APAX Lab Mineral Concentrates Box Set

Transform Your Coffee’s Flavour with just a Few Drops

The APAX LAB Box Set brings together three mineral concentrates: TONIK, JAMM, and LYLAC. Designed for baristas, cafés, competitors, and curious coffee lovers, it gives you the freedom to explore how each profile transforms flavour, balance, and texture in the cup.

• Unlocks clarity, sweetness, body, and elegance in your brews.

• Provides all three mineral profiles to experiment and pair with different coffees

• Perfect for home brewers wanting to learn, and cafés looking to refine flavour for every origin, and coffee competitors.

• Compact format ideal for training, education, and travel.

We are now using APAX Labs mineral concentrates at Coffee Embassy Cellar Door and roastery to elevate the cup profile of our batch brew and pour over coffees. Our Head of Coffee James has provided some recipes designed as a starting point for using these drops below.

Apax Water Recipes

Your brewing water can make or break whether a coffee tastes vibrant and expressive or flat and muted. Since local water supplies vary, we’ve partnered with Apax Lab to help optimise your home brewing water.

The following recipes are designed as starting points, focusing on clarity and even extraction to let the coffee’s natural acidity and sweetness shine. 

For the Low-Key Approach

Base Water: Christchurch tap water

• Hardness (GH): 45ppm
• Alkalinity (KH): 52ppm

Apax Drops per 1L:

• Tonik: 10 drops
• Jamm: 5 drops

Since the alkalinity is already relatively high, Lylac is not needed, as alkalinity naturally buffers acidity. Instead, we focus on Tonik for improved extraction and Jamm to enhance texture, helping round out the cup.

Adjusting for Local Water Conditions

Christchurch's water supply is sourced from multiple groundwater wells across the city. While the overall water profile is relatively consistent, natural variation exists between supply zones. As a practical rule of thumb, the PPM may vary by approximately 5–15 ppm depending on location.

For this reason, the recommended APAX recipe should be viewed as a starting point rather than a fixed target. The strength of the APAX system lies in its flexibility; mineral ratios can be adjusted easily to suit local water conditions and taste preferences.

If coffees taste flat or lacks vibrancy, increasing Tonik may improve extraction, flavour clarity, and acidity. If coffees taste overly sharp or acidic, increasing Jamm may help improve balance and perceived sweetness. Adjustments should be made incrementally and evaluated through taste.

For the Coffee Geek

Base Water: Fully distilled water (<1 ppm TDS)

Apax Drops (1000g):

• Tonik: 1.1g
• Jamm: 1.1g
• Lylac: 1.1g

Target PPM: 85 - 95ppm

This recipe provides a balanced starting point, designed to maximise clarity allowing the coffee's natural characteristics to shine. From here, you can make small adjustments depending on the coffee you're brewing and your personal taste preferences.

For example: If you're brewing a washed Gesha with beautiful florals, but the acidity feels a little too sharp or angular, try adding an additional 0.2g of Lylac. This helps buffer the acidity, creating a sweeter, more harmonious cup while preserving the coffee's delicate floral character.

Learning how each mineral influences flavour is one of the most powerful tools available to the home brewer. Rather than changing your recipe or grind, subtle adjustments to your water chemistry can unlock entirely new dimensions in a coffee.

Always add to the water before brewing - not the brewed coffee. 

If you need assistance or are simply curious about the Apax drops, our Head of Coffee, James, welcomes all enquiries. You can get in touch at james@coffeeembassy.co.nz

What’s Inside

3 x 20mL (≈30 brews) bottles:

TONIK – vibrant, bright, juicy

JAMM – rich, sweet, creamy

LYLAC – elegant, floral, silky

For more information about APAX Labs and these Mineral Concentrates, head to their website.