Just returned from World of Coffee in Jakarta! (amazing experience btw)
At the festival I collected some eye-opening insights about water.
- 44 out of 50 World Brewers Cup competitors used Apax Lab water. - 8 of the 9 finalists as well.
But interestingly, the winner, George Peng from China, used a natural mineral water with only 40 TDS.
This reflects a broader trend: a clear shift toward ultra-low or even zero alkalinity water.
I met the folks behind Aquacode at their booth at the festival, and confirmed with them. No alkalinity at all.
My own tests with Apax Lab show a similar results: virtually no measurable alkalinity via a drop test kit.
That’s a major departure from traditional SCA water standards, which I have talked about on the channel before.
And while the low KH approach can work beautifully with the right coffee and roast, I also noticed a recurring issue across many of the festival booths: Coffees that were clearly high quality, but lacked balance... often overly acidic or vegetal.
I measured the water being used at several booth to around 10 ppm TDS. Essentially pure RO water.
I was fortunate to have brought my own water for the two bar takeovers I did. Without it, I would likely have served the same overly bright cups.
This showed me that even at the highest level in coffee, water knowledge is often underdeveloped.
Mineral products can be convenient, but they don’t teach you the fundamentals, and they will actually become a crutch in the long run.
It's for this reason, I have built a comprehensive coffee water course. You can learn what took me years to figure out in just a few hours.
💡 After what I saw at WOC, I’ve decided to open a limited-time 25% discount. If you’ve been curious about dialing in your water with confidence, now’s a good time to start.
The Coffee Chronicler
Just returned from World of Coffee in Jakarta! (amazing experience btw)
At the festival I collected some eye-opening insights about water.
- 44 out of 50 World Brewers Cup competitors used Apax Lab water.
- 8 of the 9 finalists as well.
But interestingly, the winner, George Peng from China, used a natural mineral water with only 40 TDS.
This reflects a broader trend: a clear shift toward ultra-low or even zero alkalinity water.
I met the folks behind Aquacode at their booth at the festival, and confirmed with them. No alkalinity at all.
My own tests with Apax Lab show a similar results: virtually no measurable alkalinity via a drop test kit.
That’s a major departure from traditional SCA water standards, which I have talked about on the channel before.
And while the low KH approach can work beautifully with the right coffee and roast, I also noticed a recurring issue across many of the festival booths: Coffees that were clearly high quality, but lacked balance... often overly acidic or vegetal.
I measured the water being used at several booth to around 10 ppm TDS. Essentially pure RO water.
I was fortunate to have brought my own water for the two bar takeovers I did. Without it, I would likely have served the same overly bright cups.
This showed me that even at the highest level in coffee, water knowledge is often underdeveloped.
Mineral products can be convenient, but they don’t teach you the fundamentals, and they will actually become a crutch in the long run.
It's for this reason, I have built a comprehensive coffee water course. You can learn what took me years to figure out in just a few hours.
💡 After what I saw at WOC, I’ve decided to open a limited-time 25% discount.
If you’ve been curious about dialing in your water with confidence, now’s a good time to start.
Check it out here: coffeechronicler.gumroad.com/l/h20/WOC
6 months ago | [YT] | 127