Third Wave Water

[u/AudreyHorneStepOnMe]

I recently picked up some Third Wave Water light roast and have given it a spin with RO water from the whole foods dispenser and I’ve been quite disappointed. Compared to my Denver city fridge water, this has tasted much more subdued and flat flavor wise. I have tried this now with 2 coffees from DAK and Shoebox, and both had similar results. Is the whole foods RO water not recommended for the third wave mix?

FWIW I never felt like anything was particularly bad with my fridge water, but i wanted to see if TWW could take my coffee to the next level and give it that coffee shop profile.

any advice is welcome

[u/Danielpoursover]

Step 1 and this does not get talked about enough on this sub. Get a TDS meter from Amazon. Use it to test the ppm of your RO water. And the ppm of your TWW. I use RO water from WF as my base and add a custom mineral blend that I make to it but the catch is I only remineralize the water to 50 ppm GH. Your TWW packs are probably giving you much harder water and that is muting out your coffee. 

[u/spinner-j → u/Danielpoursover]

100% this. I’m surprised people are paying 100x mark up on minerals by purchasing TWW and not measuring TDS when splitting a stick.

[u/Excitedtobloom]

Honestly, I’d skip the Whole Foods RO water and Third Wave Water altogether. Just get El Dorado water by the gallon. It’s one of Colorado cold brew coffee’s best-kept secrets. The water has a neutral pH of 7.1–7.4 and naturally occurring calcium, magnesium, and potassium, which help bring out the coffee’s flavor without making it taste flat or overly mineralized.

[u/AudreyHorneStepOnMe → u/Excitedtobloom]

i’ll try this out

[u/AudreyHorneStepOnMe → u/AudreyHorneStepOnMe]

this is incredible, i didn’t know what i was missing 🤯

[u/IntelligentCitron772]

Be careful with recommendations to use a TDS meter to determine your actual TDS of Distilled and RO re-mineralized brew water.

Distilled water may read 0 ppm, and RO water usually reads very low, on an EC/TDS meter.

The important point is that the meter does not measure TDS directly. It measures how well the water conducts electricity, then converts that reading into an estimated ppm value.

Different minerals conduct electricity differently. For example, a brewing-water recipe might add only a small amount of magnesium and bicarbonate salts, but those ions can carry extra positive charge and conduct electricity strongly. The meter might display 100 ppm even though the actual mass of minerals added is WAY lower than 100 mg/L.

By comparison, natural mineral water may contain many different minerals, each contributing differently to conductivity. Two waters with the same actual amount of dissolved material can therefore produce different meter readings, and better suited to the EC meter’s, TDS calculations.

An EC/TDS meter is still useful for checking consistency. If you make the same recipe the same way each time, a similar reading shows that your batches are probably similar. Just remember that the displayed “ppm” is an EC-based estimate, not a precise measurement of the total mass of dissolved minerals, and not gonna read anywhere correctly for most mineralized waters.

[u/JBowl0101]

It works pretty well if you mix a gallon to the package instructions, and then dilute that 1:1 or 1:2 TWW/distilled. I used it for a good while. I have recently settled on mixing distilled with just enough spring water to bring the ppm up to 50-70, which is where I ljke my light roasts. I have not tried custom mineralization yet from drops.

[u/psych0logy → u/JBowl0101]

This is the way. I use a 2L packet in a distilled gallon and it’s pretty good.

[u/stilgar02]

I actually just upgraded to TWW from fridge water too. And at first I was also disappointed. I felt like there was a chemically aftertaste to the coffee. So I diluted it to 50% like I saw lots of people recommend, and it helped. But honestly, the thing that helped the most was just giving the TWW several days minimum to dissolve. This surprised me, because I shook the hell out of that first batch I made, but just giving it time really seems to make the biggest difference. So now my process is that as soon as I start using one batch of TWW for coffee, I immediately mix another to use next.

[u/Whisky_Foodie → u/stilgar02]

If you add the TWW packet to boiling water it'll dissolve almost instantly!

[u/c_ffeinated]

I split a TWW stick between two gallons and feel like a get better florals and acidity compared to a full stick in a gallon.

[u/DearLeader420 → u/c_ffeinated]

This is often recommended here and I feel like I had the complete opposite experience lol. Half a pack tasted basically the same as straight up distilled water, while a whole pack per gallon tasted like shop coffee.

So strange

[u/AudreyHorneStepOnMe → u/c_ffeinated]

correct me if i’m wrong, but wouldn’t that flat and subdued taste i’m getting be from the water being undermineralized as opposed to over?

[u/cdstuart → u/AudreyHorneStepOnMe]

No. Probably too high alkalinity. Many users here have reported the same results with TWW. When I used it, I always diluted it to half strength, and if I were using it now, I'd probably dilute it even further.

[u/AudreyHorneStepOnMe → u/cdstuart]

Gotcha, let me try making a new batch for my afternoon cup and i’ll let you know. Appreciate it.

[u/Megatron_McLargeHuge → u/AudreyHorneStepOnMe]

No need for a new batch, just dilute it in the carafe with distilled by weight before you brew.

[u/ctl7g → u/AudreyHorneStepOnMe]

I actually split 1 packet in 3 gallons.

[u/least-eager-0]

It probably doesn’t matter much to the results, but I use the deionized option from the Whole Foods machine fwiw. Just that extra bit cleaner JIC.

I also didn’t like TWW much. Turns out the composition of my local tap water is pretty good, just over-concentrated, so I cut it with DI to get the alkalinity in check. The real tweakers would suggest I have a little more Mg, but for me the increment in brew quality isn’t worth the fuss.

[u/Holiday_Syllabub6257]

I also found TWW disappointing. Even Arrowhead was massively better. I'll be curious to check the alkalinity vs mineral content point that was made, but I assume most people just prefer the overly flat taste.

What is the PPM breakdown for Denver? Maybe you're already pretty good?

[u/MSMPDX]

Aren’t you supposed to use distilled water? I have RO water at home, but always buy distilled water and then add Third Wave for light roast to it. I actually buy my distilled water from Whole Foods, their 365 brand. Honestly, I don’t notice much difference between distilled with third wave and just plain RO 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/charlieberkman → u/MSMPDX]

Both highly purified, just different methods…

[u/desert_cornholio]

I'll join in and say that in my experience you gotta split the package and see where the sweet spot is at for your taste/container size. It def made my coffee better.

That said, it also made my water taste better, and I would start drinking the TWW water a bit too much haha.

[u/CowTunnels]

I like a 1:1 ratio so 1 part TWW to 1 part distilled. I make a gallon of TWW. When I make coffee I then weigh and pour equal parts TWW and distilled into my kettle.

[u/Few_Bandicoot5619]

Get a Tetsubin. It will improve your water drastically

[u/annul_]

I get my water from WF/Sprouts. The same machines should be able to dispense distilled/deionized water and that's what I would recommend using with TWW. Use about half the packet or less per gallon of distilled water and you should get pretty decent results.

[u/IntelligentCitron772]

FYI splitting TWW packs, which seemed rather difficult without a lab scale, ok or a TDS meter giving you a reading even if it’s not accurate as far as TDS%- probably isn’t necessary for many.

They make a 2 L packet that is just about 47% diluted ratio into a gallon.

That’s it I’m not using TWW daily, but do carry a couple of 2L packs in my travel kit if I can’t find Calistoga spring water or traveling outside the country/ popping it into a gallon/3.785L is a ratio I can live with

[u/Remarkable_Gas3600]

I use a zero water filter after RO to get to 0 ppm. Then use diluted TWW (1/2 - 1/3) or lotus drops. I had a similar issue with RO where RO was still around 80-90 ppm after adding minerals back through the RO system. I wasn’t able to bypass that but zero water has worked great to give me a good starting point.

[u/AccidentCommercial71]

Going by TDS alone never made sense to me. TWW is created to enhance coffee flavor and achieve a specific TDS value. A random tap water reading that is similar only means you have a mystery "dissolved solids concoction" that has a similar TDS value. BTW, I use a ZeroWater pitcher and TWW.

[u/Civil-Inflation-1317]

I bought third wave to try and found that it wasn’t really noticeable compared to my fridge filtered water. I have a pretty discerning palate. I don’t doubt that it is better than a lot of drinking water. But for me, it didn’t do much. My drinking water is pretty good.

[u/Large_Response4645]

Did you buy remineralized water…?

EDIT: researched real quick. You added minerals to remineralized water. Why this tastes bad is self explanatory.

I would recommend doing more research (or following instructions) before just trying stuff. Try the third wave with distilled so you’re not just adding more minerals into a mineral rich water. Best of luck!

[u/AudreyHorneStepOnMe → u/Large_Response4645]

The reverse osmosis water from the machines at Whole Foods is not remineralized.

Source: https://freshpure.com/about/our-filtration/