Endorsements

Jibbi Little — 2022 World Aeropress Champion 🥇

"I love the spring water for brewing coffee. It brings out floral and sweet notes, resulting in a clean cup without any bitter or drying aftertaste."

Try Jibbi's preferred mineral profile: spring

Julien Grey Langevin — 2022 US Cup Tasters Champion 🥇

"I’m blown away by the Glacial and Spring profiles," says Julien. "Both profiles increase the clarity of the cup immensely, and the acidity is more effervescent and round. The Glacial profile increases sweetness and more delicately articulates the savoriness. The Spring profile also increases sweetness, but it is more soft and refined. Overall I think Empirical Water really showcases coffees in a very special way." (Photo credit Matthew Temple)

Brian Quan — Coffee Professional

"Oh, this is interesting," says Brian about the glacial profile. "Very defined. This is really sweet. There is a distinctive difference between the two profiles. Out of the box with no adjustments, both of these profiles gave me really good brews." On the spring profile, Brian says, "It's round, it's sweet — it's actually really sweet. This is an incredibly good all-rounder water. I feel like I could brew almost any coffee with this water and it would give me good results across the board, boosting a lot of the enjoyable properties. It's really round and sweet, whereas the glacial profile has more definition. I think both of these profiles are really good, the question is whether you want to go in the direction of definition or sweetness and body. Pretty impressive. I do prefer glacial for the definition."

Try Brian's preferred mineral profile: glacial

Andrew Coe — 2023 World Roasters Championship 🥉, 2023 US Roasters Champion 🥇, Owner of Elevator Coffee

"As a roaster, I'm looking for coffee that has great balance and high sweetness," says Andrew. "Additionally, I'm always thinking about how customers can get great results brewing my coffees at home. I've been evaluating empirical water, and I've really enjoyed their glacial profile, a very easy to use bottled water for coffee. In my testing, it yields nicely balanced cups, yet the flavors are still distinct and clear." (Photo credit Savor Brands)

Try Andrew's preferred mineral profile: glacial

Sompetch "Pack" Katisomsakul — 2024 US National Brewer's Cup 🥉

"I was pleasantly surprised when I first tried empirical water. When I brewed a natural anaerobic coffee with it, the water softened the funky flavors, allowing hidden elements to shine with a clean finish, even as it cooled down. This water is excellent for enhancing the quality of your coffee. I highly recommend using empirical water to bring out the best flavors in coffee, especially in competitions, as I would do for myself."

Try Pack's preferred mineral profile: glacial

Kayla Baird — Cup of Excellence International Juror & London Coffee Masters Finalist

"I have brewed with the glacial profile," says Kayla, "and I was honestly so surprised and impressed at how much of a difference it made in the clarity of the coffee I brewed — a well-rested natural process coffee from Mexico."

Patrick Penny — Lead Product Developer at a major coffee company

"I’ve tested hundreds of water sources, including other ‘water optimizers’, for both personal and professional endeavors with tea and coffee. I can say with confidence that Empirical Water’s Spring and Glacial waters will bring your brews to the next level. I did both sequential and blinded tasting against a few of my favorite other water sources and the difference in sweetness perception, flavor clarity, and degree of extraction was clearly in Empirical Water's favor. I plan to continue using Empirical Water’s products both for fun experiments and everyday brewing!"

Grind That Coffee


"We’ve been brewing, testing, and comparing these profiles for a few weeks now, and we are impressed by the results," say Hanna and Damian from Grind That Coffee. "The brews are noticeably different from other available 'water options.' In terms of profiles, we found that for some coffees, we preferred glacial, while for others, the spring profile stood out—so there’s no clear winner for us yet."

"What they certainly have in common is that they bring sweetness to the forefront, create an incredibly pleasant mouthfeel, and extend the aftertaste. We love how some funky naturals that we previously found hard to drink suddenly became enjoyable, with the 'funkiness' reduced to a minimum. For washed coffees with high acidity, the glacial profile and buffer worked wonders to create a balanced cup! While we continue testing, we’re enjoying the brews these concentrates deliver and having fun experimenting."

Blooming Coffee

"The results we have with this water are simply incredible," say Alberto and Vanessa from Blooming Coffee. "From the first test, we noticed it enhances the essential qualities of each coffee, giving us more complex and balanced results. Depending on the coffee, it can intensify sweetness or balance acidity, creating a harmonious profile that stands out with every sip. What has surprised us the most is how it improves the mouthfeel and extends the aftertaste, making each cup much more enjoyable. Even coffees that were harder to appreciate before have revealed smoother notes and better-defined flavors. We’re still exploring its possibilities, but so far, empirical water has been key in discovering new dimensions in our coffees."

Nolan Dutton — Head Roaster and Green Coffee Buyer at Corvus Coffee

"We cupped a natural Costa Rica and a washed Kenya with our Denver unfiltered tap water, our own lab water (RO + remineralization), Third Wave Water, and empirical water," says Nolan. "I’d say the empirical water glacial profile was the best for the expression of flavor and vibrancy of the coffees, with Third Wave Water just behind the glacial in those qualities. I was slightly upset at how poorly our RO + remineralization performed."

Try Nolan's preferred mineral profile: glacial