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]

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).