💧 Lotus Water Drops — Precision Water for Better Coffee

Great coffee starts with great water.

Lotus Water Drops are the easiest and most flexible way to dial in your brewing water — without powders, premixing, or complicated recipes.

At WB.coffee, we use Lotus Drops. Not just to improve water quality, but to understand it: how hardness, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, and sodium each shape extraction, mouthfeel, and flavor clarity. The process is equal parts enlightening, humbling, and fun.

Whether you brew filter, espresso, or both — this is water control made practical.

☕ What are Lotus Water Drops?

Lotus Drops are concentrated mineral solutions that allow you to build your own coffee brewing water drop by drop. Start with distilled or reverse-osmosis (RO) water, add a few drops, and you’re ready to brew.

No boiling.

No dissolving powders.

No waste.

Just precision.

👃 Why we love it at WB.coffee (Coffee Nose insight)

Water is the most overlooked variable in coffee — until you taste the difference.

Why the Coffee Nose recommends Lotus Drops:

• 💧 Total control over hardness & alkalinity
• 🎯 Easy experimentation without commitment
• 🔬 Perfect for learning how minerals affect flavor
• ☕ Repeatable results across brewers and recipes
• 🌍 Ideal for hard-water regions (hello Netherlands)

This is one of the fastest ways to level up your brewing knowledge without changing beans, grinders, or gear.

🧠 Scott Rao recommendation & tips

Lotus Water Drops are strongly recommended by Scott Rao, who highlights them as one of the most practical tools for understanding and optimizing brewing water.

Scott emphasizes that:

• Small mineral changes can have huge flavor impact
• Calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity must be balanced
• Water should be adjusted for the coffee, not the other way around

Lotus Drops make this learning curve accessible — without lab equipment.

⚡ Quick user guide (starting point)

What you need:

• Distilled or RO water
• A scale (recommended ✔️)
• Lotus Water Drops

Basic workflow:

1. Start with distilled or RO water
2. Place your bottle on a scale
3. Add drops according to your target recipe
4. Swirl gently
5. Brew & taste
6. Adjust and repeat

💡 Pro tip from WB.coffee:

Change one variable at a time. Taste. Take notes. Your palate will learn fast.

🔬 Perfect for…

• Home brewers who want better coffee without buying bottled water
• Coffee lovers curious about extraction and flavor science
• Roasters who want to mimic client water profiles
• Anyone stuck with very hard tap water
• Workshops, tastings, and sensory training sessions

We regularly use Lotus Drops during cuppings, brewing workshops, and Coffee Omakase sessions at Amsterdam Coffee Lab.

⚠️ Good to know

• ❌ Glass bottle (450 ml) not included
• ✔️ We recommend using the Drops with a scale for accuracy
• ✔️ Compatible with all brew methods (filter, espresso, immersion)

🔗 Learn more & brew smarter

Pair Lotus Water Drops with:

• Tips from the Coffee Nose 👃 (water, extraction & brewing theory)
• Our brewing workshops & masterclasses at Amsterdam Coffee Lab
• Comparative tastings using different water profiles

Water isn’t just a background ingredient — it’s the stage your coffee performs on.

💧 Lotus Water Drops

Recipe Card & Water Science Basics

(Inspired by Scott Rao)

What’s in the kit?

A Lotus Water Drops kit contains four dropper bottles:

• Calcium Chloride (CaCl₂) → hardness
• Magnesium Chloride (MgCl₂) → hardness
• Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) → alkalinity
• Potassium Bicarbonate (KHCO₃) → alkalinity

All ppm values below are expressed as CaCO₃ equivalent, the industry standard.

🧪 What do hardness & alkalinity do?

Hardness (GH – General Hardness)

Hardness comes mainly from calcium and magnesium.

It affects:

• sweetness
• structure
• mouthfeel

Too little → thin, sharp coffee

Too much → flat or dull coffee

Magnesium often enhances perceived sweetness and clarity more than calcium.

Alkalinity (KH – Carbonate Hardness)

Alkalinity buffers acidity.

• Too low KH → sour, unrefined coffee
• Too high KH → chalky, muted, flat

⚠️ Flavor effects are not linear.

Coffees can “pop” at both low and moderately high KH, while mid-range levels may taste dull.

💧 Drop impact reference

For 450 ml water

• 1 drop Ca → +10 ppm GH
• 1 drop Mg → +10 ppm GH
• 1 drop Na → +5 ppm KH
• 1 drop K → +5 ppm KH

For 1 gallon (~3.8 L)

• 5 drops Ca → +6 ppm GH
• 5 drops Mg → +6 ppm GH
• 5 drops Na → +3 ppm KH
• 5 drops K → +3 ppm KH

☕ Filter vs Espresso – Alkalinity insight

• Filter coffee (≈1.2–1.4% TDS)
  → usually tastes best around 30–40 ppm KH
• Espresso (≈10% TDS)
  → may benefit from much higher alkalinity
  → sometimes 200–300 ppm KH gives fascinating results

Lotus Drops allow you to explore this easily — something traditional water systems can’t do.

🛡 Protecting your machines while experimenting

• Calcium causes scale
• Magnesium does NOT

👉 You can safely experiment with high hardness by:

• increasing magnesium
• keeping calcium moderate

This is why Lotus Drops are ideal for espresso experimentation without risking your machine.

⚡ Standard method (recommended)

1. Start with distilled or RO water
2. Place bottle on a scale
3. Add drops according to recipe
4. Swirl gently
5. Brew & taste

✔ Distilled water is best

✔ RO water is second best

✔ Any water can be adjusted upwards

🧾 Proven filter coffee recipes

Lance Hedrick – Light & Bright

60 GH / 25 KH

Per 1 liter:

• 13 drops Calcium
• 11 drops Potassium

Per 1 gallon:

• 50 drops Calcium
• 42 drops Potassium

Rao / Perger Recipe

90 GH / 42 KH

(Developed with Dan Eils – Litmus Coffee Labs)

Per 1 liter:

• 7 drops Calcium
• 13 drops Magnesium
• 8 drops Sodium
• 11 drops Potassium

Per 1 gallon:

• 25 drops Calcium
• 50 drops Magnesium
• 30 drops Sodium
• 40 drops Potassium

👃 CoffeeNose Tip – Sodium & bitterness

Sodium reduces perceived bitterness.

👉 For:

• dark roasts
• robusta
• bitter espresso

…adding a bit more sodium bicarbonate can smooth the cup dramatically.

(Scott Rao jokes: “If you must drink dark-roast robusta, dump a salt shaker in it.”

Lotus Drops let you do this precisely, not recklessly.)

🔬 Advanced hack: reverse-engineer your perfect water

You can find your ideal water without brewing multiple times.

How it works

Coffee tastes the same whether minerals are added before or after brewing.

Method

1. Brew 900 ml coffee with distilled water
2. Stir well
3. Divide into 4 × 225 ml cups
4. Add different drops to each cup
   • 1 drop Ca or Mg → +20 ppm GH
   • 1 drop Na or K → +10 ppm KH
5. Stir & taste (blind if possible)

Example (fixed GH, changing KH)

• Cup 1: 1 Ca + 2 Mg + 1 Na → 60 GH / 10 KH
• Cup 2: 1 Ca + 2 Mg + 2 Na + 1 K → 60 GH / 30 KH
• Cup 3: 1 Ca + 2 Mg + 3 Na + 2 K → 60 GH / 50 KH
• Cup 4: 1 Ca + 2 Mg + 4 Na + 3 K → 60 GH / 70 KH

💡 Start with big differences (10 / 50 / 100 / 150 KH), then fine-tune.

☕ Why we teach this at WB.coffee

At Amsterdam Coffee Lab, Lotus Water Drops are one of the fastest ways to:

• understand extraction
• taste water chemistry effects clearly
• level up brewing intuition

They are a core tool in our:

• brewing workshops
• Coffee Omakase tastings
• water & extraction deep dives

Check out our coffees

WB.coffee blends are roasted fresh on order. We roast with 100% renewable energy ☀ and 0% gas. 

☕ Our Signature Blends

• FC – Fruity & Chocolaty - smooth, juicy, comforting
• FF - Fruity & Floral - elegant & aromatic ​
• FJ – Fruity & Juicy - vibrant and sweet, a filter favorite
• The Chocolatier’s Brew – Chocolate & Praline (Brazil)
• VC - Vanilla & Caramel - creamy, sweet, irresistibly smooth
•  CN - Chocolaty & Nutty (HoReCa besteseller)

🌿 Chemical-Free Decaffeinated Coffees

• AFD – Apple & Fudge Decaf - bright, cozy
• CDD – Caramel & Spices Decaf - warm, sweet

🌍 Single Origins — Limited Editions

New lots arrive throughout the year.

• Ethiopia Guji Honey & Pineapple Express – fruity & complex
• Ethiopia Natural Dimtu & Guatemala Inferno Geisha – classic profiles

Get in touch for what’s currently on the cupping table and receive personal flavour recommendations based on your taste.

🎯 Taste Before You Choose

Try four coffees at once with our Coffee Tasting Set — available in:

• Filter or Espresso
• 4 blends or 4 single origin limited editions

Prefer to experience them first?

Explore our full tasting menu @ Amsterdam Coffee Lab in Weesp, where you can try any blend (or all of them 🏃)

Order coffee

Coffee Omakase – The Ultimate Coffee Tasting Experience ☕

For the curious, the connoisseurs, and everyone who knows coffee can be more.

Have you ever walked out of a café disappointed — knowing your cup could have been so much better?

Then this experience is for you.

The Coffee Omakase @ Amsterdam Coffee Lab is a guided, multi-course coffee tasting designed for specialty coffee enthusiasts, flavor explorers, and curious coffee lovers alike.

Each session is unique, interactive, and bursting with discovery — like a live culinary performance, but for coffee.

What to Expect

During this exclusive sensory journey, you’ll:

☕ Taste a curated lineup of exceptional coffees — washed, natural, and experimental processing methods (think anaerobic, co-ferment, honey, and even wild fermentation projects).

🌸 Experience rare varietals — including legendary coffees like Geisha, and other micro-lot gems from around the world.

🔬 Explore multiple brew styles — from delicate filter brews and bold espressi to the mesmerizing syphon method.

🥄 Try your hand at cupping — slurp and taste coffee like a professional taster, discovering aromas and acidity in new ways.

🍹 Enjoy surprising coffee mocktails — creative and refreshing, crafted from the same beans you’ll taste in the lineup.

👃 Engage your senses fully — experience how the aroma, cup shape, color, and even the sound of pouring influence your flavor perception.

A Guided Journey by the CoffeeNose 👃

Led by Wouter Brunia, also known as the CoffeeNose 👃, this tasting is a deep dive into coffee flavor and sensory science.

Like a sommelier presenting fine wines, Wouter will:

• Brew each coffee live with expert precision
• Share the stories of each bean — from farm to fermentation
• Explain flavor notes, processing methods, and varietal differences
• Help you understand why your favorite coffee tastes the way it does

It’s fun for your brain, taste buds, and nose — and you’ll leave with a new appreciation for what’s in your cup.

Each Omakase is Unique

No two tastings are ever the same.

Our coffees rotate constantly and often include exclusive lots — such as Geisha, co-fermented experiments, and rare micro-lots you won’t find in cafés.

Every visit promises something unexpected, thought-provoking, and delicious.

Who It’s For

• Specialty coffee geeks craving depth and discovery
• Curious coffee lovers ready to learn (and taste!) something new
• Couples and friends looking for a unique sensory experience
• Anyone who wants to fall in love with coffee all over again

Details

📍 Location: Amsterdam Coffee Lab, Weesp

🕒 Duration: ±1.5–2 hours

👥 Group Size: Small & intimate for personal attention

🎟️ Booking: More info & reservations ⬇

Why Join?

Because coffee can be so much more than just caffeine — it’s chemistry, art, and emotion in a cup.

Join the Coffee Omakase Experience and taste what happens when curiosity meets craftsmanship.

Do you crave the excitement of discovering exquisite coffee flavors and captivating aromas? Don’t miss out on our exclusive Coffee Tasting Experience @ Amsterdam Coffee Lab, where you’ll not only indulge your senses but also gain valuable insights into the world of coffee. Join us for an unforgettable journey!

Join us for a fun and informative sensory experience revolving around coffee. During this experience you will: 

• Taste washed, natural and alternative processed coffee beans 
• Explore various varietals of Arabica coffee including the famous Gesha
• Discover different coffee brewing methods outside of standard espresso
  
• Savor surprising coffee mocktails
  
• Try cupping coffee: sample your coffee by slurping it from a spoon, just like an expert coffee taster would
  
• Experience how sensory elements such as aroma, size, shape, and color of the coffee cup affect flavor perception.
  

Similar to how a knowledgeable wine sommelier educates you about the wine and presents it at the perfect temperature in the right glass, our master barista and flavor expert will expertly brew your coffee while enlightening you about the entire process, the origin of the beans, varietals, the flavor notes, and much more.  Envision it as a live cooking demonstration, but dedicated entirely to the craft of coffee brewing.

Fun for your brain, taste buds and nose!

More info & booking ⬇

More info & booking

Home Barista Espresso Workshop – Brew, Taste & Impress!

Unlock the secrets of perfect espresso ☕ at Amsterdam Coffee Lab in Weesp

Ready to take your home coffee game to the next level?

Join our hands-on Home Barista Workshop at Amsterdam Coffee Lab, led by Wouter Brunia — the CoffeeNose 👃, sensory expert and coffee trainer with 10+ years of experience.

Whether you’re a beginner or already pulling shots at home, this workshop will help you brew better, taste deeper, and have fun while learning.

What to Expect

• 🎯 Learn by doing: Practice on real espresso machines and grinders (bring your own if possible!)
• ☕ Taste lots of espresso: Explore flavor profiles from nutty & chocolaty to fruity & floral — with optional spitting, like a true coffee tasting
• ⚙️ Understand your gear: Master your own espresso machine and grinder so you can replicate café-quality results at home
• 🎁 Perfect gift idea: Treat yourself or surprise a coffee-loving friend with a fun, skill-building experience
• 💡 Unlock new techniques: From dialing in your grinder to crafting recipes that fit your taste

What You’ll Learn

✅ How to choose the best beans for espresso

✅ The art of grinding and dialing in for precision flavor

✅ Crafting your own espresso recipe & brew ratio

✅ How to steam milk like a pro for cappuccino, latte, cortado & flat white

✅ The science of water and temperature control

✅ How to maintain and clean your espresso machine & grinder

✅ Tips for storing coffee to keep it fresh

✅ Advanced insights into taste, aroma & extraction balance

Why Choose Amsterdam Coffee Lab

At Amsterdam Coffee Lab / WB.coffee in Weesp, we believe in learning through tasting, doing, and having fun.

You’ll get independent, honest advice from a real expert — not a brand rep.

Our workshops are designed to give you confidence, understanding, and the joy of making truly great coffee.

Practical Info

📍 Location: Amsterdam Coffee Lab, Weesp (next to Karwei)

⏱️ Duration: ±2 hours of espresso tasting and training

👥 Level: Beginner to experienced home baristas

🧰 Bring your own gear: Espresso machine or grinder (optional, photos also help)

🎟️ Perfect gift: book a workshop date later!

Book Your Spot

Spaces are limited — reserve your place today and start brewing espresso like a pro.

👉 Register now for the Home Barista Workshop

More info & Booking