This year’s German AeroPress Championship crowned a familiar face, Niklas Staron, who returned to the stage after first winning the title in 2019.
Back then, custom water and APAX LAB didn’t exist. Fast-forward to 2025, and water has become one of the most defining variables in competition coffee.
We caught up with Niklas to learn about his return to the AeroPress Champs, his winning water recipe with APAX LAB, and why he believes water is the most overlooked yet powerful tool in brewing.
How long have you been practicing AeroPress, and what made you want to compete again?
I competed and won the German AeroPress Champs way back in 2019, when APAX and customised water weren’t a thing. I still mixed my own water using self-made mineral concentrates and already noticed how important water was back then.
The AeroPress Champs is such an inclusive competition — everyone just wants to have a good time and brew tasty coffee. That’s why I came back!
Water quality is crucial in coffee brewing — how did it impact your approach to the competition?
My brewing water played a massive role. I quickly settled on a recipe that worked for the coffee and then fine-tuned the final cup with the water composition.
Putting water at the centre has changed a lot in the past years. Your recipe, grinder and technique all matter, but water can make you win or lose a competition.
Why did you choose APAX LAB to prepare your water?
The easy-to-understand concentrates from APAX make the process quick and consistent. That’s what matters in competition prep — you’re often practising with the coffee only a few days before the event, and you need to ensure your recipe tastes exactly the same on competition day.
Having APAX with clear starting points for different coffee processes makes finding a water recipe much faster.
How did the mineral concentrates help you win?
The concentrates helped me achieve a beautiful balance of sweetness and acidity in the cup. I crafted a relatively soft water of around 80 ppm, which suited the coffee perfectly.
I also prepared several batches of the same water to make sure the concentration stayed consistent — and that’s what ensured my cups tasted identical every round.
What’s your favourite APAX LAB profile?
Tonik. I’m a big fan of juicy cup profiles, especially for AeroPress, where that extra liveliness balances the natural sweetness the brewer already produces.
What was your winning water recipe with APAX LAB?
For 1L of demineralised water:
20 drops of Tonik | 10 drops of Jamm | 10 drops of Lylac
And what coffee did you use it with?
We were provided with a mystery coffee that turned out to be a natural processed Mokka variety from Costa Rica.
The coffee had high sweetness — perfect for AeroPress — but was tricky to brew without introducing bitterness.
A lower total concentration (80 ppm) helped me keep the bitterness low, while a higher dose of Tonik brought out juicy acidity and overall balance.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Finding the right brewing water can be frustrating at first, but once you invest the time, the difference it makes is massive.
Personal Hot take: Getting the water spot-on is the most important factor in brewing delicious coffee.
Niklas’s story shows how much the world of coffee brewing has evolved — and how crucial water has become in defining clarity, sweetness, and structure in competition coffee. Congratulations to him again, for showing that the perfect cup starts with the right water.
