ogged, what was the temperature of the water when you did the taste test? and i wonder what about the test in the article?
i think it makes a big difference. bottled water at room temperature tastes vastly different than tap water at room temperature. i think i could tell them apart any day.
but cold? from the fridge? totally can't tell the difference. i think it's because the coldness of the water numbs your taste buds and you can't taste as well.
I'm nor surpised that you can tell the taste between tap and bottled water, but I'm surprised you could identify 8 varities.
Until I find a good study of the water quality in Baton Rouge, and in my house in particular, though, I'm sticking to my regionally-local spring water, the empty bottles of whcih I will recycle. There are just too many chemical and petroleum plants upriver from me ("cancer alley" is the term for that stretch of the Mississip, owing to the much-higher than average cancer rates of the locals)
Sacramento has really hard water which tastes awful. I think it's got a lot of hexavalent chromium in it too. So everyone loads up on gallon jugs of heavily filtered water at the grocery store.
When the conversation turns to tap water, we here in San Diego blanch. The majority of our water has passed through wuite a few filtering systems, digestive systems and agricultural fields on its way through the Colorado River system, and each has left their own je nais se quite undrinkable.
When I lived in the East Bay of the SF Bay Area (EBMUD service area), I couldn't believe people drank straight from the tap. I tried it and couldn't believe that clear delicious water came out of the ground like that. I quickly lost that habit when I moved into the CCC Water district, whose water is unsafe for anyone on a sodium restricted diet.
So my tastes are simple. I require that my water not be a contributory factor to my demise, and I default to bottled water.
Here in the heavenly District of Columbia, water tests last year showed that we were drinking tap water that contained up to quadruple the legal limit of lead parts per billion: enough to cause neurological damage to any gestating proto-citizens. Word is that it's all under control now, but inspiring confidence is not what DC local gov does best.
I like cold drinks, and bottled water is usually colder than tap water. I used to refill water battle with tap water and put it back in the refrigerator. Turns out this is may be a bad idea [infocafe link deleted].
Bottled water isn't so bad. It isn't as good as tap water. But it can be more convienient than tap water. And it is better for you than coke or pepsi.
NYC has famously good tap water. In the 70s, my relatives in Pitston, PA had the best tap water I every tasted. It probably wasn't very healthy because they didn't process the water at all.
I want to be the kind of guy who can drink sludge and think it's just fine.
Ogged at a party, addressing a group of gentlemen in sleeveless flanel and camoflage trucker's hats: "What? I'm no Sissy Susan, no Debonair Debby! Watch me drink this! It's American wine. And it's a Merlot. I'll drink it all. Watch me now, straight from the bottle. I'm gonna drink it. Really. Just raise it up to my lips and drink it....i'm gonna do it...
No, no chemicals. Just natural minerals. Up there in the Yukon Territory. You can cut it with a knife. Lots of minerals. Most seemingly-healthy people have an acute cadmium shortage.
Cadmium is one of the few elements that has no constructive purpose in the human body. This element and solutions of its compounds are extremely toxic even in low concentrations, and will bioaccumulate in organisms and ecosystems.
On the other hand, you've got the crazy-uncle-of-the-liberal-blogosphere thing down *pat*.
I lived in a place where I didn't need to do a taste test because I could do a sight test: tap water ice was brownish while filtered/bottled water ice was clear.
Cadmium shortage often leads to delusional ideation and irrationality, which is never pecieved by the sufferer.
You can see the minerals in a glass of my brother's Yukon water all the way across the room. And you immediately know that they ain't chemicals. Just natural, healthful minerals. Selenium, too. Mmmm.
Just add a little benzene and it's way better than Perrier. He hasn't drilled a benzene well yet.
I grew up in central Scotland where the tap water is essentially the same stuff bottled and sold as spring water. Clear, delicious stuff with no real discernable flavour at all. It basically comes off the mountains, gets filtered, disinfected (in some areas) and that's it.
It tastes massively better than just about any commercial bottled water I've ever tried.
On the other hand, now that I live in the south of England where the water is truly horrible tasting by comparison I am sometimes tempted by bottled waters and would drink more of them if it wasn't for the price...
I really can't make a blanket statement about tap water - it varies so much from place to place and house to house.
My parents live in a house built in the early 1900s and I'm told to let the water run for a minute or two every morning because of the lead pipes!
But I think some people buy into the marketing point that all tap water is yucky. Unfortunately some filters cause problems as well. Reverse osmosis filters waste a lot of water.
Dang, my Sacramento water isn't hard at all! Straight from the Sierra. I drink tap water all day long.
Now, over in Davis (12 miles west) the water comes from any of 30-some wells. Day to day variations in the mineral content are ridiculously wide. Who knows what you're getting on any given day.
Here in the SF Bay area I drink tap water (I buy bottled water occasionally, but mostly just for the bottle -- I refill the bottles from the tap until they become broken or go AWOL for some reason).
However, when I lived in Phoenix, the tap water was hypothetically potable, but realistically was undrinkable due to its high mineral content (I drained a few gallons of water from my water heater every month, and inevitably I got a large supply of crystallized minerals out, spreading on my driveway like desert snow). Even using the tap water to make lemonade or other such drinks was rather iffy, the mouth-puckering mineral content made it through the flavoring. So I bought bottled water.
That did not make me evil, just sane. Drinking water that tastes horrible in preference to regular old water is the act of a sadist, not of a sane man.
Oh, one more thing about Phoenix: I bought bottled water in gallon jugs. I refilled the gallon jugs rather than throw them away -- Phoenix has water refill outlets all over the place that take the undrinkable tap water, ship it through a reverse osmosis filter to reduce the mineral content to something drinkable by mere mortals, and then ship it out to a spout for 20c a gallon or so. The alternative was buying a reverse osmosis filter for my home, but refilling my jugs at the store was never a really big deal, and working the numbers, drinking 2 gallons per week of plain drinking water (cooking water came out of the tap), it simply made no sense to buy the filter.
Man oh man. My scrolling fingers a gettin' tired.
Posted by tweedledopey | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 4:17 PM
finger's
Posted by tweedledopey | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 4:17 PM
Self-indulgent.
Posted by MMGood | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 4:48 PM
ogged, what was the temperature of the water when you did the taste test? and i wonder what about the test in the article?
i think it makes a big difference. bottled water at room temperature tastes vastly different than tap water at room temperature. i think i could tell them apart any day.
but cold? from the fridge? totally can't tell the difference. i think it's because the coldness of the water numbs your taste buds and you can't taste as well.
just my harebrained theory
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 4:50 PM
Self-indulgent.
A fair point. Though I only wrote 261 of the words.
Silvana, room temperature for my test. I think you're right that differences are much less noticeable at lower temperatures.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 4:54 PM
The Ritz-Carlton near me has a water sommelier. I kid you not.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 5:03 PM
Wow.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 5:11 PM
I'm nor surpised that you can tell the taste between tap and bottled water, but I'm surprised you could identify 8 varities.
Until I find a good study of the water quality in Baton Rouge, and in my house in particular, though, I'm sticking to my regionally-local spring water, the empty bottles of whcih I will recycle. There are just too many chemical and petroleum plants upriver from me ("cancer alley" is the term for that stretch of the Mississip, owing to the much-higher than average cancer rates of the locals)
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 5:11 PM
"...he's blogging up a storm."
Clearly I should bottle it and sell it to all the folks who have too much money to know what to do with and spend it on water.
Posted by Gary Farber | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 5:17 PM
Haven't you already sorta done that?
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 5:24 PM
I can recognize Evian, because I don't like it.
Sacramento has really hard water which tastes awful. I think it's got a lot of hexavalent chromium in it too. So everyone loads up on gallon jugs of heavily filtered water at the grocery store.
Posted by bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 5:27 PM
When the conversation turns to tap water, we here in San Diego blanch. The majority of our water has passed through wuite a few filtering systems, digestive systems and agricultural fields on its way through the Colorado River system, and each has left their own je nais se quite undrinkable.
When I lived in the East Bay of the SF Bay Area (EBMUD service area), I couldn't believe people drank straight from the tap. I tried it and couldn't believe that clear delicious water came out of the ground like that. I quickly lost that habit when I moved into the CCC Water district, whose water is unsafe for anyone on a sodium restricted diet.
So my tastes are simple. I require that my water not be a contributory factor to my demise, and I default to bottled water.
Posted by Jon Gallagher | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 5:33 PM
Here in the heavenly District of Columbia, water tests last year showed that we were drinking tap water that contained up to quadruple the legal limit of lead parts per billion: enough to cause neurological damage to any gestating proto-citizens. Word is that it's all under control now, but inspiring confidence is not what DC local gov does best.
Posted by susan | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 5:38 PM
I like cold drinks, and bottled water is usually colder than tap water. I used to refill water battle with tap water and put it back in the refrigerator. Turns out this is may be a bad idea [infocafe link deleted].
Bottled water isn't so bad. It isn't as good as tap water. But it can be more convienient than tap water. And it is better for you than coke or pepsi.
NYC has famously good tap water. In the 70s, my relatives in Pitston, PA had the best tap water I every tasted. It probably wasn't very healthy because they didn't process the water at all.
Posted by joe o | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 5:52 PM
I want to be the kind of guy who can drink sludge and think it's just fine.
Ogged at a party, addressing a group of gentlemen in sleeveless flanel and camoflage trucker's hats: "What? I'm no Sissy Susan, no Debonair Debby! Watch me drink this! It's American wine. And it's a Merlot. I'll drink it all. Watch me now, straight from the bottle. I'm gonna drink it. Really. Just raise it up to my lips and drink it....i'm gonna do it...
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 5:53 PM
My brother drills wells which produce all-natural, chemical-free mineral water. You should see some of that water.
Posted by John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 5:53 PM
I threw up another water story. Wait, I'll rephrase!
My bet is that John Emerson's brother's water actually does have chemicals, though.
Posted by Gary Farber | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 6:46 PM
Without chemicals, live itself would be impossible.
Posted by some 70's TV ad | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 7:10 PM
So where does the Brita filter fall on the metrosexual water spectrum? That's how I roll.
Posted by tom | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 8:31 PM
Faggot.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 8:42 PM
No, no chemicals. Just natural minerals. Up there in the Yukon Territory. You can cut it with a knife. Lots of minerals. Most seemingly-healthy people have an acute cadmium shortage.
Posted by John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 9:25 PM
John, I sure hope you're kidding about Cadmium. From the wikipedia article:
On the other hand, you've got the crazy-uncle-of-the-liberal-blogosphere thing down *pat*.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 9:34 PM
Minerals are chemicals.
Water is chemicals.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 9:34 PM
I lived in a place where I didn't need to do a taste test because I could do a sight test: tap water ice was brownish while filtered/bottled water ice was clear.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 9:41 PM
Berkeley's tap water is great, though.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 9:43 PM
Cadmium shortage often leads to delusional ideation and irrationality, which is never pecieved by the sufferer.
You can see the minerals in a glass of my brother's Yukon water all the way across the room. And you immediately know that they ain't chemicals. Just natural, healthful minerals. Selenium, too. Mmmm.
Just add a little benzene and it's way better than Perrier. He hasn't drilled a benzene well yet.
Posted by John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 9:51 PM
Selenium has such a pretty name, how could it be bad for you?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 10:13 PM
Ebola -- what a cute name for a girl.
Posted by John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 1-05 10:14 PM
I grew up in central Scotland where the tap water is essentially the same stuff bottled and sold as spring water. Clear, delicious stuff with no real discernable flavour at all. It basically comes off the mountains, gets filtered, disinfected (in some areas) and that's it.
It tastes massively better than just about any commercial bottled water I've ever tried.
On the other hand, now that I live in the south of England where the water is truly horrible tasting by comparison I am sometimes tempted by bottled waters and would drink more of them if it wasn't for the price...
Posted by Matt McGrattan | Link to this comment | 08- 2-05 2:37 AM
John,
Oh, I geddit.
I really can't make a blanket statement about tap water - it varies so much from place to place and house to house.
My parents live in a house built in the early 1900s and I'm told to let the water run for a minute or two every morning because of the lead pipes!
But I think some people buy into the marketing point that all tap water is yucky. Unfortunately some filters cause problems as well. Reverse osmosis filters waste a lot of water.
Posted by Tripp | Link to this comment | 08- 2-05 6:48 AM
Dang, my Sacramento water isn't hard at all! Straight from the Sierra. I drink tap water all day long.
Now, over in Davis (12 miles west) the water comes from any of 30-some wells. Day to day variations in the mineral content are ridiculously wide. Who knows what you're getting on any given day.
Posted by Mo MacArbie | Link to this comment | 08- 2-05 6:23 PM
Here in the SF Bay area I drink tap water (I buy bottled water occasionally, but mostly just for the bottle -- I refill the bottles from the tap until they become broken or go AWOL for some reason).
However, when I lived in Phoenix, the tap water was hypothetically potable, but realistically was undrinkable due to its high mineral content (I drained a few gallons of water from my water heater every month, and inevitably I got a large supply of crystallized minerals out, spreading on my driveway like desert snow). Even using the tap water to make lemonade or other such drinks was rather iffy, the mouth-puckering mineral content made it through the flavoring. So I bought bottled water.
That did not make me evil, just sane. Drinking water that tastes horrible in preference to regular old water is the act of a sadist, not of a sane man.
- Badtux the Sane Penguin
Posted by BadTux | Link to this comment | 08- 2-05 6:58 PM
Oh, one more thing about Phoenix: I bought bottled water in gallon jugs. I refilled the gallon jugs rather than throw them away -- Phoenix has water refill outlets all over the place that take the undrinkable tap water, ship it through a reverse osmosis filter to reduce the mineral content to something drinkable by mere mortals, and then ship it out to a spout for 20c a gallon or so. The alternative was buying a reverse osmosis filter for my home, but refilling my jugs at the store was never a really big deal, and working the numbers, drinking 2 gallons per week of plain drinking water (cooking water came out of the tap), it simply made no sense to buy the filter.
- Badtux the Water Penguin
Posted by BadTux | Link to this comment | 08- 2-05 7:02 PM