Water really matters when you’re brewing coffee. Different waters can dramatically change how a single coffee will taste.

But what is the right water for the best coffee?

In this episode I will give you the answer, but I will first take you back billions of years to tell you the story of a single mineral and how it's responsible for making our coffees taste lame. Because here’s the thing: water science is chemistry, and chemistry is very complicated and easily forgettable. But with a great story, I’m hoping you’ll remember!

In the second half, I show you why Christopher Hendon’s book Water for Coffee made a big splash in the coffee community, but also why some academic chemists are critical of the book, and how this all manifested in the creation of the Specialty Coffee Association’s Water Quality Handbook.

And, to cap it all off, I offer you some environmentally conscious ways to get hold of good water for coffee, so your coffee brews can finally explode in flavour.

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Discover this episode’s sponsor BWT’s water filtration products. I use their Penguin Magnesium Mineralised cartridges and cafes can use their BestAqua ROC

Read Marcia Bjornerud’s amazing book, Reading The Rocks 

Want more to listen to more documentary podcasts about coffee? Check out Filter Stories

SCA’s Water Quality Handbook

BWT White Paper on the effects of magnesium (German)

How to add magnesium to your soft water out of the tap (scroll to bottom)

Christopher Hendon’s Water for Coffee

Certificate of Advanced Studies at Zurich’s Coffee Excellence Center online course

Read ‘The Craft and Science of Coffee’

Barista Hustle's Water course

James Hoffman's water video

Samo Smrke - LinkedIn and Instagram

Chahan Yeretzian - Linkedin

Frank Neuhausen - LinkedIn

Marcia Bjornerud - Academic profile

Christopher Hendon - LinkedIn and Instagram

BWT Water and More - https://bit.ly/3EEpuxN

Marco Beverage Systems - https://bit.ly/3T2YDzY

Trabocca - https://bit.ly/3Tjn8bV

Eversys - https://bit.ly/3CBkp6X

Oatly - https://bit.ly/3exvlKS

Fiorenzato - https://bit.ly/3T3nmUQ

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