empirical water glacial v1.5 — Concentrate Set
empirical water glacial v1.5 — Concentrate Set
empirical water is the brew water of choice for numerous World and US Coffee Champions.
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See Our Endorsements
See Our 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
Brew like a world champion.
At empirical water, we produce brew water that unlocks boundless sweetness and aromatics in your coffee & tea, with virtually zero harshness.
Inspired by natural mineral water from glaciers, our glacial profile is harmonious and lively, emphasizing clarity and complexity in coffee, espresso and tea.
What to expect from empirical water
- Brew on Easy Mode — Dial into a huge sweet spot, for tasty brews on easy mode.
- Intense Sweetness — Get high levels of sweetness in every brew.
- Clean Depth — Mute funky off-notes without reducing desirable flavors.
- Silky Smooth — Luxurious mouthfeel without any drying sensations.
How did we do it?
We reverse-engineered glacial mineral water by painstakingly emulating the natural limestone dissolution process, for record-low levels of chloride and sulfate impurities in our water.
Simply dilute the provided mineral concentrates with zero TDS water, and you can easily mix world class brew water for any coffee or tea.
Comes in sturdy, reusable glass bottles. Crafted in small batches, one batch at a time. Supply is limited.
Customers outside of USA & Canada: Please note that you are responsible for duty fees (normally ~$10), and that your water will be shipped in PET bottles for durability reasons.
What's in the box?
What's in the box?
Your order contains:
- Hardness concentrate — Comes in 1 liter bottle(s).
- Buffer concentrate — Comes in 1 oz dropper bottle(s).
- Extraction Booster — If selected, comes in 1/2 oz dropper bottle(s).
- Info Card — A written introduction to empirical water and a convenient QR code to the User Guide.
Silica
Silica
empirical water is the only coffee water on the market to incorporate silica, a mineral that occurs naturally in many of the world's finest mineral waters.
Silica boosts sweetness, mouthfeel, and aftertaste.
Some describe the silica sensation as experiencing the sensory characteristics of your brew in slow motion. Aromatics stick around in your nose, mouth and throat for minutes on end.
If selected, silica will be added to your Hardness concentrate.
Extraction Booster
Extraction Booster
The Extraction Booster is a dropper bottle of mineral concentrate, designed to increase flavor intensity and definition.
Mineral Composition
Mineral Composition
glacial v1.5
Harmonious and lively, with an emphasis on clarity and complexity. Suitable for coffee, espresso and tea. Default TDS: 70 mg/L
Ingredients
Ingredients
All ingredients are found in naturally occurring glacial water.
Hardness: Calcium carbonate, magnesium sulfate, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride.
Buffer: Deionized water, sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate.
Extraction Booster: Deionized water, magnesium chloride, magnesium sulfate.
Bonuses with your order
200% Extra Buffer
All orders come with triple the required amount of buffer.
By adjusting the amount of buffer according to the water recipes in the User Guide, you can make water for any coffee roast or brew method.
1-on-1 Brewing Guidance
When you're accustomed to brewing with the same water for a long time, it can be disorienting to make a switch - especially when the new water is unlike anything else on the market.
That's why as the developer, I'm offering my time to personally assist you in bringing the best out of your coffee or tea with empirical water.
Guidance includes:
- 1-on-1 Brewing Consultations — Your order confirmation includes my personal contact information. From then on, I'll be available 7 days a week to personally help you every step of the way to brew the best coffee or tea you've ever tasted.
- Brew Video Analysis — Record your brew using your phone camera and send it over. I'll analyze your brew, help you figure out what's going wrong, and explain how to fix it.
Official Discord Access
Water is the most impactful brewing variable. So when you keep the water constant between your setup and someone else's, you gain the advantage of having truly consistent and valuable conversations around coffee.
In the Empirical Water Discord, you'll find people who brew similar coffees with similar brewing methods using the same water. There, you can directly copy already-perfected brew recipes with immediate success — for instantly dialed-in brews.
Customer Reviews
The review title could just as easily read best water PERIOD.
If you still have doubts they will vanish once you try Empirical Water.
Simply taste the water before brewing it and see the difference for yourself.
Shipping is always fast and the care taken in packaging is outstanding.
You’ve tried the rest, Now treat yourself to the Best.
Before Empirical water, I used cheap bottled water and holy moly, Empirical Water makes my coffee go from a 5 to a 10. It’s a night and day difference. I will definitely be subscribing and getting shipments weekly.
I used the Spring in my Aiden and my cup was immediately brighter which on first taste wasn’t great, but after a few sips really brought out the flavor notes of my already favorite coffee and made it so much better.
The Glacial was incredible though. I made an espresso with my normal water, emptied my reservoir and changed it to the Glacial and literally everything else was the same parameters (dose, WDT, water temp, yield) and the cup was so much better it was like a smack in the face. Went from great tasting espresso that I already had, to great tasting but also that thick syrupy texture that I’ve only had from cafes on my trip to Italy a few years ago. 100% recommend and will order again in the future!
I was shocked when I tried Empirical Water. I used to only use RO water with little thought to mineral content. Empirical Water changed the whole palette of the coffee, resulting in a sweeter, more rounded brew. Water makes up the vast majority of your coffee, makes sense that you'd want to control it as a variable!
Also, I'm not sure if this is all in my head, but I swear the water extracted more caffeine too. I was buzzing off my normal amount of coffee. Caffeine is very soluble in water so it's probably all in my head but I'd be interested if anyone else has experienced this.
What's nice about Empirical is that it's solid without tweaks. If you know the importance of water in coffee, this is a must try. Arby is right about widening your extraction sweet spot with this water - it's truly forgiving.
I’m a coffee noob and am still trying to develop my palette. My current water jug ran out so I grabbed the empirical water to try it today. It instantly made a fruitier cup where I could taste more of the notes on the box than anything I’ve done before! I am actually really impressed and will continue to purchase.
I use Spring for brewing coffee and loose leaf teas. I prefer this water over Glacial for Spring’s bombastic extraction power and thick, flavorful brews with a minimum of harshness. Glacial tastes good but Spring expresses more flavor, color and texture in the final cup.
Pour over dark roast coffee: very forgiving yet rich brews. The cup is always full of roasty dark flavors without being oppressive. I think this is the best water for coffee (though it’s not for espresso).
Loose leaf Chinese black tea in a gaiwan: comes out velvety and chocolatey, deliciously sweet and cocoa-y. The brew is noticeably syrupy and has a deep, dark red hue.
Loose leaf Chinese Green tea in a gaiwan: fresh, sweet, nutty, and intense umami flavors are elevated, while bitterness is pretty much a non-issue. The tea presents as soup-like and enriching.
Sencha in a kyusu: warm, comforting savory notes are emphasized, yielding a fragrant, brothy result and brilliant yellow-green hues.
note: I use Spring concentrate, which I mix with DI water to use as my brew water. I always mix it with the buffer amount intended for tea, as denoted in the Empirical Water User Guide. Despite my initial misgivings about high mineral content water, it seems Spring is the best water for tea that I have tried.
This week I tried Spring for my tea. Everything tastes better with this water. Glacial is still my go to for coffee but Spring elevates green tea especially. Very excited.
My use case has been ultra light to light roast espresso shots 1:2.5 ratio at 93C on high extraction burrs. I really like how it has given a smooth finish bright acidity and I have had less astringency when I push extractions. I like the creative profiles I can get with lotus but right now I really like empirical water and plan to stick with it for a while.
Glacial 1.5 yields an impressively balanced presentation across a wide spectrum of coffees and teas; ultralights, comfort roasts, shaded greens, yancha, puer, and more.
If you've dabbled in making your own brewing water, you'll notice a level of liveliness, clarity, and flavor separation that you might not have expected was possible at this level of texture, sweetness, and depth.
Extra silica is a nice add-on but not strictly necessary imo. It adds a fullish and slippery texture, with an almost-undetectable increase in sweetness.
Most coffees can be pushed a bit harder without becoming muddy or harsh, though careful dialing-in is still necessary for best results.