Watering Hole

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Last updated: 12/31/2025

Introduction to why water is important here.

This is a page to go down the rabbit hole of making water.

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  • Links to recipes

  • Links to recipes

  • Links to recipes

Aviary (filter)

From the FAQ section

Recipe breakdown: 58GH/27KH

  • 33ppm epsom salt

  • 25ppm calcium chloride

  • 27ppm sodium bicarbonate

For 1gallon, mix

  • 0.300g epsom salt

  • 0.100g calcium chloride

  • 0.172g sodium bicarbonate

For 1liter, mix

  • 0.081g epsom salt

  • 0.028g calcium chloride

  • 0.045g sodium bicarbonate

Concentrate

In 350mL distilled water at 99º, mix

  • 8.67g of epsom salt

  • 2.33g of calcium chloride

  • 3.97g of sodiumbicarbonate

Use 4g of concentrate per liter, or 15g per gallon

Aviary (espresso)

  • Extrapolated from the FAQ section, “For espresso, we prefer closer to 20 GH and 50-70 KH (depending on your desire for acidity. If it's too bright, add more buffer).”

Recipe breakdown: 20GH/60KH

  • 11.3ppm epsom salt

  • 8.7ppm calcium chloride

  • 60ppm sodium bicarbonate

For 1gallon, mix

  • 0.100g epsom salt

  • 0.037g calcium chloride

  • 0.381g sodium bicarbonate

For 1liter, mix

  • 0.028g epsom salt

  • 0.010g calcium chloride

  • 0.100g sodium bicarbonate

Fam’s recipes (espresso)

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Hendon water recipe (espresso-ish)

  • Supposedly designed for longer espresso ratios.

  • Robert’s opinion: Not ideal for lighter roasts, perhaps better off with longer ratio espresso shots with medium roasts where you’re trying to increase perception of acidity.

Recipe breakdown: 99GH/31KH

  • 99ppm epsom salt

  • 31ppm potassium bicarbonate

For 1 gallon, mix

  • 0.920g epsom salt

  • 0.235g potassium bicarbonate

For 1 liter, mix,

  • 0.243g epsom salt

  • 0.062g potassium bicarbonate

Related links:

Holy water recipe (filter)

A recipe from strivefortone

62GH/23KH

For 1 gallon, mix

  • 0.560g epsom salt

  • 0.174g potassium bicarbonate

For 1 liter, mix,

  • 0.152g epsom salt

  • 0.046g potassium bicarbonate

Related links:

Lotus recipes

  • Description text goes here

  • 60GH/25KH

    • Calcium chloride

    • Potassium bicarbonate

  • Item description

  • Description text goes here

  • Item description

  • 72GH/18KH

Related links:

“Melbourne” water recipe (filter)

  • This is an approximation of Melbourne’s water, which has plenty more mineral variety.

  • 50GH/20KH

  • 0.460g epsom salt

  • 0.130g sodium bicarbonate

For 1gallon, mix

  • 0.460g epsom salt

  • 0.130g sodium bicarbonate

For 1liter, mix

  • 0.122g epsom salt

  • 0.034-g sodium bicarbonate

RAsami’s Week 1 recipe (espresso)

    • This recipe is intended to be closest to getting you started with materials you may already have at home. It should NOT be considered an end point.

    • This recipe is based off of Holy Water but with more common household minerals.

    60GH/20KH

    For 1 gallon, mix

    • 0.560g epsom salt

    • 0.127g baking soda

    For 1 liter, mix,

    • 0.148g (ehh, call it 0.15g) epsom salt

    • 0.034g baking soda

  • Recipe:

    40GH/15KH
    - 40ppm calcium chloride
    - 15ppm sodium bicarbonate

    This recipe may highlight floral, delicate qualities vs. the comparatively juicy and fruity characteristics in the recipe in step 3. Different, not necessarily better. Not a recipe I’d personally reach for with funkier, processed coffees.

    For 1 gallon, mix

    - 0.17g calcium chloride
    - 0.1g sodium bicarbonate

    For 1 liter, mix,

    - 0.044g calcium chloride

    - 0.025g sodium bicarbonate


  • Description text goes here

RAsami’s Week 1 recipes (filter)

    • This recipe is intended to be closest to getting you started with materials you may already have at home. It should NOT be considered an end point.

    • This recipe is based off of Holy Water but with more common household minerals.

    60GH/20KH

    • 60ppm epsom salt

    • 20ppm sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)

    For 1 gallon, mix

    • 0.560g epsom salt

    • 0.127g sodium bicarbonate

    For 1 liter, mix

    • 0.148g (ehh, call it 0.15g) epsom salt

    • 0.034g sodium bicarbonate

    • This recipe is intended to create contrast with the Day 1 recipe. It should NOT be considered an end point.

    • It is intended for lighter washed coffees, but is flexible to work with most light roasts.

    • There is a lot of calcium to dissolve, you will likely need to stir it up quite well overnight.

    40GH/15KH

    • 40ppm calcium chloride

    • 15ppm sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)

    For 1 gallon, mix

    • 0.170g calcium chloride

    • 0.100g sodium bicarbonate

    For 1 liter, mix,

    • 0.044g calcium chloride

    • 0.025g sodium bicarbonate


    • This recipe starts to touch on blending minerals

    • Consider how you like this water vs. the day 2 recipe, this recipe gauges how you feel about magnesium.

    60GH/15KH

    • 40ppm epsom salt

    • 20ppm calcium chloride

    • 15ppm sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)

    For 1 gallon, mix

    • 0.373 epsom salt

    • 0.084g calcium chloride

    • 0.100g sodium bicarbonate

    For 1 liter, mix,

    • 0.100g epsom salt

    • 0.022g calcium chloride

    • 0.025g sodium bicarbonate

    • Compared to the Day 3 recipe, we’ve flipped the primary GH mineral and leaning heavier towards calcium.

    • At this point, consider which way you lean - preferring calcium or magnesium.

    60GH/15KH

    • 20ppm epsom salt

    • 40ppm calcium chloride

    • 15ppm sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)

    For 1 gallon, mix

    • 0.186g epsom salt

    • 0.168g calcium chloride

    • 0.100g sodium bicarbonate

    For 1 liter, mix,

    • 0.050g epsom salt

    • 0.044g calcium chloride

    • 0.025g sodium bicarbonate

    • Now we’re playing with alternative buffer (KH) sources.

    • The recipe has 1:1 magnesium and calcium, but feel free to use the GH breakdown from any previous day you preferred so far.

    60GH/20KH

    • 30ppm epsom salt

    • 30ppm calcium chloride

    • 20ppm potassium bicarbonate

    For 1 gallon, mix

    • 0.280 epsom salt

    • 0.126g calcium chloride

    • 0.151g potassium bicarbonate

    For 1 liter, mix,

    • 0.074g epsom salt

    • 0.033g calcium chloride

    • 0.040g potassium bicarbonate

    • We’re adding more complexity, and starting to introduce minerals that don’t quite fit the GH/KH paradigm so far.

    40GH/15KH, 15ppm NaCl

    • 15ppm magnesium chloride

    • 15ppm epsom salt

    • 15ppm calcium chloride

    • 10ppm sodium bicarbonate

    • 5ppm potassium bicarbonate

    • 15ppm sodium chloride

    For 1 gallon, mix

    • 0.115g magnesium chloride

    • 0.140g epsom salt

    • 0.064g calcium chloride

    • 0.064g sodium bicarbonate

    • 0.038g potassium bicarbonate

    • 0.057g sodium chloride

    For 1 liter, mix (good luck measuring these tiny doses)

    • 0.030g magnesium chloride

    • 0.037g epsom salt

    • 0.017g calcium chloride

    • 0.017g sodium bicarbonate

    • 0.010g potassium bicarbonate

    • 0.015g sodium chloride

    • Now we’re going for different effects from Day 6.

    • This recipe remains complicated. Take these 7 recipes to find the sweet spot between laborious concoctions working your way backwards towards what you like.

    • From here on, your path forward is to find balances you enjoy and introduce additional mineral types for further effect.

    30GH/10KH, 20ppm NaCl

    • 15ppm epsom salt

    • 15ppm calcium chloride

    • 5ppm sodium bicarbonate

    • 5ppm potassium bicarbonate

    • 20ppm sodium chloride

    For 1 gallon, mix

    • 0.140g epsom salt

    • 0.063g calcium chloride

    • 0.032g sodium bicarbonate

    • 0.038g potassium bicarbonate

    • 0.076g sodium chloride

    For 1 liter, mix (good luck measuring these tiny doses)

    • 0.037g epsom salt

    • 0.017g calcium chloride

    • 0.008g sodium bicarbonate

    • 0.010g potassium bicarbonate

    • 0.020g sodium chloride

  • Noob-friendly, non-scaling water recipe for espresso machines with boilers. By design, there is no hardness.

  • Consider replacing potassium bicarbonate with sodium bicarbonate

  • Robert’s opinion: This is a boring water recipe made for short-ratio espresso and darker roasts. It’s popular with owners of big, fancy metal box machines with immense fear of scaling their equipment. I would not suggest this for modern espresso with light roasts, but this could be a great candidate to post-mineralize with dropper concentrates.

Recipe breakdown: 0GH/50KH

  • 50ppm potassium bicarbonate

For 1gallon, mix

  • 0.380g potassium bicarbonate

For 1liter, mix

  • 0.100g potassium bicarbonate

RPavalis water recipe (espresso)

  • The SCA guideline water for their tasting protocols.

  • Robert’s opinion: This is a water recipe that is a standard, not a good standard. Realistically nobody is using this for regular consumption, and even in professional contexts this guideline is not adhered to and overlooked. It may work okay for certain scenarios like cupping medium-dark, poorly roasted sample roasts, but I would not consider these parameters for excellence with light roasts; the SCA did not formulate it for that.

Recipe breakdown: 60-80GH / 40-50KH

  • 70GH epsom salt (average of above)

  • 45KH sodium bicarbonate (average of above)

For 1gallon, mix

  • 0.750g epsom salt

  • 0.254g sodium bicarbonate

For 1liter, mix

  • 0.185g epsom salt

  • 0.067g sodium bicarbonate

SCA water recipe

Third Wave Water (TWW) light profile

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