We're all familiar with the scene by now: you arrive at the bar, order a coffee, and with it, you also receive the customary glass of water. From there, a potentially endless discussion could begin: should water be drunk before or after coffe ? Does it make no difference? And above all: is there really a "right" way to do it? In this article, we want to clear up any doubts with a definitive answer, and to do so, we asked Vincenzo Sansone, owner of Caffè Sansone and a micro-roastery in Naples, for help. Let's give you a little spoiler: there's no universal rule, but it's important to pay attention to a few small details that can change the way we perceive coffee, which we'll explain below.
Water Before or After Coffee: Which is Better?
"The ideal would be to drink a little water before coffee," is the first thing Vincenzo tells us. And the reason is easy to explain: "It helps cleanse the palate of the flavors we have in our mouth and allows us to better appreciate what the coffee has to say, from the aromas to the sweetness, to the acidity and body." So, whoever always told you that drinking water first serves to prepare your mouth for the arrival of the coffee, we have to say they are right. The reason is precisely to arrive at the tasting with the palate as free as possible from other flavors: if we have just eaten something, drank a soft drink, or simply still have the taste of what we consumed shortly before in our mouth, in fact, our perception can be different. But be careful about the temperature: water should be drunk at room temperature or just slightly chilled. Iced water tends to anesthetize the taste buds, compromising the perception of aromas.
This doesn't mean, however, that drinking water after coffee is necessarily bad because, as Sansone tells us, "if we feel like it, we can easily do so." We therefore have complete freedom to do what we please—which is still the first rule —but our expert gives us a little tip on the matter: "If we want to truly enjoy coffee, it can be useful to wait a few seconds before drinking: even the flavor that lingers in the mouth, the so-called aftertaste, is part of the tasting experience." The next time you go for a coffee and feel like a sip of water afterward, wait a few seconds and enjoy the aromas and sensations the coffee leaves in your mouth for a little longer.
Does Drinking Water After Coffee Indicate Poor Quality?
We've often read that craving water after sipping coffee means it's low-quality or poorly brewed. In reality, Vincenzo explains that this isn't exactly the case, as coffee tends to "naturally leave a sensation in the mouth, and some people simply feel the urge to drink immediately afterward. So we can't say that if we need water, we've had a bad coffee." This means that "it's not the urge to drink water that tells us whether a coffee is good or bad," but rather the sensation the drink leaves on our palate. "If a pleasant, clean, and balanced sensation remains, perhaps with aromas that continue to linger even after drinking, that's definitely a good sign. "It's a different story," Sansone continues, "when a very aggressive bitterness, a strong sensation of dryness or astringency, or burnt or ashy flavors remain. In that case, we can start to question the quality of the coffee, its roasting, or how it was extracted."
And this is where the concept of aftertaste we mentioned earlier comes into play: it's not just what we experience when we drink coffee that matters, but also what lingers in the seconds that follow. A good coffee, in fact, can continue to tell a story even after the first sip, through aromas and sensations that linger on the palate. The urge to drink water, therefore, shouldn't be used as a sort of "test" to determine whether the coffee in front of us is good or bad; rather, it's the quality of the sensation that lingers in the mouth that gives us some additional insight.
Sparkling or Still Water?
It would be too simple to limit the question to water, but for us, it goes far beyond that. Not only do there differing answers exist regarding whether it's wise to drink water before or after, but also whether sparkling or still water is better. As always, everyone can drink whatever water they prefer, but if we really had to offer advice, Sansone suggests still water, "especially if we want to truly taste the coffee." Sparkling water, of course, isn't off limits, "but the bubbles and carbon dioxide stimulate the palate and can slightly alter the perception of flavors. Still water is more neutral and therefore better prepares us for tasting," concludes Vincenzo.
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