empirical water is the brew water of choice for numerous World and US Coffee Champions.
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"I love the spring profile 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
"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)
"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
"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
"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
"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."
"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!"
"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."
"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."
"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
At empirical water, we produce brew water that unlocks boundless sweetness and aromatics in your coffee, espresso and tea, with virtually zero harshness.
Inspired by natural mineral water from springs, our spring profile is thick, concentrated and resonant, emphasizing body and richness.
We reverse-engineered spring mineral water by painstakingly emulating the natural limestone dissolution process, for record low levels of chloride and sulfate impurities in our water, and zero citrate.
Simply dilute the provided mineral concentrates with zero TDS water, and you can easily mix world class brew water for any coffee or tea.
Customers outside of USA, please note that you are responsible for duty fees.
Your order contains:
empirical water is the first 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.
Silica not suitable for use in coffee machines.
The Extraction Booster is a dropper bottle of mineral concentrate, designed to increase flavor intensity and definition.
Resonant and concentrated, with an emphasis on body and richness.
All ingredients are found in naturally occurring spring 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.
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.
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:
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.
Noticed a bump in sweetness. Have been using baking soda and epsom salts. This glacier formula is a nice improvement.
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.
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.
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.
Empirical Water Glacial version has quite substantially improved my coffee water. I have tried virtually every competitor out there. And I prefer the final product that this water produces. Hardcore baristas and hobbyist alike will enjoy their coffee more.
empirical water GLACIAL, v1.5 — Concentrate
For the coffee crowd (which I know is most of you) - if you go on YouTube and lookup "gongfucha pu'er tea" and spend 2 minutes watching a video, you'll know immediately I am fully able to empathize with you on the level of meticulous, optimized, detail-oriented care that goes into your daily ritual and life's passion. As "water is the mother of tea", I have spent multiple years fiddling with water, mixing my own mineral batches, and even helping Arby test his waters in the development phase as the journey moved forward.
I've known Arby for a good while now, and since the early days, he's been a man I've categorized in the top percentile of friends that I knew for certain would make a huge impact in his life. He has now created the best water I have ever used.
As of partway through 2023, I totally and entirely refuse to drink any of my nice teas without using Empirical Water. If I don't have enough to use for a session, I will have something else and wait. It's that game changing.
If I could single handedly float his entire company, I would. I am a customer for life. If you care at all about the quality of your tea and coffee, you should be too.
love the water! i was actually quite blown away with the results. Was able to try 3 different coffees (2 brews for each coffee one using control water and other empircal water). TDS was on average ~0.1 higher for all the brews with empirical and all had noticeable differences in taste i wont note all but top of the list being a more sweet, like insanely sweet. I used 3 coffees that i know very well and honestly did not know these coffees could have as much sweetness as they did with said brews.
Just did an A/B cupping of a September coffee using my normal 40/20/20 and empirical and the differences are huge.
40Mg/20Ca/20k
- very upfront acidity
-low body
- I find more florals and herbal notes than sweetness with a clear delineation of flavor
Empirical
- huge difference in body/mouthfeel
-very balanced with emphasis on sweetness
- some florals on initial sip but then goes to more darker fruit characteristics turning it juicy which is different . I find slightly less delineation with more blended flavor presentation.
They’re both really great and just highlights different attributes of the coffee so I can't say anything about “better” but definitely a viable option to consider .
I’ve been experimenting with water for a while; this formula has everything I’ve been aiming to achieve in a very approachable, user friendly experience. I will be buying this again. Id recommend this to everyone who is trying to elevate their coffee (and tea) experience.
I've tried everything from filtered tap, bottled water, Third Wave Water, to making my own mineral concentrates and targeting specific amounts of alkalinity and hardness from sodium + potassium bicarbonate and magnesium + calcium chloride. Empirical Water is by far and away the best results I've had so far. On top of the water, Arby has been great to communicate with in the live chat--super friendly and helpful when it comes to chatting water and brew recipes.
I am no means a cultured coffee aficionado, but I love my very bold dark roast brews at 14.25:1. I use both a cone drip (Brevelle BDC-455) on a strong setting with an unbleached Melita cone filter when rushed and a Chemex pour over with an unbleached Chemex square filter when I am into some time investment, both with the same water/coffee ratios. That being said they are on the bold side. I have used other reminalized water products as well as some home based attempts. With Empirical Water I am finding my brews are more smooth without loss of the flavor boldness. I am using the 1.3 and the 1.4 versions of Empirical Water mixing formulas. I have not adjusted buffer conc. to accommodate the dark roast, that is something to try later, but I am more than satisfied with the results I am getting from the 1.4 ver. Empirical Water! I was skeptical that CaCO3 in an aqueous solution would be so beneficial to the enhanced coffee richness and sweetness, but it really is the key to the best coffee I am brewing. Thank you Arby for all your research and experimentation!
The goal has always been to take my personal enjoyment of coffee and tea, and transfer that to others. It's downright special to hear that calcium carbonate has made the difference for you. Best of luck in your coffee brewing journey!
Guarantee consistent brews with water curated for your needs.
I love the smoothness, the ease of swallowing, the extension and clarity of aftertaste. Empirical Water is a beautiful water that has reinvigorated my tea experience.
I have started drinking my coffee black again
I use 2 gallons a week so 4 liters or 40 gallons is 5 weeks of use, at $177 for 1.2 months isn’t really cost effective even in its wonderfully liquid form. I can simulate this with Ionic organic liquid minerals even calcium carbonate for a 3rd of the price. So I have a lot to balance and consider
Excellent
Great water for coffee
3 weeks of brewing Glacial alongside TWW. for 3 weeks. I was skeptical but it's tastier - tightly knit but complex , great clarity and flavor separation . The aftertaste very flavorful and fragranced. TWW good but the Empirical superior and noticeably different It's a luxury item that's worth the price
Glacier was night and day versus tap water, and the other coffee specific mineral combinations I tried
I ordered an Empirical Water set of mineralization solutions to enhance my coffee made with my Zero filter system.
I prefer medium to medium dark roasts, and have struggled to achieve the balance that I am seeking (enhanced flavor depth and a more 'round' or softness on the pallet). My results so far using Empirical Water solutions, have been brighter and sharper notes.
I am not a barista, but have been able to achieve fantastic results with other products. Perhaps it is my lack of understanding about the utilization of the product beyond the recipes offered on the Empirical website. Or perhaps I am seeking something that this product is not designed for.
Very nice water, seems very consistent. Easy to mix, thanks!
How should I start..Well I have been trying different water recipes for a while using various combinations. Having used a lot of minerals both premixed and individually available ones, only thing I can say is that nothing comes close to Empirical Water. What adds another layer of usability is the fantastic support that comes with it! I am in water haven.
The Glacial concentrate consistently makes the best coffee compared to other waters on market. It produces consistently vibrant, balanced cups with solid clarity. Being super easy to use is a bonus - I generally just make a gallon of brew water at a time which only takes a minute or so. Great product!!
