5 ms·

This isn't true in my experience. I've witnessed plenty of people in wealthy US suburbs that stock bottled water at home and even stock up on vacation. They cl

This isn't true in my experience. I've witnessed plenty of people in wealthy US suburbs that stock bottled water at home and even stock up on vacation. They claim it's for the taste and purity.

mehrdadn 7y ago
I don't know about purity but the taste can indeed be better than tap.
- Judgmentality 7y ago
  It can also be worse. I'd guess for almost everybody the difference in taste is dominated by the placebo effect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIJEw5aDzOo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIJEw5aDzOo
  - mehrdadn 7y ago
    I mean, maybe to you it's a placebo effect, but I know I can at least smell the chlorine in my tap water... which I suppose isn't strictly "taste" but basically the same for the point of the discussion.
    - dottrap 7y ago
      A lot of bottled water comes from municipal water plants (aka tap water). That Penn & Teller YouTube link even has a section showing this, though you only need to go to the supermarket and look closely at the fine print of all the different brands of bottle water. You'll quickly find a lot are tap water.
      - grandmczeb 7y ago
        "Tap" doesn't always have a uniform flavor, even in the same city. It's perfectly possible that bottled tap might taste better than the tap water at your house.
      - StavrosK 7y ago
        I was just in the US and I couldn't drink the bottled water, basically, due to it tasting terrible. The San Francisco tap water was surprisingly good when filtered, and I did find a brand called "Iceland Spring" or something similar that was good. Evian also has a consistently good taste.
        ubercow13 7y ago
        That’s weird, I find Evian awful in every country I go to :)
      - weaksauce 7y ago
        yes a lot use tap water but they almost all invariable will go through a RO system and ozination and/or uv with some minerals added back in at the end for taste. the RO water with minerals tastes better to me than a natural spring water without that treatment. (used to work in water purification for a spell)
  - quaice 7y ago
    Guess away.
  - ninth_ant 7y ago
    It would be silly to draw global conclusions based on one “test” that was setup for maximum effect on television. I’ve lived in places with tap water that is definitely noticeable vs filtered/treated water. San Jose water for example is extremely hard and I suspect few people would mistake it for bottled.
    - Judgmentality 7y ago
      That video is just a lot more fun than a traditional study, but here you go: https://www.wine-economics.org/aawe/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Vol13-Issue01-Fine-Water-A-Blind-Taste-Test-Kevin-W.-Capehart-and-Elena-C.-Berg.pdf https://www.wine-economics.org/aawe/wp-content/uploads/2018/...
  - toasterlovin 7y ago
    I guess you haven't lived in Los Angeles?
- jacobolus 7y ago
  “Better” taste is subjective. Many people have become familiar with the flavor of plastic, and learned to associate it with “purity” or “freshness” or “quality” or whatever.
  - peteretep 7y ago
    I think this is untrue; there’s plenty of difference in water taste from region to region in countries, without having to suggest it’s the taste of plastic that people react to. In NYC I always drink bottled water, where I’ll happily drink potable tap water in most places.
    - seveneightn9ne 7y ago
      Wait, what? NYC has some of the best tap water in the country (barring some old buildings with bad pipes).
- dotancohen 7y ago
  My family is from Israel, we recently visited Athens. We have excellent tap water in Israel, and we only drink water at home. No soft drinks and very little juices. The tap was in Athens was, for us, extremely good tasting. We found ourselves constantly drinking the water, it was actually a treat to drink. We found it far better than either our own tap water, or the bottled water (Ein Gedi) that we bring with us when camping.
bamboozled 7y ago
Same experience, many people see tap water as being inferior and maybe even dirty, so they go with the bottled water.
seppin 7y ago
> They claim it's for the taste and purity. Then they aren't very bright.

This isn't true in my experience. I've witnessed plenty of people in wealthy US suburbs that stock bottled water at home and even stock up on vacation. They claim it's for the taste and purity.

mehrdadn 7y ago

I don't know about purity but the taste can indeed be better than tap.

Judgmentality 7y ago
It can also be worse. I'd guess for almost everybody the difference in taste is dominated by the placebo effect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIJEw5aDzOo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIJEw5aDzOo
- mehrdadn 7y ago
  I mean, maybe to you it's a placebo effect, but I know I can at least smell the chlorine in my tap water... which I suppose isn't strictly "taste" but basically the same for the point of the discussion.
  - dottrap 7y ago
    A lot of bottled water comes from municipal water plants (aka tap water). That Penn & Teller YouTube link even has a section showing this, though you only need to go to the supermarket and look closely at the fine print of all the different brands of bottle water. You'll quickly find a lot are tap water.
    - grandmczeb 7y ago
      "Tap" doesn't always have a uniform flavor, even in the same city. It's perfectly possible that bottled tap might taste better than the tap water at your house.
    - StavrosK 7y ago
      I was just in the US and I couldn't drink the bottled water, basically, due to it tasting terrible. The San Francisco tap water was surprisingly good when filtered, and I did find a brand called "Iceland Spring" or something similar that was good. Evian also has a consistently good taste.
      - ubercow13 7y ago
        That’s weird, I find Evian awful in every country I go to :)
    - weaksauce 7y ago
      yes a lot use tap water but they almost all invariable will go through a RO system and ozination and/or uv with some minerals added back in at the end for taste. the RO water with minerals tastes better to me than a natural spring water without that treatment. (used to work in water purification for a spell)
- quaice 7y ago
  Guess away.
- ninth_ant 7y ago
  It would be silly to draw global conclusions based on one “test” that was setup for maximum effect on television. I’ve lived in places with tap water that is definitely noticeable vs filtered/treated water. San Jose water for example is extremely hard and I suspect few people would mistake it for bottled.
  - Judgmentality 7y ago
    That video is just a lot more fun than a traditional study, but here you go: https://www.wine-economics.org/aawe/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Vol13-Issue01-Fine-Water-A-Blind-Taste-Test-Kevin-W.-Capehart-and-Elena-C.-Berg.pdf https://www.wine-economics.org/aawe/wp-content/uploads/2018/...
- toasterlovin 7y ago
  I guess you haven't lived in Los Angeles?
jacobolus 7y ago
“Better” taste is subjective. Many people have become familiar with the flavor of plastic, and learned to associate it with “purity” or “freshness” or “quality” or whatever.
- peteretep 7y ago
  I think this is untrue; there’s plenty of difference in water taste from region to region in countries, without having to suggest it’s the taste of plastic that people react to. In NYC I always drink bottled water, where I’ll happily drink potable tap water in most places.
  - seveneightn9ne 7y ago
    Wait, what? NYC has some of the best tap water in the country (barring some old buildings with bad pipes).
dotancohen 7y ago
My family is from Israel, we recently visited Athens. We have excellent tap water in Israel, and we only drink water at home. No soft drinks and very little juices. The tap was in Athens was, for us, extremely good tasting. We found ourselves constantly drinking the water, it was actually a treat to drink. We found it far better than either our own tap water, or the bottled water (Ein Gedi) that we bring with us when camping.

bamboozled 7y ago

Same experience, many people see tap water as being inferior and maybe even dirty, so they go with the bottled water.

seppin 7y ago

> They claim it's for the taste and purity. Then they aren't very bright.