I finally spotted Gerolsteiner, at the local Jewel (Route 176 in Mundelein). There was not much shelf space dedicated to it, and there were only a few bottles. I should have bought them all. When I go back, I'll mention to the manager that I'd like to keep finding it there. This Jewel also had a lot of Aqua Panna, mostly in plastic bottles, a few glass bottles.

There's a Polish brand of mineral water I often buy that I can't pronounce: Nałęczowianka. I couldn't find in the Gerolsteiner website's extensive list of mineral waters, but I did find it listed among mineral waters from Poland on the Fine Waters website. The company is owned by Nestle. The total mineral content is 645.5 mg/L, which is only about a quarter of that of Gerolsteiner, 65% of that of San Pelligrino, and slightly less than that of Perrier. The difference is it's much cheaper: a six-pack of 1.5-L plastic bottles typically costs just $4.99. It's available both carbonated (in green bottles) and still (in blue bottles). I bought it most recently at the Mettawa Costco, but I've also bought it at Garden Fresh, and I expect it would be at Fresh Farms. Haven't seen it at Jewel or Marianos, though.

p.s., I found this helpful comment on a blog:
"The water is from the Naleczow spa region in southeastern Poland, not far from Lublin. Polish orthography can be a bit daunting, but you'd pronounce it: NAH-when-choe-vi-AHN-ka. The waters there are slightly enriched in calcium and magnesium bicarbonates. Nothing special, honestly. Gerolsteiner is a much better source of calcium, and Apollinaris is richer in magnesium. Somebody's probably targeting the significant Polish population in your part of the world."

For easiest day-to-day coffee-making purposes, I think Evian is the most easily findable with reasonably high calcium and magnesium content. It's nowhere near the top waters but given how hard it is to find them, I guess it'll be Evian for the time being.

Gypsy Boy wrote:Probably an embarrassing question, but I'm not easily embarrassed. Would something like the preground Bustelo or Greek/Turkish coffees get me there, or do I need to go a different direction?

FYI if you end up trying to make Turkish coffee, then make sure you are doing the preparation and method of heating the water correctly as it will help you achieve closer to what you are intending. These methods are a bit different than what is commonly done in the west.

https://www.turkishcoffeeworld.com/How- ... e-s/54.htm

Katie wrote:But o no! some will say, there's sodium in mineral water! and here's what I learned about that, which I never knew before (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong): first, there's not much, if any, sodium in mineral water, and second, there is an important distinction to be made between sodium chloride, the overly abundant ingredient in so many foods that raises blood pressure, and other sodium forms, particularly sodium bicarbonate, which are actually beneficial in reducing blood pressure. Sodium bicarbonate is often found along with calcium and magnesium in true mineral waters. In short, it's not sufficient to judge based on the presence of the cation (Na+); it matters what type of anion is present.

On this subject, I found this today:

"[A] hypertensive effect of sodium has been noted when accompanied by chloride but not by bicarbonate [23-25]."

In: "Effect of a high bicarbonate mineral water on fasting and postprandial lipemia in moderately hypercholesterolemic subjects: a pilot study," Zair et al., Lipids Health Dis. 2013; 12: 105, doi: 10.1186/1476-511X-12-105
References cited:
23. Boegehold MA, Kotchen TA. Importance of dietary chloride for salt sensitivity of blood pressure. Hypertension. 1991;17:I158–161. doi: 10.1161/01.HYP.17.1_Suppl.I158.
24. Schorr U, Distler A, Sharma AM. Effect of sodium chloride- and sodium bicarbonate-rich mineral water on blood pressure and metabolic parameters in elderly normotensive individuals: a randomized double-blind crossover trial. J Hypertens. 1996;14:131–135.
25. Ziomber A, Machnik A, Dahlmann A, Dietsch P, Beck FX. et al.Sodium-, potassium-, chloride-, and bicarbonate-related effects on blood pressure and electrolyte homeostasis in deoxycorticosterone acetate-treated rats. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2008;295:F1752–1763. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00531.2007.