Mix the water your coffee deserves.
Five proven brewing water recipes — Pavlis, RAO, SCA, BH4, Melbourne — with mineral concentrations and step-by-step mixing instructions. Built into the brew log so the water profile saves with the cup. Free on iOS.
Coffee is ~98% water. The 2% solids depend entirely on the 98%. A good water recipe — remineralised from distilled or RO — is the single biggest upgrade most home brewers can make once dose, grind, and ratio are dialled.
The five recipes built in
Pavlis (Hendon & Pavlis)
From Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood, Christopher Hendon, and the book Water for Coffee. Three reservoirs: calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate, mixed independently. The most flexible recipe — you can tune each parameter per-coffee. Great for experimentation and understanding what each mineral does.
RAO (Scott Rao)
Scott Rao's preferred profile — relatively low alkalinity, moderate hardness, biased toward magnesium. Reads as a clean, bright cup with elevated clarity. Popular for light-roast filter brewing and competition pour overs.
SCA (Specialty Coffee Association)
The published SCA ideal: ~150 mg/L total hardness, ~40 mg/L bicarbonate, ~7 pH. A balanced target that's safe across roast levels and brew methods. The right default if you don't know where to start.
BH4 (Barista Hustle / Lance Hedrick)
A recipe that's gained competition traction. Higher magnesium, lower calcium, moderate bicarbonate buffer. Tends to amplify clarity and sweetness without sacrificing body. Strong choice for light to medium roasts.
Melbourne (third-wave Australian)
A regional profile from Melbourne's specialty scene — softer than SCA, low alkalinity, moderate hardness. Produces a clean, sweet, transparent cup. Particularly forgiving for espresso machines because the low calcium content scales boilers less.
Mineral profile comparison
| Recipe | Total hardness | Bicarbonate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pavlis | Tunable | Tunable | Most experimental flexibility |
| RAO | ~70 mg/L | ~10 mg/L | Low alkalinity, bright clarity |
| SCA | ~150 mg/L | ~40 mg/L | Balanced default |
| BH4 | ~80 mg/L | ~30 mg/L | High magnesium, clarity + sweetness |
| Melbourne | ~50 mg/L | ~15 mg/L | Soft, transparent, espresso-friendly |
The mixing workflow
- Pick a recipe in the app. HomeBarista shows the exact mineral targets and per-litre salt quantities.
- Mix concentrates. Most recipes use two concentrate bottles — hardness (calcium + magnesium salts) and buffer (sodium bicarbonate). Dissolve into distilled water in 1-litre bottles. Label them.
- Dilute into brewing water. Add the recipe-specified mL of each concentrate to 1 litre of distilled water. That's the day's brewing water.
- Use within 24 hours. Bicarbonate solutions degrade and absorb CO₂ over time. Small batches, fresh.
- Stick with one recipe for a week. Don't change water and grind on the same day — you won't know which one moved the cup.
The shortcut: pre-portioned sachets
If mixing from individual salts feels like running a chemistry lab, two products make it plug-and-play:
- Third Wave Water (TWW). Sachets dropped into a gallon of distilled. Easy, reasonably tuned, no math.
- Lotus Coffee Water. Concentrates and salts marketed for home baristas. Comparable convenience.
Both are major upgrades over tap, even if they don't quite match a custom recipe. Use them as a baseline if mixing is a barrier.
How HomeBarista uses water profile
- Water is a brew parameter. Every brew log saves which recipe you used, so the dial-in or pour over isn't reproducible only by grind and dose — the water context comes with it.
- Water across coffees. The Insights tab can show which water recipe produces the highest sensory scores for you, across coffees and methods.
- Reference brews carry water. When you mark a brew as the reference for a coffee, the water recipe is part of it. Next bag, you start from the recipe that already worked — including the water.
For the deeper why-this-matters background, read our best water for coffee brewing guide →
Stop ignoring the 98% of your coffee.
5 proven recipes, mixing instructions, and water profile saved per brew. Free on iOS.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best water recipe for coffee?
No single best — different profiles flatter different coffees. SCA is the safe default. RAO and BH4 lean toward clarity and sweetness. Melbourne is soft and transparent. Pavlis is the most tunable. Start with SCA.
What is the SCA water recipe?
~150 mg/L total hardness, ~40 mg/L bicarbonate, ~7 pH. A balanced target that works across most brew methods and roast levels.
Can I use tap water for specialty coffee?
You can, but it almost certainly limits the cup. Tap varies dramatically by region. Distilled + remineralisation recipe removes the variable.
Do I need to mix my own water, or can I buy it pre-made?
Both work. Third Wave Water and Lotus Coffee Water are pre-portioned sachet/concentrate options. Mixing from individual salts gives more control long-term.
Will water recipes damage my espresso machine?
High-calcium recipes can scale boilers over time. For espresso, use lower-hardness recipes (Melbourne, RAO, lower SCA) and skip pure distilled water (it corrodes seals). Aim for at least 50 mg/L hardness.