Has anybody done taste test or any kind of testing on the weather there's a benefit to adding third way to water packets to distilled or reverse osmosis?

The point is to add it to distilled or water with about 0PPM.

If you add it to something else, it sort of defeats the purpose of using 3rd wave water. Also check into making your own.

Is grocery store RO refill station water basically zero PPM?

Royal Coffee published a blog on this and I have found it beneficial in my own taste tests with straight RO (10 ppm) vs re-mineralized RO. Treated water (sodium/magnesium) was more balanced and rounded on the overall cup profile with RO being distinctly more bitter. I tested both waters via cupping, same EK43 grind setting, and same roast. Regarding which mineral buffers to use, that's really up to your taste preference and your equipment setup. The Barista Hustle water recipe is a good starting point if you want to experiment your own ratios.

Grocery store water isn't always RO so I'd check with the local source who provides that service. Sometimes they run the RO back through a remineralizer. But RO is pure enough for Third Wave water mineral packets.

https://royalcoffee.com/treading-water- ... sory-data/

hermano wrote:Is grocery store RO refill station water basically zero PPM?

Mine is not. About 5-10 ppm.

so, best to add it to distilled to be 'certain' I'm starting from zero...

Personally I go with grocery store RO over distilled, as distilled is slightly more expensive, only comes in 1 gallon containers, and always tastes plasticky (to me) even after remineralization.

I think the point above was not really don't use RO if it's not exactly 0, more like make sure it's not a station that uses RO to purify, but then remineralizes back to high mineral levels. 1-5ppm is still nearly as pure as you could need imo, which is why in conjunction with the other reasons above I use RO.

I used TWW for a long time (into RO after trying distilled) and liked a lot but felt like I could achieve the same recipe for lower cost (since ingredient levels are published). Switched last year to the Dr. Pavlis potassium bicarbonate recipe. And am now just getting around to more focused recipe experimentation using differing levels of concentrates made from magnesium sulfate (epsom salts), sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), potassium bicarbonate, and calcium citrate.

The reason I held off for so long is the math behind the formulas and calculators confused me and I was worried about screwing things up. But a few weeks ago I finally setup my own calculator in a spreadsheet that breaks down how to make the concentrates, popular profiles (including TWW, Dr Pavlis, all the Barista Hustle recipes, and space for custom ones) along with corresponding hardness and alkalinity levels, and finally the actual recipes for each profile.

I know you were mainly asking about TWW into RO vs distilled. Honestly either should work just fine. If you end up being interested in more experimentation with water recipes, i'd be happy to share the google doc I was talking about above.

I went with RO water at my local grocery store. I saw the guy installing the unit and he said it was tested to 0 PPM.. I got a cheap TDS meter and did measure 0. I add 3rd wave water espresso packs to my 5 gal jugs. That is exclusively what I use.. Will know in 2 years how it is in my Profitec Pro 500, but that is all I've ever used. I'm not an expert at tasting so can't tell you how it affects espresso taste.

I would think 1Gal jugs would be inconvenient if that is all you can get distilled. I also have found distilled somehow tastes worse than RO. Not sure how to describe it.. astringent, bitter..