Yeah, Topo Chico is a nice feature when I visit Austin. It's also pretty cheap, I believe.
Think of the carbon footprint of hauling around water and the benefits of physical comedy. Get yourself a seltzer bottle.
I'm fond of Topo Chico, despite never having had it, because the guy who runs this label (and plays double bass very well) frequently posts pictures of a bottle of it, a latte, and whatever book of poetry he's currently reading to facebook. The Damon Smith Special.
That Solo Jazz tumblr linked in the link is mesmerizing.
I have affection for La Croix, but I never drink the unflavored stuff.
Vichy Catalan is my pick.
One great thing about having been back in Spain was getting my favorite sparking mineral (and boy does it have minerals) water.
I'm not sure how the unflavored LaCroix water would differ from store brand seltzer, to be honest, though I guess maybe the large bottling plant and relative impermeability of aluminum cans compared to plastic bottles might improve things a little.
Anyone who drinks it instead of the flavored stuff is a sucker, though. Some of the flavored ones are absolutely amazing.
Some of the flavored ones are absolutely amazing.
This seems improbable, based on my experience of other flavored sparkling waters. Which? How?
Drinking sparkling water always struck me as a weird affectation. I simply can't believe anyone likes it. Tasteless liquid that makes you burp and fart? No thanks.
Why wasn't I told about the farting?
Vichy Catalan is my pick.
Yes.
Do I need to link to this? Maybe. Note that the water sommelier has his 45-page water menu (including Vichy Catalan!) at arguably one of LA's better tourist attractions, so you can go to maximum stereotype quickly on a visit if you want.
Oh shit, is it that at fault rather than (or, in addition to) all the cabbage I'm eating?
I vastly prefer sparkling water over still water. Not an affectation! Not tasteless, either--the carbonation makes it a little tangy.
If you say that there is no difference in how different sparkling waters taste the water sommelier will come to your house and kick your ass.
Lots of people strongly prefer affectations.
I like sparkling water now that I realize I should be pouring it into a glass instead of drinking it from the bottle. It's still kinda pointless though if it has no discernable minerals.
What are people's views on the mineral waters that actually taste a little salty? (or quite salty?) The Eastern European store always has a wide variety of these. They range from "undetectable salts" to, on the extreme salty end, Vytautas. My favorite is Knjaz Milos.
This seems improbable, based on my experience of other flavored sparkling waters. Which? How?
It is unclear how it works but when it works they manage to be more faithful to the flavor of the fruit than the fruit juice itself is.
Which ones to try depends on your general tastes - as far as I know the lemon and lime ones taste like everyone else's lemon and lime flavored sparkling waters. The grapefruit one is really impressive, and not a bad starting place. The passionfruit one nails that particular zingyness that passionfruit juices/whatever fail to, despite not having any acids or sugars in it as best I can tell. Depending on how you feel about things that smell sweet but are not actually sweet tasting* the peach/pear and apricot ones are unnervingly authentic as well. I have no idea how that could be true but it is.
The coconut one tastes like the sparkling water version of suntan lotion, but by the time I finished the pack of it I had somehow started loving it. It was a mystery.
*I know someone who finds the effect confusing/off putting/weird and so doesn't really like those ones.
I've never tried one myself, but my brother drinks those flavored LaCroix every time I see him. I think mainly the peach/pear. I would try one myself, but I always see him at my parents and whenever I come home my dad tells me to go buy myself what I need to drink with his money. So I drink beer.
La Croix pamplemousse is on my desk right now, as it is most of the time (occasionally swapped out for Poland Spring lemon). At home it's Polar, where I drink the regular grapefruit while my wife goes through all of their insane flavors and seasonal variations (Mango berry? Watermelon margarita? Unicorn kisses?)
Not tasteless, either--the carbonation makes it a little tangy.
Sour stuff !
Yeah, I'm a grapefruit, apricot, or cran-raspberry guy for LaCroix. I can't hack most lemon-flavored things--they taste like Pledge to me.
I really like Diet Coke and knockoff Diet Coke.
Tesco's own brand sparkling water (16 pence for a 2-litre bottle) is just fine. I can tell the difference with high-mineral-content waters, but don't care enough to pay ten times the amount for a tiny gain in taste.
Nathan - how does the Polar compare? I've seen it around as well and considered picking up a bottle as a treat but I'm generally suspicious of these kinds of things (which is why I find LaCroix so crazy) and it always looks really questionable.
The Polar grapefruit is not quite as tasty as the La Croix but is just fine. I buy 12-packs of cans and drink one or two a week. I often use it as a base for other homemade soda-like things, spiking it with some cider syrup and/or vinegar.
That's got to be on urban dictionary as a sex act.
I adore Gerolsteiner for its big soft bubbles, the golden retrievers of seltzer bubbles. But frankly they're all fine, or anyway the ones I've had. Oh but Canfields's lime seltzer was especially beloved when I lived in Chicago.
Drinking sparkling water always struck me as a weird affectation.
Your mom's a weird affectation.
Badoit is the tastiest. I loathe those scented fizzy waters, yech. But then I loathe all sweet fizzy drinks too, unless they are also alcoholic and bitter, like punt è mes or cynar and soda, mmmmmm.
punt è mes
Hypercorrection: it's real.
I drink a lot of carbonated water but have never heard of most of these. I miss the old Calistoga brand's mineral taste. i think it went out of business.
28: I like Gerolsteiner quite a bit. So soothing. It has so much calcium it's an antacid. I don't know why, but it tastes so much better in glass than it does in plastic. I don't feel this way about San Pellegrino or Perrier, but Gerolsteiner really needs to be bottled in glass.
Polar is not available here. Of course. I don't exactly believe in a wide range of quality in water but I assume there's some mediocre local brand that everyone here takes it for granted is the greatest, rendering all others irrelevant, because that's how the Bay Area rolls.
Polar is bottled in Worcester, MA. Not exactly Vichy or Calistoga. Bottled water, sparkling or otherwise, often comes from sources that are either municipal water or threatened lakes and ponds. If it's third-world water the local folks usually get no say in it.
In some places there is a bottle deposit, in others not. The bottles themselves are rarely recycled. In short, use tap water with a soda infusion and add a little lemon juice or sriracha or whatever floats your palate. Much cheaper and more eco-friendly than buying "sparkling water" made from melting glaciers or the tears of third world children.
My bottled sparkling water footprint is offset by having done the biggest thing you can do to spare the environment: not having kids.
36: Ha! Shows what you know!
LaCroix comes in cans.
My bottled sparkling water footprint is offset by having done the biggest thing you can do to spare the environment: not having kidskilling a Qatari.
Impressive!
I contributed to the (successful) effort to nix a plan to allow Nestle to bottle water from near here, but sometimes I drink our local water made bubbly with a Sodastream, and thus is ethical balance maintained in the universe.
"Our water comes from the damp, muskiness of Portland, filtered by moss and nature."
Apparently, Calistoga still exists, to the extent of having a website anyway, but they're owned by Nestle, and no longer bottle water in Calistoga.
Wikipedia says Nestle owns: Nestlé Pure Life, Arrowhead, Poland Spring, Acqua Panna, San Pellegrino, Perrier, Vittel, Buxton, Ozarka
Naleczowianka, from Poland, owned by Nestle.
We drink about 3 liters a day of it.
In June 2003, Poland Spring was sued for false advertising in a class action lawsuit charging that their water that supposedly comes from springs, is in fact heavily treated common ground water.[18] The suit also states, hydro-geologists hired by Nestlé found that another current source for Poland Spring water near the original site stands over a former trash and refuse dump, and below an illegal disposal site where human sewage was sprayed as fertilizer for many years.[18] The suit was settled in September 2003, with the company not admitting to the allegations, but agreeing to pay $10 million in charity donations and discounts over the next 5 years.[19] Nestlé continues to sell the same Maine water under the Poland Spring name.
Since I have kids, I don't drink as much sparkly water as I could if I didn't. Because I'm an environmentalist. Latreeees.
43 Oh! I've been drinking Pellegrino for a couple of years, and thinking I'd like to switch to something from this continent. Now, I'm definitely going to investigate switching.
48 - You could buy 90H20, which only costs $164.00 for a 12-pack. Made in California.
45 I will never drink Poland spring again.
There's some really great bottled mineral water in Turkey. And some of the best water I've ever had came out of a mountain spring in Chefchaouen.
That is, you could buy a regular $164 12-pack of 90H20 if you're a loser who can't afford Beverly Hills 90H20 Luxury Collection, Diamond Edition, which retails for a mere $100,000 per bottle.
Limited to only nine bottles in the world, the Diamond Edition of the Luxury Collection of Beverly Hills 9OH2O is the ultimate in water. Designed by Jeweler to the Stars Mario Padilla, each exquisite bottle features a white gold cap set with over 600 G/VS white diamonds and over 250 black diamonds, totaling 14 carats. Each bottle comes in a custom secured presentation case together with four engraved Baccarat crystal tumblers, and it is presented in person by renowned water sommelier Martin Riese at a private water tasting anywhere in the world. In addition, the Diamond Collection package includes a one year supply of the Lifestyle Collection of Beverly Hills 9OH2O.
renowned water sommelier Martin Riese
I admit the idea of a water sommelier was intriguing. But that...up against the wall.
Wow. The revolution cannot come soon enough.
I dunno, there's a kind of glorious honesty in the absurdity. If you buy a $100,000 bottle of water, you can't deny that you are the kind of person who spends $100,000 for a bottle of water. It's not bullshit-ed up with smug claims about social entrepreneurship, or being "green," or enhancing your productivity, or providing you with a wholesome family, or providing youth, or being "timelessly elegant," or anything. It's just you, a $100,000 bottle of water, and the abyss which your purchase forces you to acknowledge.
I was gonna say, have rich stupid people exhausted what to spend money on?
54 If I were that rich I wouldn't even drink it. I would water my orchids with it.
I feel like if you had $100,000 to blow on something completely frivolous there are millions of cooler options than a single bottle of water.
And no, I don't think the sort of person who would buy a $100,000 bottle of water would feel at all forced to acknowledge the abyss it symbolizes.
Bottle that some Mariana Trench water and they will. The choking on seawater part will be a valued grounding experience to the ethical consumer.
I don't get sparkling water either. I mean, I don't drink bottled water anyway - tap is perfectly fine - but sparkling water makes me more thirsty than before I drank it.
You can make sparkling water with tap water and Alka Seltzer.
Don't drink the glitter. You don't know where it's been.