BRITA Water Filter Cartridge MAXTRA PRO Limescale Expert - 6 Pack

Bought a Sage Barista machine for £800 so wanted it to last in a very hard water area. Anyone arriving at my review (given my title) is probably thinking the same and deciding between full on under sink filtration or whether specialist jug filters will do the job and get the water down to a safe hardness level, because hard water quickly kills espresso machines. For anyone deciding the latter they might have already looked and arrived up with the following two choices. The first choice for me was the BWT Magnesium filter, which is reputed to decrease the damaging calcium carbonate and replace it with magnesium (which is supposed to make the coffee taste better). I tested this filter and although I've no reason to doubt it's claims found it a a bit of a leap of faith. This is because in testing the hardness of the filtered water with a Calmag test kit I found only a small drop in water hardness from the 266 ppm measurement of my tap water to 166 ppm post filtration. This makes the filter sound completely useless, but is in fact misleading because water hardness testing cannot discriminate between magnesium or calcium carbonate (both which contribute to water "hardness", despite only calcium carbonate being a danger in terms of damaging limescale). I wasn't prepared to risk this filter on the basis that I couldn't distinguish between the actual proportion of the two and so opted to try this, the Brita Limescale Expert filter. Results = from a 266ppm hardness a single filtration reduced this to around 110ppm. This for me was great, but given it's recommended to attain water of a hardness of 85ppm or below to protect espresso machines, I decided to go a little further... For drinking water I always utilise the lowest cost filters available on Amazon that also fit a standard Brita jug, and so I wondered how much these actually softened my water (as all jug filters tend to do, if only to a limited degree). My findings was from 266ppm (tap) to 150ppm with a really low cost cheap brand filter I'd been using for a while, so actually not so shoddy! I then wondered what would happen if I filtered once through the cheap non specialist filter and then the Brita Limescale Expert.. I then found that my finished water was then just 60ppm (well within the "soft" definition). That absolutely works for me. I tallied my first month of use and it amounted to 18 litres of filtered water (making around 3 cups per day) and so checked the hardness of the same double processed water after 1 month (18 litres). The hardness had risen to 80-90 ppm... This being acceptable still I have decided to change the Brita filter once a month religiously, but keep the cheap non Brita filter to every couple of months as usual. Costing wise, this amounts to a monthly cost of less than £5 for all filter cost, which works very nicely for me indeed without having to go for an undersink solution. I still intend to descale my machine once every three months. In conclusion this filter does absolutely appear to do what it says it does, but clearly loses efficiency relatively quickly. The coffee from the water does taste just as good as that made from the BWT filter, which I always suspected (despite BWT claiming it makes the coffees taste a lot better, given coffee contains so much natural magnesium anyway). I'm not decrying the BWT as many espresso owners swear by it, but I would suggest that should you also live in a hard water area to forgo that for the Brita (and change the Brita filter often). I would also suggest utilising another standard jug water filter for all other drinking water needs and filtering the water once first through this before filtering again via the Brita for exclusive use in your espresso machine. If in any doubt I suggest purchasing the Calmag testing kit (far more accurate and defining that test strips) to satisfy yourself that this indeed works, which is around £5. Apologies for the lengthy review, but I'm pretty sure it will be invaluable to at least a few people. PS: I would also advise against considering a Zerowater filter system, as know myself that despite removing all hardness from water, it produces water that needs low limescale remineralisation before using in coffee machines, otherwise producing very odd tasting coffee. My experience with one was not good as the water tasted disgusting after a few refills (you will find many saying the same in reviews).

Live in a hard water area and these make a real difference to taste. Using them in a Tassimo Coffee Machine and two Brita water jugs (one in the fridge). Definitely help improve the lifespan of our kettle by reducing limescale but doesn’t remove it completely. Nice water flow and fairly good value, although copies are available.

The water supply where I live provides some of the 'hardest' water in England. These cartridges reduce the negative effects of limescale. For example, I now taste the tea not the limescale.

Here are some numbers for people that do not want to rely purely on subjective opinions. We live in Ireland (Midlands) and our mains water is very hard (thick scum on tea, build up of limescale in kettles, replacing washing machine every few years, that kind of hard). We have created 3-stage filtration system: mains water filter right after our water connection, single undercounter filter and Brita water jug filter. Water, that we drink and use for cooking, goes through all three stages. I bought water hardness tester to quantify system performance. Mains water has 370ppm, water hardness after main filter drops to 290ppm, after undercounter filter hardness is down to 265ppm and after Brita ends up at 225ppm. Still hard, but softened enough to stop tea scum and constant kettle limescale. If your water is very hard, don't expect miracles, but it works, you just may need other filters to decrease hardness further. What I like about them, is that they are good value on Amazon. I have never found them cheaper anywhere else. I am using them in a glass water jug and hot water machine for years and would recommend them

They last a long time i buy them 2 times a year go figure. Worth the price! 150L per cartridge. Water itself tastes fantastic when a brita filter is used

Does the job, easy to fit and replace, good value for money

I've tried various other filters due what I consider high priced filters, but I keep coming back to Brita because nothing can rival them. They rid the awful taste of unfiltered water, I use filtered water in my kettle for over a year and no sign at all of any limescale. They fit my Brita jug perfectly and does not leak. The water flow of these is as quick as I would expect. There really is no substitute. My only gripe is that I cannot recycle them due to not finding anywhere around my local area I can take them too. If I could post back to Brita for recycling it would massively help.

These filters are brilliant, especially when you live in a hard water area, like here in Essex, I wouldn’t buy any others.

Bon produit et conforme et l'eau a un bon goût et il y a pas de trace de calcaire dans la machine à café

Prodotto consigliato.

Buenísima compra, ha merecido la pena cada céntimo. El agua de Barcelona es superdura, pero el filtro es rapidísimo. Me sirve para mi jarra Phillips, un puntazo. ¿El sabor? No sabe a nada, ni punto de comparación; ya no compro botellas. Además, se acabó la cal en la cafetera, el hervidor y las cazuelas. No creo que cambie de marca.

Amazing and easy way to filter water. Loved the product. Will buy again for sure.

Pratici e funzionali.