Producer Toolkit: Quality Assurance, Pt 2 - The basics of good water for coffee

This episode takes you through the basics of good water for coffee. To objectively assess a coffee's quality, both producer and buyer need to taste it using the same water. But whose water standards should you choose? Why do roasters often get to define what the "right" water is? What would the coffee world look like if producers set quality standards instead of roasters? Part of The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis, it will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show. Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing. Related podcast episodes: James: Filter Stories: How Heat Transforms Coffee Beans Filter Stories: How to Be a Better Taster Filter Stories: Getting Great Water, Step by Step Follow us through our newsletters and Social media: Lucia's Newsletter James's Newsletter Lucia Instagram James' Filter Stories Instagram People mentioned in the episode: Karla Boza — Jacinta Y Su Cafe, San Benito, El Salvador Paulino Quintero — Huila, Colombia Jesús Antonio Chala — Finca El Silencio, Colombia Thompson Owen — Sweet Maria's Coffee, USA Lahari Balireddi — ASG Coffee, Kenya Manuel Barsallo — Agrícola Geisha, Panama Lorenz Haschka — BWT water+more Resources: Video: How to Make Cold Brew Physical Coffee Diary Digital App: Coffee Brew Log Digital App: Tasting Notes Sweet Maria's guide to roasting in a pan or popper, with video Sweet Maria's roasting on a pan or popper tip sheet Sweet Maria's air popper resources and video Filter Stories guide: Roasting your own coffee (English) Guía de Filter Stories: Cómo tostar tu propio café (en español) Guide to getting a good sample roast Video: How to Cup Coffee at Home SCA Cupping Workshop Video: How to use an Alkalinity Dropper Kit Buy a water test kit SCA Water Control Chart Water calculator to adjust alkalinity Make your Own Water for Coffee Video: Make your own water for coffee BWT bestmax PREMIUM (under-sink option) BWT bestbarista ROC COFFEE PDFs of CVA Form in 7 languages The SCA Coffee Value Assessment, Extrinsic Criteria List Digital App: Catador Digital: CVA in your web browser Cover art: Nick Hafner The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations: The Coffee Quest | BWT water+more | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses. Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here. What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.