Legend has it James Hoffmann constantly measures oxygen concentration in the air and then decides how much to absorb by calibrating his lungs to obtain the perfect oxygenation in his blood that will make coffee taste better.

It could have been interesting to have the demineralized water and straight tap water in there as a sanity check, or maybe a second test with the winner of the additives compared to the two baselines.

In awe of how James can say “dipping a toe in…” on the subject of water with a COMPLETELY straight face.

I keep thinking of that ProZD skit on water and just laughing through this whole thing. (Not to imply anything bad-just fun to remember how deep this is down the coffee hole).

Just wanted to pointed out that despite the cagey-ness around their recipes (generally), the composition of Third Wave Water is actually known: Sodium chloride for a sodium concentration of 10 ppm, Magnesium Sulfate for a Mg2+ concentration of 70-80 ppm, and Calcium citrate for a Ca2+ concentration of 50-60ppm. Target overall TDS is 140 ppm. Those specs are from an interview with one of the founders/owners. Since then I measured Ca2+ with a standard API test kit to be 40-60ppm with an overall tot hardness of 2-3°dKh or 35-54 ppm carbonanate hardness. From this it should be fairly straightforward to figure out the actual exact composition of the packets with some high school chemistry stoichiometry and simple math. Cheers!

The “1 - 3 - 7 Liter” vessel problem reminds me of a scene with Bruce Willis in the movie Die Hard 3, where he is trying to figure out how to get exactly three gallons of water into a five-gallon container.

If someone else has already commented on this, I apologize for the duplicate. Here in the US, the 5 gallon container is quite common, especially on those office-type water coolers that hold an inverted tank. We even had one in my parents house when I was growing up because the tap water was so bad (the town was near an abandoned sulphur quarry), and we used the water cooler constantly. Also, back then we didn’t have plastic containers, they were thick glass. 1 jug weighed 20 pounds empty, plus 5 gallons of water @ ≈8 lbs/gal, =60 lbs or so. And you had to pick up this open bottle, lift about 3 feet in the air, and then invert it into it’s receptacle. Fun times.

I feel like you needed a control to see not only how they compare, but how they compare against tap water

The way to get more liquid into a dropper is to: turn the bottle upside down, squeeze the air out and hold it, bring it right side up and then let go

I really expected a taste of the water before brewing. As a reference.

Extreme props for the shirt. Too rare to see a business owner with an actual respect for labor's dignity.

Wow... and here I am sipping a mug of coffee brewed in hard English south-coast water like an absolute pleb.

Fun fact: James doesn’t use any hair products. It’s the way it is purely because of the amount of coffee he drinks.

Went to college at Cedarville University, just up the street from where third wave water’s origination. The town has only 3 traffic lights and is in the middle of a corn field. It’s so cool to see how large this company has become from such a small town. I doubt 5% of the cities population even understands how big Third Wave Water is in the coffee industry.

The levels of nerdiness in coffee brewing officially knows no bounds.

In beer brewing, the water chemistry nerds get to astonishing levels of detail. Different water chemistry helps with different styles and historically tended to influence where different styles of beer became popular (for example, a place where the water made great stouts and mediocre pale ales would be more likely to brew a lot of stout). I think coffee probably would benefit from water chemistry in the same way, but I'm never going to brew with anything other than my normal drinking water.

I really think a chart at the end showing how each water performed on each roast would've been really informative!

James, thanks a million for your cold V60 recipe--it's so delicious and refreshing now when the weather is too hot to drink regular coffee ♥️♥️♥️

I love these coffee brewing "chemistry" videos. It reminds me so much of when I used to home-brew beer. I would always start from distilled and build up the mineral profile based on the style of beer. There are so many similarities between brewing beer and coffee that I never realized were there until I started watching these videos!

Should've done a control as distilled/mineral-free water. Interesting how scattershot the results were. Guessing it dosen't really matter too too much unless you've got something really high in TDS like well water.

alternative title: which minerals should you crave the most?

I love how genuinely excited he was that all of them one a category

Aquacode is my fave. Actually they included a card with liters/ppm, I often use 5 liters for a sachet to reach 80++ ppm for filter coffee.

AQUACODE comes with a little card that tells you how much ppm/TDS (mineral content) you get with different water amounts. I always use it with 5 liters for 118ppm. Third Wave Water doesn‘t tell you the TDS, which is a bit frustrating, but from research I found that it leads to around 150ppm in a gallon, and thus a bit lower in 5l, which is quite similar to AQUACODE. The 7 liters you mentioned would lead to 85ppm, which is clearly softer. Another great advantage of AQUACODE is that it comes dissolved in water already. With Third Wave Water, they actually recommend waiting for a day or two for the powder to properly dissolve and I‘ve found people seeing clear differences in taste right after mixing it compared to 2 days later. That seems quite a barrier to me as well in Third Wave Watre, compared to AQUACODE that is already 100% dissolved right away.

I’m very happy with Third Wave Water. I didn’t even know other coffee water recipes existed!

I’ve got fairly hard water here in the Midwest United States. My local roaster told me about third wave and I’ve been using it for several months. I use the classic for pour over and the espresso for, well espresso. I’ve been very happy with the results.

Was tasked to watch your videos for work at a coffee shop. So glad they picked you 😄

Absolutely obsessed with James videos I have only been following for 1 week

I def need have to try that AND wow, you look good in that blush color. Matches your full lps too.

I was waiting for the video like this. That's one so good for me. Thanks James!

Holy moly. I use the water from the tab. Thank you very much

I ended up getting perfect coffee water. I liked that they had the gallon jug option on their site and that you can use filtered water (which is what my novice self has been using to make my pour overs). So I think the accessibility to different options was the winner for me. I also make a lot of medium roast coffees and when they came in #1 for that category, I knew that was the option I wanted to use. Thanks so much for this informative comparison.

That is so on time. I currently experimenting with custom water recipes. I'm really liking BH recipe.

I've learned more about coffee culture from watching this channel than a lifetime of loitering in cafes drinking coffee. Always informative, always interesting.

Would've loved to see you include a standard Brita filtered tap water option, as well as the Peak Water filter.

This gives me the same vibe as audiophile cables.

Now you gotta try third wave water espresso profile. Noticeable difference when pulling a shot I find.

For Acquacode James, i am pouring one sachet into a liter of water, keep this bottle on a side, take an other one, add 825ml of water then add 175ml of the first bottle ( or 850ml+150ml). I found it very convenient using it that way.

I’ve been using the third wave water fir most of my 8 months journey in coffee. I like the routine of putting the packets into my reverse osmosis water that I use. I’m an in usa so they come in the gallon size for us. I found a difference in taste right away when I just use plain water. It definitely brightens the flavors in my medium roast coffee I like 👍

I've been using both TWW and Perfect Coffee Water for a bit now. I use the 5-gallon packets because I can take a 5-gallon jug to Whole Foods and fill it up on my way home. I have a 2-gallon jug I then fill it with that has a spigot by my brew bar and it makes it super easy.

I actually just started using Third Wave this week. I have a Reverse Osmosis system and wanted to give it a shot. I definitely notice an improvement in the flavor of my brew (Medium Roast). Feels more balanced and am planning to make it a normal part of my morning, though I may give some of these other ones a shot. Thanks for the information!

I use third wave water espresso profile because I can purchase it from a physical store. Most people dilute it, so using the 1 gal sachet into a 4L jug of water is fine. I use it because it keeps my espresso machine cleaner and noticeably makes the fruit flavors stand out.

I use AquaCode in my shop, and it works really well with medium roast. 2 1/2 sachets with 19L of galons, 112 PPM🙌🏼. Thank you for making this video james!

Appreciate the minimal slurps - thanks James.

For reference living in the middle of California, I can go to practically any grocery store and buy water by the gallon in either spring water, distilled, or filtered. And most grocery stores also have 5 gallon refillable/exchangeable bottles. That is aside from bottles (or 18-24+ cases of bottles) intended for individual consumption. If I go to an agricultural store (farm supplies) I can easily buy water storage for 20, 30, 50, up to hundreds of gallons. Although the largest might need a special order

There should really be a fifth cup in every category. The one with "normal" Brita filtered or similar.

I've used thirdwave and GC. I found GC to be difficult and often made the flavor flatter in light and medium roast. Thirdwave is my everyday and its dark roast blend definitely has a huge positive impact on dark roast over its normal and GC.

I always love the aspect of water profiles. Just like with brewing beer. I was hoping that you'd have tested regular tap water with those profile waters, but still really an interesting topic.

Coincidentally I'm doing the same thing currently, but to brew tea. Made 10x concentrates so there's less volume of products around. Normally half to a quarter of the intended concentration works better for tea brewing. Only got around to brewing a single type of tea for now, will move to more developed roasts later. By the way, congratulations on the release of your audio book! Already listening to it, it is lovely!!

I use RO (reverse osmosis) water with Third Wave. That’s all I have used so I have nothing to compare it to. I’m happy with the results and have no reason to change. I enjoyed the comparison video.

Great video James and team. I like that there is no "winner" it's more about which one pairs best with what coffee.

Been waiting for this one. Thank you!

James and your dives into the minutia of water! I learn something every time I watch you. Thanks. Coffee? Please.

Been using 5gallon jugs for a mobile espresso setup using TWW espresso profile. Love it knowing water is perfect and simple (safe for equipment), and did notice more balance in shots when I switched from straight filtered water

I always love how James does this delicate dance around picking a frontrunner in these head to head type videos.. Well played.

I mix water for espresso, partially for scale protection, partially for taste. I use a slightly modified Pavis recipe from concentrate. Easy addition to my workflow and makes great coffee!

I’ve been using Third wave water espresso version for both filter and espresso. I start with tap water and filter using a Zero Water filter. I found that when I switched to using Third Wave additive, I got a more consistent balanced and sweet cup from light roast coffees for both drip and espresso coffee’s.

I have been using Third Wave Water for about 2 years now. It is super simple to use and it does add that a little to the cup quality. I was given a free sample of Perfect Water and I thought at the time it added a little more sparkle to the acidity compared to the Third Wave. To me this packets are worth the $1 USD per a packet. Way more easier than mixing your own base and aklaline mixtures.

I’ve been using Third Wave for years and years because I live in the small town where Taylor developed it and our family is close with theirs. It’s been the only option for us. Never been dissatisfied with it!

I used 3rd wave for about a year before switching to a RO system. I would say it was very easy to use here in the US as 1 packet = 1 gal of distilled water (which is very accessible). The only comparison i had was to my refrigerator filtered water and it was a world of difference, almost too acidic and sharp initially. It revealed more about my filtered tap water and how important water was when brewing coffee.

I've been using the Third Wave Classic formula for drip coffee for several months and I am happy with the results. That said, the one uncontrolled variable is that neither Zero Water nor distilled water guarantee a neutral ph as a starting point. Zero Water removes minerals & impurities but does not adjust ph. And commercial distilled water becomes slightly acidic when it combines with carbon dioxide from exposure to air.

For these types of tests, I'd love to see the entire test repeated 2-3 times to see if it's not just random chance.

I have only tried Third Wave Water and Aquacode. The standard formula of Third Wave creates a 150-180 PPM water while Aquacode is around 85 PPM when adding 7L of water. The TDS of the two are so different that I believe the difference in TDS would influence the results. I tried to dilute them to the same TDS and found that Aquacode is sweeter and more defined. In fact, if you just drink the water, Aquacode is quite different from any regular mineral water. But Third Wave tastes just like a bottled water. Another thing is that, high TDS water tends to create vague flavors. But it could be used to decrease some unpleasant flavors like harshness or smokiness.

Thank you so much for; this video. I've been looking at these options

We have five gallon jugs for water dispensers in the states. There're also 5 gallon corny kegs that were be used to for soda fountains (modern fountains mix packets of syrup with carbonated water), but are now commonly used in the homebrewing space. I'm planning on building a coffee bar and keeping coffee water on tap using a corny keg.

Really interesting, (BC = Before Covid) I travelled between 3 countries, one where bottled water was compulsory (thailand) & the other 2 tap water (hard in Sydney & close to neutral in Singapore). Same coffee in each tastes slightly different. I assumed batch variations but now maybe also water. You've made my life more complicated.

I’ve been to where they make the Third Wave additives! The coffee shop attached is awesome! I want to go back so bad. They also have fantastic teas too.

I use Thirdwave Water. I have been using it for over a year. I have not tried any other supplements. The taste is consistent and so much better than anything else I have tried. Plus I like their background story.

Using aquacode water in a one liter bottle and then adding 175 grams at full dilution to 825 grams of distilled water gives a tds of about 100. Very convenient and easy to go lower or higher in tds.

Oh my goodness, I can't thank you enough James! All of your videos are super informative and beyond helpful for the lamen folks like myself! I didn't need a dictionary or a degree to understand what you were explaining. I didn't feel dumb. I will be implementing all of your suggestions. I will be requesting information from my local water company. I will not be purchasing whole house water filtration products. I will be testing different water additives that you showed in this segment and let you know the outcome. I will be preparing to start using Square Space for my own life passions. Thank you so much! Please keep up the wonderful and amazing videos. I'll be waiting and watching.

Love all of your videos and book. You are the one that started my journey to the 'Better cup of Coffee'! My water journey started with the realization that when I bought Starbucks coffees and brought them home... they were not as good. Why? Better equipment couldn't make all the difference. It had to be the water. And it was! I tried 3rd Wave and it improved it, but not where I wanted it. When asked ,most Starbucks employees will tell you it is due to their 3x filtration. Which, if you understand extraction... coffee would be very bitter w/o minerals. I found through much research that a man named David Beeman (Global Customized Water) created a mineral combination recipe for Starbucks that is added at the end of the filtration process. This is the Starbucks secret. Anywhere in the world, Starbucks will taste the same. I worked for over a year, experimenting with the few avialable water recipes and with my own adjustments to create my desire for the silky mouth-feel, complex taste, and desired extraction of my coffees. It has been a blast and you get to drink a lot of coffee as a bonus. Long story short... if you're not happy with the coffees you bring home - it's your water. Try the above products for a step forward and if you really feel ambitious... play chemist (for pennies per litter of minerals)! If it is a Hobby, it isn't work.

5 gallons is the typical size of the classic water cooler (*in the US) and the refill jugs for them are a widely available easy way to get water which has been filtered in various ways like RO or activated charcoal, et cetera.

I’ve used the Barista Hustle DIY water recipes to make my own. An issue is dissolving the calcium effectively but it can be done. Of these, and I’ve used all of them I prefer Perfect Water to 3rd Wave. Houston water is hard and the rule of thumb for us here is a 50/50 ratio of filtered Houston and distilled. I’m currently using Aquacode and did a test just last week of filtered Houston water straight versus prepared Aquacode and although there was a slight taste difference in the Aquacode’s favor, it wasn’t significant.

So I used the Third Wave stuff provided for the world's largest coffee tasting 2, and since I had plenty left over, I used some occasionally for my regular coffee or tea. I have to say... and two caveats here, my palate is NOT particularly well-trained, and as you mention, contrast is so important when trying to make these judgments... I didn't notice much of a difference when I made my usual hot beverages with it as opposed to with my tap water. Granted, the tap water in my area is pretty good! It can have a bit of a plastic or chlorine taste, but boiling tends to get rid of that. It also makes me wonder if there's enough trace mineral buildup in my kettle that anything I put in it would pick that up.

I live in brasil. Around here the water is pretty good. I lived in Peru, where the water is heavy and harsh, so i do understand the problem. But its still sounds like crazy doing your special water to brew coffee!

Reminds me of the cocktail matrix on How to Drink. Might be fun to try a matrix of different roasts with different grinders.

I have been using Third Wave Water for about 6 months and I can really taste the difference from using filtered water. I enjoy the coffee and the only pain is that I can only find distilled water in 1 gallon jugs so have to buy a bunch and then find a place to store them until needed. I have not tried any others so I am curious to try the B product as I usually roast to a medium level. Thanks for doing this comparison. Thanks also for the coffee give away (I don't enter as I roast my own).

Third wave water in the US uses gallons. That’s nice they make it for the location they are selling to.

GC Water i have used for five years out of a five gallon bottle on my two head Cimbali at home outstanding. Start with almost zero TSD up to 150 works for me

Yes. 5 gallon refillable jugs are commonplace in the U.S. Most often, they will be put in a water dispenser machine.

It’s funny to come back a few months after watching this - I switched to Perfect Coffee water and haven’t looked back!

I recently switched from a Brita to Third Wave water and definitely noticed an improvement, though I haven't tried the others. I'm using it with 1 gallon distilled water (you can buy 5 galons of water here, though I'm not sure about distilled). I prefer lighter roasts, so I might give Perfect Cup a try as well.

Hey James, I personally use aqua code brewing water! They have a dilution chart that shows the composition of minerals depending on how much water you add it to. I personally find the best results with the 9L dilution. Other coffee people have experimented with other dilutions to highlight different aspects of coffee as well. That might be worth trying if you have the time to explore :)

The link provided by James for GC Perfect Water has the solution for sale by the gallon if desired - and they actually list the contents for formula A and B on the front: Formula A is sodium hydrogen carbonate and potassium hydrogen carbonate in demineralized water. Formula B is calcium chloride in demineralized water. It should be noted ratios and dilution levels are not listed, but at least one knows the specific compounds used.

A few years ago we did a test with Third Wave Coffee water at my local cafe... same coffee brewed all the same but with different water. I think it was filtered, tap, hard water and Third Wave. You could definitely tell a difference and Third Wave did taste the best.

I would have been really curious for you to taste these waters by themselves!

Aquacode did well in the darker roasts because there is no bicarbonate in it which means that the acidity would be higher and therefore, create a more balanced cup in the dark roast category.

This is peak third-wave coffee... I love it

i'm using third wave, and i like it. didn't know what else was really available and also usable in a metric sense. I have a 2l sealable jug that i use to store my prepped water. but given the lack of things available to me at the time, i did buy that jug with third wave in mind, so. who knows. maybe i'll get a new jug. or a tank.

I live in the US and purchased a pack of Third Wave classic profile. I followed the directions and used one packet for 1 gallon of water. I used this water for my pour over recipes. It made the coffee incredibly weak. I think adding just one packet of these minerals resulted in overly soft water. I tried experimenting by adding 2-3 packets into 1 gallon of DI water and the results were much better.

Man do I love these videos.

I use Third Wave, Espresso Profile. I picked it mainly because it was the only option I was aware of. I knew my tap water was too hard, and the Reverse Osmosis water we use for drinking would be devoid of anything helpful to extraction!

I've been using TWW but have also been experimenting with diluting it by half since a full dosage has a pretty high TDS of around 150. I actually did a cupping experiment a couple weeks ago comparing the same coffee with the full dosage of TWW, a 50% dosage, and normal filtered water and found the 50% dosage balanced the acidity a bit better than the full dosage, while both TWW versions outshined the filtered water by far

I use third wave espresso profile. Can’t wait to try the others. A short time ago they were the only players in town.

A very nice tasting, thanks! 👏🏻

When the coffee cools down drastically you can taste the biggest differences. GC we've found works the best as far as pour overs

I felt that I had tumbled down the coffee rabbit hole far enough, but then this video landed and now I am questioning my filtered water and obsessive descaling rituals as being sub-optimal preparations. 😮

Ordinarily this would be in the crazy deep end of coffee things but it’s very useful to make the deionized/demineralized water in my house a lot more drinkable.

I ended up with Aquacode only because it was the only water treatment solution my cafe had in stock at the time. If you ever did a follow-up to this it would be interesting to know the impact of pure water on coffee quality.

My sister got me the third wave classic for Christmas. I had my first cup from a v60 this morning. The flavor was quite different from my normal cup. I'm new to the specialty coffee game so I'm not able to describe the differences but it was definitely noticeable. Pretty neat, but not really sustainable for me. It was hard finding distilled water and I don't want to use more plastic.