, things have to be heated to between 165 and 175 ° F to kill bacteria.

[conuly]

Kills bacteria, maybe, but doesn't do a thing about heavy metal contamination.

[acelightning]

Use filtered water (not distilled water - the lack of trace minerals and dissolved gases makes the coffee taste flat). Most coffeepot cleaning products are acids (usually citric) which ought to help remove heavy metal.

[conuly]

Who cleans their coffeepot?

(Wait, maybe that's a me thing. Is that a me thing? Am I revealing a bit too much about my squalid upbringing here?)

[acelightning]

My husband cleans his coffee maker, but he doesn't buy distilled water to put in it. I clean my iced-tea maker when the tea starts to get yucky. We both use Dip-It cleaner, which they used to sell in supermarkets and in places like Williams-Sonoma, but now you have to buy it online. It's mostly just powdered citric acid. You can clean tea and coffe machines with white vinegar, but I find the smell and lingering taste of vinegar utterly revolting (I don't eat pickles).