Apax vs Lotus Water Minerals

Two very different ways to control the most overlooked variable in brewing coffee... water minerals.

If you spend enough time in specialty coffee you eventually realise something slightly uncomfortable. You can buy the best coffee, You can buy the best grinder and the best brewer…and still feel like something is missing.

Most people assume the answer lies in changing grinders, adjusting grind size, or tweaking their recipe again. But eventually the rabbit hole leads somewhere else entirely different: your brew water.

Water makes up roughly 99% of the final cup, yet for years it has been treated as an afterthought. Once you begin experimenting with brew water, you quickly realise that changing mineral composition can alter flavour just as dramatically as changing the coffee itself.

This is where products like Apax Labs Water Minerals and Lotus Water Minerals enter the conversation. Both aim to give brewers control over their brewing water, but they approach the problem in completely different ways.

Simply put, Apax is a set of 4 different profiles, designed to make incredible water quickly.
Lotus is the raw minerals themselves to make water profiles, and can be used to help you understand water science deeply.

Both are excellent tools. They just serve slightly different kinds of coffee brewers.

Why Water Minerals Matter in Coffee

Before comparing the two, it helps to understand what minerals are actually doing in your brew water.

Minerals interact with coffee compounds during extraction. Some minerals increase the ability of water to dissolve flavour compounds from coffee grounds, while others act as buffers that control how acidity presents in the cup.

Magnesium and calcium are typically responsible for extraction strength, pulling flavours out of the coffee. Meanwhile minerals like sodium or potassium bicarbonate influence alkalinity, shaping how acidity and bitterness appear in the final cup.

A small change in mineral composition can completely shift the experience of the same coffee. One water recipe might highlight bright citrus acidity, while another emphasises sweetness and body.

Once you understand this, the idea of using custom brewing water stops sounding excessive and starts sounding obvious. All that's left now, is working out how you want to approach this.

Apax Labs Water Minerals

The idea behind Apax is elegant in its simplicity. Instead of asking brewers to build water from individual minerals, Apax provides pre-built mineral profiles designed to emphasise particular flavour directions in coffee.

Each set contains three concentrates:

Tonik: vibrant, bright and juicy
Jamm: rich, sweet and creamy
Lylac: elegant, floral and silky

Rather than thinking in terms of chemistry, you think in terms of flavour.

Add the mineral concentrate to distilled water and you instantly have brewing water designed to highlight specific characteristics in your coffee.

Tonik, for example, boosts lively acidity and gives washed coffees a crisp, juicy profile. Jamm leans into calcium and bicarbonate to produce richer sweetness and a creamy mouthfeel. Lylac focuses on sulfate and potassium to support delicate floral notes with a silky texture.

The beauty of Apax is that it removes the complexity of water chemistry while still allowing for experimentation. The profiles can be used individually, or blended together to create more nuanced results depending on the coffee you are brewing.

It’s also remarkably efficient. One 20ml bottle of Apax can mineralise around 30 brews, one 100ml can mineralise 150 brews and a full set can make roughly 600 cups of coffee.

Apax can even be added directly to the cup after brewing. This is known as post-mineralising and is a form of post extraction coffee enhancements. A few drops can subtly alter flavour balance, much like seasoning food at the end of cooking.

Lotus Water Minerals

Lotus approaches the same problem from the opposite direction.

Instead of providing flavour-focused profiles, the Lotus kit gives you the raw mineral building blocks used to construct brewing water.

The kit contains four concentrated solutions:

Magnesium Chloride
Calcium Chloride
Sodium Bicarbonate
Potassium Bicarbonate

These represent the core components of most brew water recipes.

By adjusting the ratios of these minerals, you can build your own custom water profiles from scratch. One recipe might emphasise magnesium to increase extraction strength and complexity. Another might increase calcium to highlight sweetness and clarity. Adjusting bicarbonates will shift how acidity presents in the cup.

This approach turns water into a genuine brewing variable.

You can replicate the mineral composition used by specific roasters, follow recipes developed by coffee educators like Lance Hedrick, or design your own water profiles to suit a particular coffee.

Lotus can also be used as an educational tool. A popular experiment is brewing a single batch of coffee, then adding different minerals to individual cups to taste how each mineral affects flavour.

Suddenly the role of water becomes obvious. A small addition of magnesium might add body and depth, while a touch of potassium bicarbonate can make fruit notes appear more vibrant.

The result is not just better coffee, but a deeper understanding of why coffee tastes the way it does.

The Real Difference Between Apax and Lotus

While both products modify brewing water, their philosophy is completely different.

Apax is designed to simplify water. Lotus is designed to explore it.

Apax gives you curated flavour profiles created by someone who has already done the research. You simply choose the direction you want your coffee to go: brighter, sweeter, or more floral.

Lotus hands you the mineral toolkit and invites you to experiment. It encourages curiosity, experimentation and an almost scientific approach to brewing.

Neither approach is better. They simply suit different types of brewers.

Which One Should You Choose?

If your goal is to improve your coffee quickly and consistently, Apax is incredibly compelling.

The profiles are thoughtfully designed, easy to use, and capable of producing excellent results without requiring any understanding of water chemistry. It’s perfect for brewers who want control without complexity.

Lotus, on the other hand, is better when curiosity takes over.

If you enjoy experimenting with brew variables, testing recipes, and understanding the mechanics behind extraction, Lotus opens up an entirely new dimension of coffee brewing. It turns water into something you can actively design rather than simply use.

Many brewers actually use both.

Lotus becomes the tool used for exploration, helping you understand how minerals shape flavour. Apax becomes the practical solution you return to when you simply want to brew delicious coffee without rebuilding water recipes every morning.

The TDS Pen Hack

Regardless of what water minerals you use, it's really hard to know exactly how much minerals is inside your water, this is where a TDS metre can be the perfect fix. A TDS meter pen is an inexpensive tool used to measure the Total Dissolved Solids, this means you can see how much (total) is in your water.

If you have tap water, check the TDS with the pen and this is your baseline you can also use distilled water to start off at exactly 0 mineral content. Add your minerals one at a time and continue testing until you reach your desired hardness. If you use the Lotus minerals you can see exactly what minerals your adding and how much, especially when testing TDS in between.

Brewing Coffee is Already Complicated Enough

One of the interesting things about water minerals is that they reveal something about the way people approach coffee.

Some people want a tool that removes complexity, others want a tool that embraces it.

Apax and Lotus reflect those two philosophies perfectly.

Either way once you begin experimenting with brew water, it becomes very difficult to go back to treating water as an afterthought.