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Bottled water

Stampyhead

Stampyhead

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 3, 2004
2,294
30
London, UK
My friends think I'm crazy because I'm very picky about the water I will drink. They think it all tastes the same, but it clearly does not. There are some that have an awful bitter taste, almost like you're tasting the plastic bottle the water comes in. Here are some of my thoughts on different bottled waters. Please feel free to add your own thoughts, opinions, favorites, least favorites, comments stating that Stampyhead is insane because all bottled water tastes the same, etc.
Favorites: Evian, Vittel (haven't been able to find Vittel in North America anywhere), Iceland Spring. I know Evian is expensive and maybe even a little trendy, but it has a nice, almost sweet, taste and never plastic-y (funny how all my favorites are from non-US sources)
Least favorites: Aqua Fina, Dasani. These two are awful, not just because they are purified tap water in a bottle (and Pepsi and Coca Cola respectively trying to make a buck off the bottled water craze), but because they just taste bad. Aqua Fina especially has that nasty bitter taste that makes one fear the water has been in the bottle too long and is starting to absorb some of the plastic chemicals.
Others that are decent that fall in between these two categories: Fiji, Ozarka, Arrowhead, Poland Spring, other brands depending on your geographical location.
Ok, I'm done. And now I'm really thirsty too. What do you all think?
 
My friend drinks Highland Springs whenever he can. At home I drink Brita filtered tap water, its nice, but sometimes a bit plain. Evian FTW!
 
I drink ozarka most of the time, though I think Fiji water tastes best. Like you, I don't like to drink dasani or aquafina. I'm depressed that i've gotten to the point where I compare bottled water brands. This is a sad day.
 
Considering that bottled water costs more than gasoline for the same amount I think ill pass. yay tap filtered water.
 
Would you pay $4-6 for bottled water?

I buy gallons of spring water each week and use that to refill an empty water bottle :)

Ever see the Penn & Teller Bull***** about bottled water? You should.
 
We have an RO system in our house. I can definitely taste the difference between it and our tap water here. Not sure it's 100% necessary, as I drank tap water as a kid for years with no problems, but I prefer it nonetheless. :cool:
 
I have the good (at least on this subject) fortune to live in Boston, and we have some of the best tap water to be found. I'm told Seattle's is also fine.

Filtration may or may not be necessary, depending on your situation. In an old house, with old pipes, it might not be a bad idea.

On the job, I do drink Poland Spring. Reason: The place has fountains, but the water tastes like it has something in it that shouldn't be there. Everyone has commented on it. A few have said it has an odor on some days, but I have not detected this. Some of the big shot office suites have Belmont springs bottled water service. I have managed to save some Poland spring bottles, and I fill them with good old Boston Tap. Chilled water is always nice.

A concern has been raised about what to do with all those wasted water bottles. I think the concern is a valid one. Maybe this is something for the MIT and Cal Tech kids to work on. What is that plastic good for?
 
Yeah, tap water for me, I can't see paying $8 a gallon for something I get for free. (ok, I have a water bill, but its pennies per gallon)
 
I liked Vittel very much when I was in Europe - it does have a good taste.

Here I just use a filter on the tap water to cut down on waste, because I can easily drink a dozen bottles of water in a day.
 
I buy bottled water for convenience (take one every day to work). I can't tell the difference between brands. Well, this isn't true -- I can, but I don't care. What I DO hate is when a bottle is left with tap water overnight or has gone through a hot/cool cycle in a hot car. Then you can taste plastic in the water and it is gross.
 
Bottled water = dumb.

More often than not it is just filtered tap water.

Don't like the "taste" of the water coming from your tap? Get a filter; it's way cheaper than buying 20oz bottles of water for $1.50 each.

Don't want to buy a filter? Get a large 5 gallon container that you can refill for about a dollar at a water store/machine outside of a grocery store.

Not to mention the extremely large amount of plastic that is wasted with all of these bottles. Almost nobody recycles them, so they sit in landfills forever.
 
Last year alone Americans spent $15 billion on bottled water. This is coming from people who are one of the few civilizations that have clean tap whatever for a very large majority of its citizens. The kicker is that about 25% of that was nothing more than bottled tap water (Aquafina and Dasani).

People that obsess over water and find it purer or whatever confuse me. I buy it when i'm out, or take a bottle with me if i know i will be outside, but beyond that, i drink plain ol' filtered tap. And before someone tells me something about Fluoride being in my water, my town doesn't add it to the water supply :p
 
I once had a professor who said, "Bottled water was the best idea since the Catholic church thought of selling indulgences." :D


I realize that bottled water can taste different than tap water, and different brands have difference tastes, but nonetheless, water is water. Even the most expensive imported waters are no more or less safe than the water coming out of my tap.

...And you'll find the taste of water is very subjective. You may think Evian tastes better (which is most likely influenced by its price and prestige), but switch to tap water for a month or two and then perform a blind taste test. ...I wouldn't be surprised if you picked the tap water as your favorite.
 
Get a water filter and stop wasting plastic/energy/water/money!!! :mad:



Sorry, but bottled water is one of my pet peeves!
 
Stampyhead said:
Favorites: Evian, Vittel (haven't been able to find Vittel in North America anywhere), Iceland Spring. I know Evian is expensive and maybe even a little trendy, but it has a nice, almost sweet, taste and never plastic-y (funny how all my favorites are from non-US sources)
Click to expand...

Agreed. Not all water tastes the same. My favorites in addition to Vittel would be Poland Spring and Volvic. And atually I hate Evian. I hate that weird almost sweet taste. It drives me nuts. I'd rather drink tap than Evian.

In the US I don't drink Tap, unless it goes through the Brita first. Tastes funny. In Germany I buy sprüdel (carbonated water) but other than that I drink tap.
 
Bottled water is just great marketing. For some reason people think that it is a good thing since it's 'natural.' The waste of plastic for bottles and gas for transporting it from a 'spring' is sooooo bad for the environment. Do everyone, and yourself, a favor and buy a filter.

Have a nice day:).
 
I was in the US a couple of years ago and was quite surprised to see Evian on sale. What is the point of shipping bottled water across the Atlantic, it just seems a terrible waste of both resources and time.
 
San Francisco has already joined the 'just-say-no-to-bottled-water-group', and you can too.

San Francisco city government will no longer be allowed to use city money to buy bottled water for its employees under an executive order Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign today.

Despite owning a pristine reservoir in the Sierra Nevada that is said to produce some of the country's best-tasting tap water, the city spends nearly $500,000 a year on bottled water.

Newsom is making good on a year-old promise to curb spending on bottled water in the wake of a 2006 Chronicle story that found San Francisco had paid more than $2 million for water, paper cups and dispenser rentals in recent years.

"All of this waste and pollution is generated by a product that by objective standards is often inferior to the quality of San Francisco's pristine tap water," Newsom wrote in a two-page executive order that he is expected to sign today.

In addition to city departments, all city concessions, city-funded events and functions in city buildings will be prohibited from using city money to buy bottled water by July 1. By Dec. 1, all city departments located on city property must switch from bottled water dispensers to dispensers that attach to taps or water pipes and use water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park.

Those dispensers cost about $400 each, but the city's environmental director, Jared Blumenfeld, said that in the long run the cost will be cheaper than the $500,000-a-year bottled water bill the city currently pays.

"There's no rational reason for people to buy it," Blumenfeld said.
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