Why does water taste different depending on the brand?
In: Chemistry
Water is Water. What makes one water taste different from another is the difference in the mineralal content of that water.
Our taste for water is a refinement of reptilian tastes for sanitary water. Those tastes are instinctual. No one teaches taste when it comes to water, but we all agree on what tastes bad.
I like clean, clear, mountain spring water. That description should sound good to you too. And there is a reason. That water is cleaner and free of surface water algae, insect larvae and fecal coliforms.
A spring is where an underground water source surfaces. It is flowing because more water is pushing it up to the surface. And that continuing flow over millions of years has washed the underground source of that water so much that the mineral content is very, very low. That underground flow has also filtered out most organics too. But you didn’t need to know all that. You knew from the original description that you’d like it.
Back to water companies. Water is just water, except for the minerals, so bottlers find a good source of water and modify it through known puriification methods to subtract and/or add minerals in order to improve the taste and purity of their products.
Finally, big brand names establish standards for their product water that all of their bottlers must meet. That means X brand water in California will taste like X brand water in Iowa.
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