Filter Stories

1) Water For Brewing Coffee

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Episode notes

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 cartridges (https://bit.ly/3girG49) and cafes can use their BestAqua ROC (https://bit.ly/3EPLIx9)

Read Marcia Bjornerud’s amazing book, Reading The Rocks: https://bit.ly/3EQIYj4


Want more to listen to more documentary podcasts about coffee? Check out Filter Stories - https://bit.ly/3zb5vnO

Want to go deeper into water chemistry?

SCA’s Water Quality Handbook: https://bit.ly/3TyWM5X
BWT White Paper on the effects of magnesium (German): https://bit.ly/3TqOFbq
How to add magnesium to your soft water out of the tap (scroll to bottom): https://bit.ly/3s5WYOm
Christopher Hendon’s Water for Coffee: https://amzn.to/3Tbo3LS
Certificate of Advanced Studies at Zurich’s Coffee Excellence Center online course: https://bit.ly/3EMioYg
Read ‘The Craft and Science of Coffee’: https://bit.ly/3zb7bN8
Barista Hustle's Water course - https://bit.ly/3z8zSKA
James Hoffman's water video - https://bit.ly/3Duxn8f

Connect with my very knowledgeable guests:
Samo Smrke - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3EKrjtg) and Instagram (https://bit.ly/3IdrfRz)
Chahan Yeretzian - Linkedin (https://bit.ly/3S4emO1)
Frank Neuhausen - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3gg4Fie)
Marcia Bjornerud - Academic profile (https://bit.ly/3eCYuEi)
Christopher Hendon - LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/3EXULMe) and Instagram (https://bit.ly/3eAUuo3)