What are your thoughts on bottled water?

[kn]

I'm living in a home that has a water softerner with a special filter for drinking water. Compared to the tap water, it simply tastes different, not better or worse. The fact that it's not very cold, I often just drink tap water.

I used to drink bottled water from the local Safeway/Superstore, but gave up on that, not really seeing the need to spend money that way.

Yesterday I was in an organic market and bought a bottle of Norwegian water - VOSS - for the heck of it (yes, the bottle attracted my attention):
http://www.vosswater.com/index.php/p...ill-nutrition/ It was $2.69 for 375 ml, roughly the size of a mug of coffee. To drink eight mugs a day would be $22.60/day or $678/month.

I must admit that it tasted awesome. I would describe it as "pure", "clean" or "smooth" but will fully admit it may be completely psychological. I will say it tasted better than my tap water but can't say it's better than other bottled water; I highly doubt I'd be able to discern the difference in a blind taste test. Searching online, opinions ran the gamut from drinking only VOSS to thinking it's no more than Norway's tap water, bottled.

And here's an example of how many specialty waters there are now available: http://www.aquamaestro.com/step1.asp

So is this a case of another sucker born every minute or are there really people who can discern the difference like with wine? Probably a more important question is whether any of these are "healthier" for you.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by kn

I'm living in a home that has a water softerner with a special filter for drinking water. Compared to the tap water, it simply tastes different, not better or worse. The fact that it's not very cold, I often just drink tap water.

I used to drink bottled water from the local Safeway/Superstore, but gave up on that, not really seeing the need to spend money that way.

Yesterday I was in an organic market and bought a bottle of Norwegian water - VOSS - for the heck of it (yes, the bottle attracted my attention):
http://www.vosswater.com/index.php/p...ill-nutrition/ It was $2.69 for 375 ml, roughly the size of a mug of coffee. To drink eight mugs a day would be $22.60/day or $678/month.

I must admit that it tasted awesome. I would describe it as "pure", "clean" or "smooth" but will fully admit it may be completely psychological. I will say it tasted better than my tap water but can't say it's better than other bottled water; I highly doubt I'd be able to discern the difference in a blind taste test. Searching online, opinions ran the gamut from drinking only VOSS to thinking it's no more than Norway's tap water, bottled.

And here's an example of how many specialty waters there are now available: http://www.aquamaestro.com/step1.asp

So is this a case of another sucker born every minute or are there really people who can discern the difference like with wine? Probably a more important question is whether any of these are "healthier" for you.

I think it is very much like wine, in that to a large extent, how your brain perceives it will taste a certain way before it touches your taste buds.

Since reported tastiness is a poor measure of true taste experience in the era of fMRI scanning machines, the researchers were careful enough to take a peek into their participant's brains as these tasted the wines, and found something fairly surprising: When tasting the wine out of the $10 bottle, the medial orbitofrontal cortex - an area of the brain that is strongly related to experiences of pleasure - showed only very little activity. When the exact same wine was poured out of a $90 bottle however, this brain area showed levels of activation which indicate that the participants were indeed drawing much more enjoyment from the same wine this time around. In other words, the price tag seemed to have a real physiological influence on the taster's taste experience.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...tag-have-taste

Me, I drink plain old tap water all the time. It's delicious.

P.S. Love your avatar

[CaptainCrunch]

Water is water, go out and buy a water filter, and if you want flavor add a shot of lemon to it.
But paying 2 or 3 bucks for a bottle of water just plainly illustrates that PT Barnum was right.

[MoneyGuy]

Waste of money. I've ever bought a bottle of water for myself.

[ricoFlame]

tap water, it tastes great and does the job.

[MelBridgeman]

Haven't bought any since i got that fridge with the ice maker/water filter

I guess long car trips or foreign countries it has its purpose

[Wormius]

I prefer tap water. Filtered or distilled just doesn't feel very thirst quenching. That said I do have a filtered line for for the ice maker and a separate faucet, because I don't like ice that is not crystal clear, or dealing with mineral build up in the kettle.

[Barnet Flame]

I'll buy bottled sparkling water, but generally won't buy ordinary bottled water unless I'm at the gym.

[Bonded]

I never really cared about Brita filters and all that stuff before moving down to the Bay area, the tap water here has a taste, and I dislike it. I mean I will drink the tapwater, but boy do I miss Calgary tap water. Funny, it is usually the little things

[zamler]

Bottled water is an environmental disaster, many jurisdictions have banned the sale of bottled water because of this.

The industry is hugely profitable though, so don't except it to go away. I personally am absolutely baffled by anyone that would buy bottled water, unless you have no other choice.

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NSFW!

[stampsx2]

I will only drink bottled water

[Sainters7]

I have no problems with bottled water, I'll buy it for the drive on road trips & whatnot. But I've never got the groundswell of hate against tap water this past decade, I drink it all the time.

I've got a buddy that whenever he comes to visit he buys 3-4 2L jugs of bottled water and will only drink that. People like that baffle me, especially guys. Very un-manly. When you go home tell the queen I said whats up. Sorry my humble tap isn't good enough for your delicate palate.

[missdpuck]

I used to buy it and freeze it for work. They tell you not to re-use the plastic bottles but I did. Now it is easier to find those "safe" plastic bottles that are freezable and go with those. I notice the difference between the tap water at work and where i live. The chlorine content in the water at work is higher.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by fotze

I've always thought tap water tastes funny if the tap has been sitting for a while and you immediately fill the cup, so I let it run for a while.

I feel the same, and I am sure there is something to it. I think it is because the water has been sitting in the pipes all day.

I am the reverse of what most people think. I love the taste of calgary tap water. Prefer it to bottled water. But i still drink bottles water every now and then. Never at home though.

[onetwo_threefour]

Generally, I don't like bottled water, BUT...

I don't care for unfiltered tap water in general, I seem to have a heightened sensitivity to the taste of the chlorine in the water. There are certain times of the year when it's so strong I can't drink it straight out of the tap. Luckily we have a filter on the fridge.

However, when I do occasionally get bottled water, most I find to be as bad or worse than tap water. Dasani and Aquafina are both gross IMO. There are a couple that I actually like. The best I've had is Fiji, I've had several bottles and they always have little to no taste. Nestle's water and the Superstore brand of water are also good (tasteless). Other than those few, I can't really think of any that I would rate higher than tap water.

I do like Pellegrino and a few other sparkling mineral waters, but that is a whole different ball game, obviously.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by missdpuck

I used to buy it and freeze it for work. They tell you not to re-use the plastic bottles but I did. Now it is easier to find those "safe" plastic bottles that are freezable and go with those. I notice the difference between the tap water at work and where i live. The chlorine content in the water at work is higher.

Really? Didn't know that, haha that's my go-to. I'll re-use a bottle for over a month sometimes, especially for the gym, just keep it in my bag. Why can't you?

[J epworth]

We are blessed to live in a large city that has one of the cleanest river's running through it. Our water system is a big reason why our city is high up in many rankings for most liveable cities in the world. So besides the fact that it takes 3 bottles of water to make one bottle*, just the fact that our water is so good should make it a no brainer to drink from the tap. If you want dasani type taste, buy a Brita filter show the water's filtered one more time before you drink it.

*don't know if that's a true fact, I've just heard it before

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Really? Didn't know that, haha that's my go-to. I'll re-use a bottle for over a month sometimes, especially for the gym, just keep it in my bag. Why can't you?

+1

Explanation needed. I re-use the same bottle for months sometimes. Especially if it is one of those top quality Aquafina Vitamin water ones.

[Dion]

[missdpuck]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Really? Didn't know that, haha that's my go-to. I'll re-use a bottle for over a month sometimes, especially for the gym, just keep it in my bag. Why can't you?

"They"( lol ) say that the plastic in these bottles breaks down and becomes hazardous. I saw a warning on a plastic soda bottle. Right now I have 2 half gallon plastic jugs in the freezer (from iced tea) that I've re-used 4 times. They're a good size and therefore the ice doesn't melt so quickly. It's still hot down here.
I'm sure there's something online. i'll check it. These other refillable bottles are not made with BPA or whatever the heck it is.

Okay, I checked and there are tons of sites on the dangers of re-using plastic bottles. And more that say it's an urban myth, that the real concern is bacteria growth, so just make sure you clean them between uses.

If they're so dangerous, why would they be used at all...then again, that can be a loaded statement.

I like some of the re-usable ones that have the freezable cylinder in the middle.

So re-use those bottles, just wash them first