# Why does a middle of the night glass of water taste so crappy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 8, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484 "2008-04-08T17:21:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/1 "2008-04-08T17:21:22Z")
I love a good glass of water, but anytime I’ve been forced to have one in the middle of the night (meaning in the middle of nightly sleep), it always tastes shitty. I thought it had something to do with middle of the night breath, but if I wake up and drink the same water a few hours later without brushing, it tastes fine. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/2 "2008-04-08T17:22:09Z")
My middle of the night water is always the best water. It’s so refreshing. ---
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/3 "2008-04-08T17:27:54Z")
Two things come to mind. 1. The water warms up and warm water just doesn’t provide a pleasant sensation. 2. The amount of dissolved gases in the water will be less as it sits. When you drink a cup of fresh poured water, the pouring process (from a faucet presumably) adds a look of dissolved gases. Also, as it warms, the water cannot hold as much gas. Unfortunately, I have no evidence that dissolved gases do affect the taste of water but it would not surprise me if it did. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/4 "2008-04-08T17:43:28Z")
[QUOTE=EmAnJ] My middle of the night water is always the best water. It’s so refreshing. [/QUOTE] Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/5 "2008-04-08T17:50:17Z")
**Wee Bairn** , are you drinking that same water out of the same _glass_? I used to hate middle-of-the-night water too, until I realized that what I was really hating on was the fugly, twenty years old, rarely-sent-downstairs-to-the-dishwasher plastic cup I was using. Alternately, I sometimes sleep with my mouth hanging open so it gets all dried out, and (after dreaming about drinking coffee grounds or having kitty litter thrown in my mouth) it takes awhile after I wake up for my saliva to work properly. Water doesn’t really taste like anything until my tongue’s been rehydrated with spit. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/6 "2008-04-08T17:54:33Z")
I was actually assuming **Wee Bairn** was talking about a fresh glass of water in a fresh cup, with the timing of the drink being the only variable. I often have the same experience. We have Sparkletts delivery, so we always drink it cold in a fresh cup. But middle-of-the-night water tastes _different_ somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/7 "2008-04-08T18:13:27Z")
Same dirty glass I use every day, but fresh cold water out of the refrigerator, which tastes yummy out of the same dirty glass during the day. I’d always heard of people getting up in the middle for a glass of water, but to me it tastes awful- Coke, Kool-Aid, anything else like that is great for me, but not water. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/8 "2008-04-08T18:20:23Z")
And its not the glass definitely, as its the same bad taste straight from the bottle. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/9 "2008-04-08T18:22:41Z")
I don’t find room temp or middle of the night water to be any less satisfying, YMclearlyV ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/10 "2008-04-08T18:23:37Z")
Yes! Water tastes bad when I’ve just woken up. Why?! Tell me!! -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/11 "2008-04-08T18:32:27Z")
For the record, I DON’T brush before bed- maybe there’s a correlation there? But if I wake up at 7, don’t brush and drink water at 10, its fine. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/12 "2008-04-08T18:33:26Z")
My husband used to complain about this. At the time, we had a dog. Also at the time, I tended to have insomnia. So I would be awake to hear the sound of the dog drinking out of my spouse’s water glass. Yeah, I told him. He started using something with a lid. This solved the problem. (I do realize that probably isn’t everybody’s problem with middle-of-the-night water.) ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/13 "2008-04-08T19:41:49Z")
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze] My husband used to complain about this. At the time, we had a dog. Also at the time, I tended to have insomnia. So I would be awake to hear the sound of the dog drinking out of my spouse’s water glass. Yeah, I told him. He started using something with a lid. This solved the problem. (I do realize that probably isn’t everybody’s problem with middle-of-the-night water.) [/QUOTE] Definitely not my issue since we only have a couple of rowdy fish, but that’s still hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/14 "2008-04-08T20:00:48Z")
I always blamed it on the water sitting stagnant in the pipes for hours. Have you tried running the water for a minute or two before filling your glass? ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/15 "2008-04-08T20:27:24Z")
[QUOTE=Skammer] I always blamed it on the water sitting stagnant in the pipes for hours. Have you tried running the water for a minute or two before filling your glass? [/QUOTE] This is water from a bottle in the fridge, not the tap. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/16 "2008-04-08T21:24:20Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] This is water from a bottle in the fridge, not the tap. [/QUOTE] So how does your tap water taste? ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/17 "2008-04-08T22:29:39Z")
[QUOTE=Flander] So how does your tap water taste? [/QUOTE] Very good- sorry for not being clear, the water in the fridge is from the tap. ---
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/18 "2008-04-08T22:34:46Z")
[QUOTE=solkoe] Two things come to mind. 1. The water warms up and warm water just doesn’t provide a pleasant sensation. 2. The amount of dissolved gases in the water will be less as it sits. When you drink a cup of fresh poured water, the pouring process (from a faucet presumably) adds a look of dissolved gases. Also, as it warms, the water cannot hold as much gas. Unfortunately, I have no evidence that dissolved gases do affect the taste of water but it would not surprise me if it did. [/QUOTE] I assumed it was from a cup next to your bed. As for the water in the fridge, maybe its because your mouth is dry or maybe its because your stomach is empty. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-middle-of-the-night-glass-of-water-taste-so-crappy/444484/19 "2008-04-08T22:56:00Z")
This is what I do for that late night sip of water. Don’t fill the glass with water but ice, it will slowly melt and if you wake up in a few hours for a drink chances are the water and what’s left of the ice will still be cold.