This year marks a defining moment in APAX LAB’s story.
After years spent researching water chemistry, training competitors around the world, and helping countless champions refine their brews, Simon Gautherin, our co-founder, has just won the 2026 Australian Brewers Cup Championship.

For a competitor who exclusively drinks filter coffee, and a creator whose life revolves around improving it, this season represents the culmination of nearly a decade of competing, coaching, and pushing the boundaries of what water can do for flavour.

Below, Simon shares the preparation, innovation, and experimentation that shaped his winning cup from early training to the prototypes he and Nemo have spent months developing behind the scenes.

1. The Brewers Cup is really close to your heart. What makes this competition meaningful to you, and how has your perspective evolved across your seasons competing and coaching?

I exclusively drink filter coffee, and the Brewers Cup is all about who makes the best cup of filter coffee. It's a competition that I love because of the depth and complexity of it. The enormous amount of variables makes it a fascinating competition to participate in. This was my 3rd time competing in Australia, but I've been behind the scenes coaching numerous winners in the past, so I'm no stranger to this competition format.
Year after year, we've improved and adjusted our methodology, our approach to source, roast and dial coffees to get to where we were this year.
My biggest focus this year was to start practicing 10 months ago, a little bit every week, and make sure I was at the peak of my physical and mental shape on the day of competition.

2. You’re the Water Wizard of APAX LAB: how did it feel to compete using your own mineral profiles?

It's a proud moment! I've seen hundreds of people win their national competition with products that I designed and engineered - and it feels very validating to win with what I've now been preaching for years!

3. This year you leaned heavily into water design and Waved Technology. How did these elements shape your approach, strategy, and overall routine?

We have always leaned into water design for competition. Once we get to 80/85% of the coffee's potential, all the changes happen with water exclusively.
This year, I decided not to make water my main theme but rather just a tool in our arsenal to dial coffee.
I got to use prototypes that Nemo and I have been working on for a while - basically a "bottled version" of the Waved technology. In September, we won the Australian Aeropress Championship with that technology and this time we won with it applied to our products.
We are still in the very early stages of these prototypes, but they are basically APAX minerals on steroids.

4. You’ve spent months researching and refining the APAX × Waved prototypes. In what ways did these prototypes help you achieve the cup profile you were aiming for?

This innovation greatly helped us balance every coffee we made, erasing completely all dryness and bitterness and making every cup sweeter and incredibly round and coating. This is the first competition where we never ever struggle with some form of dryness. Every cup we made during the preparation was phenomenal.

5. Among TONIK, JAMM, LYLAC, and KONFLUX, which profiles played the biggest roles in your Brewers Cup routine, and why did they suit the coffee you chose?

Konflux gave us an unbelievable texture and helped us use a very clean coffee and push an incredible mouthfeel and intensity while preserving the coffee's flavours.

6. What coffee did you select for your competition, and how did your water design work in harmony with its origin, processing, and flavour structure?

A Natural Geisha from Finca Nuguo, Panama, and a Washed Geisha from Pañas Blancas, Colombia.
They are both refined coffees with amazing body, acidity and very little processing character.
Most of our focus was to work with the structure of the coffee and elevate both body and acidity while preserving the natural balance.

7. Can you share your full winning water recipe, including how you applied Waved Technology, and what effect it had on your final cup?

Our final brewing water was at 155ppm with: 40% Jamm, 20% Lylac, 40% Konflux (all in their "Waved" version).
We Waved water for 5 hours, and then used it as a base to create our mineral concentrates. We tried hundreds of different methodologies and this gave us even better results than using the Waved into the brewing water like we used to do.
We don't understand why this is happening and are still perplex, but it systematically yielded a better cup profile for us.

8. APAX LAB and Waved Tech are both powerful tools. What advice would you give to brewers who want to start exploring water as a variable for the first time?

Waved is the cherry on top of the cake, the last 2/3% you're looking for as a competitor, but it's not a machine that I think anybody should have at home or that is worth using behind the bar - which is why we wanted to explore a way to make it accessible to everyone by "bottling it" - and it woked.
Water mineral content however is one of the 2 ingredients you can control, with coffee. And having a great understanding of it will help you make better coffee.
Water chemistry is a rabbit hole, and most of its intricacies aren't needed for baristas to understand for them to make better coffee. That's one of the reasons why we wanted to simplify and demystify water chemistry at APAX LAB.
My advice for someone starting: make your own opinion, play around adding minerals to coffee and see the magic happen.

9. This year was the culmination of months of R&D. What did you learn about yourself as a brewer, and what does this win represent for APAX LAB?

While I may only be another person winning using APAX, I think it's a strong message we sent to the world. As the person who designed the products, I believe so much in them that I use them and win with them with no shortcuts or compromise. But to be truly honest - every time we see someone win with our products and message us right after to thank us, it feels like a win, and I have won many times already.
This is a small step for APAX LAB but of course a giant leap for my career as a brewer.

Conclusion

Simon’s Brewers Cup victory is a validation of years of research, experimentation, and relentless dedication to understanding water as a brewing variable. His win marks a turning point for APAX LAB, proving that the very tools he created not only support competitors around the world but can triumph on the national stage in his own hands.

What began as a pursuit to make water simpler, more precise, and more accessible has now evolved into a technology capable of pushing flavour in ways we still don’t fully understand. With APAX LAB and the early Waved prototypes shaping every cup in his preparation, Simon’s success stands as a testament to what’s possible when science, intuition, and passion align.

Congratulations to Simon Gautherin, Australian Brewers Cup Champion 2025, and to the entire APAX LAB community who made this journey possible!