They all taste fine when cold. But my test is when I wake up at night and have a sip of warm bottled water.The alkaline taste comes through. I had some Fiji once and it seemed really good although it is expensive. I buy Giant Eagle water most often and can’t tell the difference between “drinking”, “spring” or “filtered” water. My wife uses distilled which tastes like crap.
If you can, watch the episode of Penn and Teller’s “Bullshit” where they do an expose on bottled water.
I would say they can taste absolutely different depending on the mineral content. You are not going to mix up Yessentuki and Evian in a blind taste-test.
it tastes like… water!
I’ve had the same brand of bottled water taste different. Most of the Nestle water in my area is bottled in Hope, BC. Some of it is bottled elsewhere, where they filter it through a dirty sock before bottling it. I wish the source wasn’t in such small print so I could make sure I never get one of those swamp water cases again.
I tend to find there are two basic tastes for bottled water. The most popular brands I noticed were Dasani and Aquafina. The latter has a slightly sweet taste to it that I much prefer to the more dull taste of the former, that tastes like tap water. The slightly sweet taste is the taste you’d get from the reverse osmosis filter.
I note that at Walmart, both their Great Value water and the distilled have the sweet taste, while the spring water has the dull taste. And, yet, the Great Value water has a couple minerals in it.
So I can’t tell you what causes the difference.
Check the list of ingredients on each; it should say how much of what is in it (e.g., bicarbonate, calcium, magnesium, chloride, nitrate, sodium, silica, potassium, fluoride, sulphate, also the pH, …)
Dasani and Aquafina. one from Coca-Cola, the other from Pepsi, are just filtered tap water from wherever they are bottled at. Maybe some minerals added back in.
My point is that they generally don’t. Go read the ingredients in Dasani and Aquafina. Both either just say water or even just don’t mention ingredients at all, here in the US. It seems they may have tighter restrictions in the UK, but it’s not clear they’d be the same.
As long as it’s “gluten-free” I don’t care what else is in it.
I bought some homeopathic water once, but the bottle was practically empty.
In the US, anyway, the FDA says that anything labelled “mineral water” has to have a minimum level of minerals (250 ppm). They are not allowed to fortify it with extra minerals, either:
The name of water containing not less than 250 parts per million (ppm) total dissolved solids (TDS), coming from a source tapped at one or more bore holes or springs, originating from a geologically and physically protected underground water source, may be “mineral water.” Mineral water shall be distinguished from other types of water by its constant level and relative proportions of minerals and trace elements at the point of emergence from the source, due account being taken of the cycles of natural fluctuations. No minerals may be added to this water.
If you are buying random bottled tap water (so not “mineral water”), there is apparently no need to label it with a chemical analysis, but when you buy a bottle of something like Evian they will have it in any case as a selling point.
I live in an area with abundant natural spring water, so I just buy store brands of bottled water (or jugs) which come from different sources – sometimes the same store brand will label a different source at different times – but it all tastes very good and basically the same to me even though the mineral analysis varies with source. I absolutely cannot stand chlorinated tap water. I only use it for cooking and for coffee.
Distilled water isn’t really meant for drinking. The absence of any minerals gives it a flat taste that isn’t really enjoyable, though it’s certainly better than most tap water!