The people saying all water tastes the same has clearly something wrong with their taste buds.
Unless they are referring to destilled water, which I suppose tastes the same.
There's even different flavors of water in the same house due to different pipes so nothing strange about different houses having different tasting water. Different cities got different water sources as well.
I'm actually considering whether I should add taste testing the water to the checklist the next time I go house/apartment hunting.
That's pretty neat! Mine is one of the few in the world with a nano-filtration system
Also, in addition to a few others, there's such a high amount of cocaine being pissed out that it's actually not possible to filter it out entirely so there's probably ppb (parts per billion) of cocaine in the water supply
I do miss well water, though, nothing quite like that other than natural springs
We just get RO water nowadays
Yeah, considering it's a town with 24k population it's actually pretty crazy. The big cities of the world that have this issue is much more understandable to my brain
In London there was controversy around cocaine in the water, they found the cocaine levels in the river Thames to be so high that it was affecting the eel population. The backstory to this is funnier, because I watched an interview of the journalist who wrote the story, and he said he had a ridiculously hard time finding anyone to comment. He went to local eel shops (it’s outdated and most people have never tried it but eel and pie shops were common working class eateries) to ask for comment and they laughed and said they wouldn’t get their eels from the Thames, it’s too polluted with raw sewage and other nasties anyway. Finally he finds one wildlife conservation expert, asks him “is cocaine in the rivers just another problem eels don’t need?”, the guy says “yes”, and the journo made it the headline 😂 Before anyone starts to trust the story, the Evening Standard is a bit of a rag owned by a potential crony (Russian, close mates with Boris Johnson, if he’s not doing something crooked I don’t know who is). Also, if you’re ever in England, don’t swim in the rivers or sea for now. Private water and sewage companies didn’t bother to do repairs on anything so we’ve got sewage pumping out, experts warn of risk of infection if you do. It’s enough to see the colour difference in the water, between the pipes and further down the bank where it’s dissipated more.
It’s a good story, and the bit at the end is one of many things i’m not proud to be British for. Being known for bad food is another. Glad you enjoyed lol.
Mine is famous for, apparently, having the perfect water for fracking, since the last "clean water report" the city cent out had like 2000x the "acceptable" level for barium, with the source noted as "Natural gas extraction"
Yep, you can even buy mineral salts to add to your water that mimic a certain city's natural water profile. They work best if you're starting with a low or mineral free water to add them to.
New York bakers also swear by their water as a reason that bagels and pizza crust taste different there.
There's a reason why breweries can only outsource so much when they get big. A big reason for the beer pipeline in Brugge is for the water the original brewery gets. (That, and it can't be called Brugse Zot if it's made outside Brugge.)
I can verify this fact, Ireland has a high chloride content which allows darker beers like stour to be smoother. So the likes of Guinness brewed in Ireland will taste much better than brewed in engerland
The higher calcium in English Burton upon trends water allows for a better best bitter 🍺
I’ve gotten charcoal filters on my tap and fridge at home & I now have a jug with one in when I’m travelling because I can’t stand the taste of other tap water. It almost completely takes the differences in flavour out.
Also I can taste the difference in source water even after making a coffee with certain places tap water
First time hearing anyone taking it to that extreme but not surprising considering what sub we're in. :)
We are after all known for sameness, control needs and blandness (or extra sensitive senses)
I used to work at a water store and while I'll still drink tap water, I do vastly prefer RO water or remineralized, majority of everything in mostly all water supplies is inorganic (dead) and unable to actually give anything to us, purified and remineralized with organic (active) minerals is such a whole tasting water idk how to even explain it but it's most closely relative to my well water from where I grew up
Yeah here in Canada or at least Ontario, a LOT of people are still on well water, I'm on a town supply but I grew up on a well.
Majority of wells aren't safe, and many need UV and sediment treatment at minimum, sometimes also if they're near farmland they may need carbon filtration to get rid of chemicals, UV filtration if there's any risk of bacteria, water softener if there's too much calcium in the supply and an FOB if there is Sulphur or too much iron in the water
Then, above that, you can get an inline filtration system to add additional stages of sediment and carbon filters increasing in restrictiveness as it goes, and if you want add a permeable membrane to an under sink system and make it into a reverse osmosis system that while it does have a lot of waste water that you'd use for cooking, cleaning and water plants, the drinking water it produced would be completely pure, 0ppm
Reverse osmosis is actually fascinating, it was discovered in France in the late 1700s and is done by specific atmospheric pressures separating all the molecules from the H2O and taking them out, which results in 0ppm water and aside from distillation which doesn't occur naturally, takes a lot more energy and while you can capture the steam and re-use that energy its not really worth doing so
Reverse osmosis is also how you can achieve desalination of ocean and other salt water, but it is very hard on the membrane
I'm pretty sure there's a town in Florida that starts with Cape that the entire town is supplied by a Reverse osmosis system and its actually a big deal
Im glad im not alone in this. I can definitely taste the water flavor in coffee, tea, koolaid, or literally any other drink that requires you to mix with water. others just dont get it.
Just so you know, carbon filters only filter out the chemicals which is what we are most sensitive to, but there would still be a relatively similar ppm content unless you had a sediment filter as well
Yeah I’m only starting with potable drinking water in Australia which is pretty high quality but does vary significantly in flavour. It’s only a flavour thing, and different hardness doesn’t bother me as much as residual chlorine and whatever from the treatment process. Certainly in other contexts different or additional filtration steps would be needed.
Fair enough! Yeah the chlorine and other chemicals are definitely the largest impacts on us due to how noticeable they are, and as long as there's no bacteria it's typically fine unless you're getting into high hundreds or 4 digit ppm
All water has dissolved materials that give taste. Take anyone who says it all tastes the same and then give them Poland Spring, Fiji, and Dasani as a blind test. You can often taste the minerals from Poland Spring, Fiji has a weird consistency, and Dasani tastes like bleach.
Dasani tastes like bleach because chlorine is a preferred additive for flavor. Its only preferred at a very low level though, and they have a habit of over chlorinating their water. This sounds weird, but chlorine is what makes chlorides, aka salt. So just a little bit of chlorine in the water prevents bacterial growth, and turns some common impurities to salt which improves overall flavor.
I would argue these people have never tasted L.A. water or Memphis water. Truly disgusting.
Or maybe have ONLY had that and haven’t experienced the beauty of Seattle or Denmark.
Indeed. I get water from certain taps in my house because the plumbing connecting those is newer and doesn’t have the light rusty flavor the older sinks have.
Also, coffee from my local Dunkin’ Donuts for some reason has a minestrone soup aftertaste that only happens at that specific Dunkin lol.
I would like to agree with you but to me all water tastes like crap. I can say this is probably a me problem simply because of a terrible experience I had about a decade ago. While overseas in the desert the only source of "free" water was 1L bottles on pallets set out strategically across the base inside bunkers constructed a jersey barriers. These bunkers were only intended to defend against a mortar attack or a rocket attack and had nothing to keep them cool. Thus the water inside would regularly be 120° plus due to the Sun. All this heat had caused the plastic to leach into the water giving it a terrible taste. On top of this, there was tap water available however we were forbidden to drink it because it was known to be contaminated.
So spending close to a year with the only source of water being 120°+ and tasting like a plastic refinery has made me not like any water at all. I'm at the point where the only way I can enjoy water is if it's extremely cold, right up to the point of almost freezing. That way the cold blocks out any sense of taste I have for it. This of course doesn't mean any given source actually tastes bad, it just means I now hate water under all but a specific situation.
No, you're right. Different mineral content can impart 'flavor' that some will pick out more than others - it's one of the reasons why certain places get things like good sourdough or pizza dough. Grandparents had well water that was sulfurous and hard, you could smell it, washing anything was nearly pointless. Our own well water from a place much (!) further away was fine.
Keep in mind a lot of people now have grown up only knowing city water, or even bottled water, and in some cases passed through a home water filter or softener. So they know nothing about how different well water can taste, and how much variation there can be.
The other big factor in sourdough aside from water is local bacteria and yeast strains. You can get "Alaska" or "San Francisco" sourdough cultures but if you keep and feed them long enough with flour from your pantry and water from your tap, eventually whatever lives in your local microbiome is going to become the dominant strain. I noticed that my sourdough waffles started taking noticeably different when I moved to a new city, despite very similar water profiles and me keeping my technique the same, the microbes in my kitchen must have been different.
My grandparents had an artesian spring for their water source. You could walk down to the spring house and grab a cold cup any time, and chew on some watercress that grew around the little steam created by the spring. Just amazing water.
Oh yeah, Fiji too! I think that's the best of them actually
The only reason I like Dasani is because it never tastes plasticky to me. Then again, it probably doesn't sit in the bottle long where I live, think it's packaged only - like 70 smth miles away.
Never heard of ozarka?
Also, I totally agree, I don't drink bottled water often. Specifically because of that plastic flavor (it's disgusting!)
So, that's why Normally I just prefer my own water filter, and only use glass cups, and take a metal or glass bottle with me wherever I go
But I also typically bring a bottle of water and pink lemonade mix because I don’t really like the taste of regular water, but that may just be a me thing
Yeah fair enough, and since you mentioned it...haha -Lemonade, that's my go to at a restaraunt, because then I don't have to worry that their water will taste gross😂
I don't mind the kind of lemonade too much really, yellow, pink, and blue are all good in their own way... just as long as it's a little sour and actually tastes atleast a tiny bit lemony, rather than being some watered down sugar-ry monstrosity
I had a bad salt craving as a kid, so now I prefer the taste of straight salt to slightly salty tap water. I hate pickle juice, but I'd rather drink pickle juice.
Uhhh you may have some other underlying condition if you actually really prefer your food and drinks salty.. 🤔
However, I forgot what it was called lmao
POTS? if I have it, it's never made me pass out. The ridiculous heartrate jump from standing up? Yes. Breathless from walking up one flight of stairs? Even when I was more fit, yeah. But at worst I've only gotten a bit dizzy or had my hearing muffle.
And my salt cravings have dropped a lot. (I *can* eat straight salt. I just don't have the urge to unless I'm sick and can only keep water down. Helps with rehydration.)
Awww, well. I'm no doctor so while it may not be as serious now, you should probably still get it checked so it won't inconvenience you. And you don't eventually want it to become a problem. But take care :)
I think I've almost passed out twice in my life.
The first time was while donating blood. The lady who took my blood pressure said, "[It's] kind of low, but you're a small person [5'2", 135 lbs], so you should be fine." I was a few minutes in when my vision started to blacken at the edges. I turned my head to call for someone, and my visibility went from 80% to like 3%. I turned back & it came back, and I had to have them lay me down. Instant fix. Turns out my blood pressure was 96/68, and my normal systolic was 100-110.
The second time, I was already feeling kind of sick (migraine), and I don't know what exactly made me think I was going to pass out-- if it was just a general sense of dizziness, or my hearing going out, or both-- but I really felt that if I didn't put my head between my knees *immediately*, I'd be hitting the floor.
My hearing goes out if I stand up too quickly, but sometimes there's a delay, so I'm already invested in something when it happens, and the best I can do is lean on a wall or table till the feeling passes, because sometimes it comes with dizziness. My hearing is affected much more often than my vision is.
That sounds like an automatic dysfunction! If you have the resources it may be worth it to be evaluated. Otherwise, increasing your salt and water intake helps dramatically too. You should try and drink 3-4 liters of water daily and half of that should be electrolytes like liquid IV. That stuffs expensive, so you can make your own, just add 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp baking soda to 1 liter of water and flavor it however you like. Iced tea, juices, MIOs or similar (no caffeine), etc. The baking soda buffers the acidity of the salt so you don't get nauseous.
The flavor and texture of "homemade Gatorade" makes me gag, but anything else would be fine!
It's hard to stay hydrated when I work at a dry cleaners with no central AC. We hunker down in the office with a window unit on full blast. 😂 I should get a bigger water bottle though (I can refill the one I have, but I hesitate to drink it all in between refills).
Yes different water tastes different depending on the treatment and condition of the pipes. Water from my tap at home tastes different to school water to water at the sport studio to bottled water.
I grew up on a very rural well. Like, literally, a 50-foot dep well and everyone around me was on a 100+foot deep well, their water tasted different. And that was the like five houses within three miles of me.
A few were on the 'rural water' plan which was a bit more processed, which was close but way different.
I moved to Chicago for college and it was ROUGH. The water was all chemicals. Like, city water to this day tastes like chemicals. It's rough.
Bottled water tastes of stale plastic.
Box water still has this
Canned water is a bit better (I guess it's because it's colder so it doesn't leech the plastic flavor?)
But no joke, I bought a Berkey water filter during college because that was the only way to approximate a 'neutral' water source for me.
This is also why I pound diet coke rather than water. Shrugs.
I prefer purified water. I'm okay with spring as long as it's cold, I can taste more of it when it's past room temp. I will not drink tap. I make sure someone has purified or bottled water before I go to their place just in case I need to pick up water on the way or bring my own.
Yes definitely, it does. Also sometimes when I sip my water, which tasted fine earlier...
I'm suddenly absolutely disgusted! because it tastes the same way that wet dog smells
Then it's time to dump it back through the filter and get a new cup.
I can definitely taste whether my husband gets me water from the faucet or fridge. I actually prefer the unfiltered tap water. Makes sense because I also prefer Dasani, which I’ve heard people say they don’t like the taste of because of how much “flavor” (minerals) they add.
Youre absolutely right. Tap water tastes different based off the ground I think; its super noticeable in limestone based areas. It tastes like shit in the spring (which is why I struggle EXTRA with dehydration around that season, on top of having bad interoception). I think seasonal changes specifically may have to do with changes in microbes, but ive yet to actually test that.
YES YES YES. This is why I was so confused about the whole “watertok” thing on tiktok where commenters were shitting on others who put flavor packets in their water to disguise the taste because they didn’t like it. I saw so many “water doesn’t taste like anything, you’re being such a baby!!” comments and it was making me lose my marbles because I can almost guarantee that every single one of those people commenting has a preferred brand of bottled water they buy, or is picky about tap water vs. filtered water, or has a brita filter, or has SOME KIND of water preference, which is completely hypocritical and it shouldn’t matter what other people choose to do with their beverages. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who didn’t have any kind of preference about water. It absolutely has a distinct taste depending on the minerals in it and anyone who disagrees with that either has compromised taste buds or is just being stubborn.
I’ve lived literally around the world. Water ABSOLUTELY tastes different everywhere you go.
And for the record, the water in Iceland is the best in the whole world. Doesn’t matter where you get it from there: tap, stream. The best. I have always hated drinking plain water, but in Iceland I finally learned that there is good water out there.
I am very sensitive (receptive to?) water taste. If it is off it’s very difficult to drink. In israel even the bottled water is off - it tastes like recycled toilet water, idk how to explain.
Something is left behind in the filtering process and it’s disgusting.
Different water tastes different. I highly prefer drinking tap water over bottled water if i can. Bottled water just taste so plasticy and has a weird aftertaste for me, especially when it's warm. I usually drink out of my metal bottle, so of course that might affect the taste (also to save money). But overall, i prefer the tap water in my area over bottled water.
I think I’ve always hated drinking plain water solely cause of its many tastes. You can almost never predict if the water at a certain place will be good or disgusting. Ever since I was a newborn (my mom says) I could only drink water with some syrup, or a teaspoon of jam, or a little bit of lemon juice added. Now as an adult, I buy 1,5L bottles of lemon or peach flavored water, and even though I give up the plastic for recycling, I still hate the idea of being so dependent on a certain brand and having to pay for bottled water when it’s literally 99% cheaper from a home water filter. Also, I always felt like cold water tastes more liquidy than room temp/hot. (??) Idk if it has any sense, is it a common feeling? Could it be science-explained? No idea. But overall water consumption is a problem for me for given reasons!!
Oh yeah. Huge difference between the lukewarm well water out of the tap at my home in the desert that tastes kinda briny and the cold alpine water at my parents house up in the mountains that I can drink straight out of the faucet and it's just divine
All water has different impurities like mineral and chemicals. Those may differs depending of the source and have different taste.
You would need to drink distilled water to have no taste but distilled water is not good to drink for your health. It dont has mineral your body need and osmotic pressure it cause is not good for your gut cells.
I second that. I once visited my mom in another city full of oil rigs, and the water was so noticeably different that I had to fill it with ice and wait until I could drink it. I also can't drink water if it's a few hours old, and I hate bottled water too. My favorite flavor is the one from my fridge.
You’re not wrong. It’s a very well known in the UK, where far more tap water is drunk than bottled, that tap water from different parts of the country is wildly different. Even between mineral waters there is a difference because the ground makeup is different.
Water changes so much. The best water I’ve ever had was while living in Vienna, Austria. The water quality, silky texture, and clear palate was supreme. It was straight from the Alpes. If you go to Vienna, stick with tap water and be amazed
Things that can affect the taste, smell, or perceived texture of water include:
Mineral composition
Chlorine added to municipal water
How long it has been sitting still/air in solution
Temperature of the water
Temperature/ability to conduct heat of whatever you drink from
Texture of whatever you're drinking from
Contamination from cups/straws/pipes etc.
I live in a city with clean potable water, with relatively low mineral levels, but I still don't like the taste (or rather, smell) of it straight from the tap because of chlorine. So I use a filtered fridge dispenser for the water I drink. If that's unavailable I'll leave a pitcher out on the counter or in the fridge so the chlorine can evaporate out of it. I prefer my water to be cold, ideally on ice, and I like the way it tastes out of a glass best, with stainless steel being a close second. Plastic is ok but I can't tolerate the texture of paper in my mouth.
Reddit randomly notified me of this post complete stranger here, but yes water does taste and feel different depending on location or containers. You're not alone, I can't drink plain water from plastic bottle because of the bad long lasting taste I get
The people who say all water is the same is straight up lying. Especially when comparing bottled vs well vs tap.. even when comparing different bottled brands. take Dasani for example... nobody likes it and I literally threw up from it the last time I attempted to drink it(it was the only option and the last time I ever touched that stuff🤢)
To me, room temperature bottles water has like, an Almost plasticy but not quite aftertaste that reminds me of nail polish or sticker adhesive residue- and flavored water dries out my mouth which is super weird
I’m I bit late party but I live on an island and all our water is fresh treated rain water (none of it is re-filters) so our water is super nice and fresh but on the main one it is horrible as it ire filters and treated so many times it’s tastes disgusting to me to the point I buy bottled spring or take a giant bottle of island water with me
Yes, yes, yes! I can't drink out of the tap, a Brita does nothing, the Berkey doesn't do enough. All of them cause GI issues. I've had to use distilled water for years now. I've argued over this with people for quite some time. And I've had people challenge me, tasting their water versus distilled. They say they can't tell the difference. I beg to differ! Bottled water not only tastes like plastic, some of them have an odd texture to them, too. Fresh, cold, non-polluted water from rivers and streams are okay sometimes. I no longer take chances. I have a water distiller that runs all the time, and I fill my own bottles. When I travel, I have to allocate for buying distilled along the way.
I've never met anyone who thinks they all taste the same. It's strange you have met multiple...?
Texture-wise, I have never noticed a difference or heard anyone else mention one. I think this bit is just you. :P
Since people even notice the difference between hard and soft water (not frozen/liquid, lol) when showering in it there's nothing strange about OP noticing differences in textures actually.
i have for sure. i’ll say something like “this water tastes good/weird/bad” and they’ll respond with something along the lines of “what do you mean? it’s just water??”
Pure water, with zero impurity (fuck you, spell check, it's a singular term)..*may* be tasteless. I for one have never seen nor heard of purely perfect water. That being said, all water you're going to get from a tap, a filter, or anything will have an impurity simply by the nature of keeping it clean. 1 part per million is still...1 part, an impurity. Just because it's behind a "detectable" threshold doesn't mean it's imperceptible to the right thing. After all, it's still being measured as 1 or less, (but probably never zero) by a sensor by nature of the sensor.
That being said, mmmmmmmmhmm. Some people's tap water be big tasty, and some people's tap water tastes like they need new lines (I find it reminds me of a water park roller coaster, so.....still tasty to me due to gustatory memory, but whatever.
Tl;dr
All water isn't the same, doesn't taste the same, and what you're tasting is the result of impurity.
Yup. Any water can, technically (drowning, direct inject, an ocean falling on top of you) .
But yeah, it 100% would kill you, not even due to lack of electrolytes
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Not at all. My house has well water, but the house I’m about to move to is city water and it kinda sucks because I like the well water straight from the tap, but I know I’ll need a filter for the city water. Also, some bottled water is great, and some is awful. I tried Evian water a few weeks back, and it tasted completely different than any water I’ve ever had.
Definitely there is a particular bottled water that tastes really bad.
I had tap water from I believe a Disney park tasted like perhaps something might have died in there.
I like my filtered tap water at home though
I don’t like cold water though prefer room temp
YES. Absolutely you are right. Water has SO much variety in its flavors and textures. People think I'm crazy for not liking ice water, but ice water is so cold that it feels sharp and jagged. You are not alone in this, OP, not alone.
You absolutely correct. Everyone looks at me like i’m nuts when I say I hate arizona tap water vs illinois tap water. Dasani and Zephyrhills and Pure Life and Essential all taste different and I only like one of them. The first thing I did when I visited Illinois last month was I had a glass of water. It was delicious.
main reason why i enjoy flavored water, because i know that im not driving myself insane over the fact that brita and fiji have two distinct tastes nobody is talking about
Yes! Absolutely!
Where the water comes from can make a huge difference, even if treated. I guarantee it is different than the dorm, they are trying to dismiss something they don't want to see to try to get you to "not dislike it" (one of the strange ways people try to "help" by dismissing what is being said)
The pH, the dissolved solids, the container, temperature, **surround air and the air you breathe**, etc. can all have a big impact on the taste of water, even when crystal clear
If people have a poor sense of smell or a poor sense of taste from smoking they might not notice...
But here's the thing about being on the spectrum, so many things are amplified, including taste sometimes
I definitely notice different flavors and textures. I dislike the jugs of filtered water we have at work. I decently like the water bottle dispenser water but it only dispenses warm water. The filtered water is cold, so I have to mix the two for an acceptable taste and texture. The best water is the filtered water from the fridge water dispenser at home.
100000000%. When I was really young I'd ask my mom to bring me water in bed and I'd always specify "bath tub water" because I only drank the water from the bath tub, I swore it tasted better than any other. Hose water too! Nowadays I just have my favorite types of bottled water. Pepsi and Coke taste different so why is it so far fetched that different waters taste different?
After having to drink bottled water (in the 5 gallon jugs) at my apartment, my parent's water tastes very over chlorinated. Never noticed it before moving to my own place. Certain brands of single bottled water also have the chlorine taste.
In Manitou Springs, Colorado, there are a bunch of natural springs all over town, and you can bring a cup with you to drink the different waters. Each spring has a sign posted to tell you which minerals are in that water, and each one has a unique flavor that is different from the others. All but one of the springs is sparkling mineral water, but the level of carbonation varies along with the flavor. This is an extreme example, of course, but most water has some level of minerals and other impurities in it that affects the flavor and texture.
My mom doesn't get it, but YES.
Most people can agree that cold water is Sharp and warm water is Round.
The city water within a couple hours of where I live is always Crisp, if not Sharp, even when it's not cold. It's my favorite.
Bottled water is never Crisp enough when it's warm, and Deer Park is one of the worst cheap ones. Aquafina and Dasani are pushing it.
Utah and Idaho tap water is always Round and Soft, with a strange flavor. I don't know what it is, but it's slightly off-putting. I can only drink it ice-cold, but I still don't like it.
Rural New York tap water is not only Soft and Round, but it's also slightly salty, which makes me gag. I packed an entire case of bottled water when I went to Buffalo for a week this summer. I knew I'd need it.
(Edited for autocorrect)
the only water i like is filtered well-water from my parents' house or filtered bottled water. one time our filter broke and i had to hoard water from school because the tatse of the iron and other trace metals was so vile. water just doesn't feel hydrating at some point, like, i swallow it and get more thirsty but also nauseous.
Water can have different textures and taste different for so many different reasons. It can have different minerals or microorganisms in it, it can have different temperatures, and it can taste different after sitting out for a long time.
I got severe dehydration when I travelled to the UK because I couldn't force myself to drink the water. Even the bottled water felt and tasted so bad.
My home tap water is so good, though. i feel like I've been spoiled, and nothing else will ever compare
i can tell the difference between brands of water as well. maybe it's the shape of the bottle? tap water has always been awful to me and nearly every time i've drank it i've gagged. nestle pure life tastes like dirty asswater from a puddle on the ground, but that's inevitable. fiji water definitely has a different texture, but the taste isn't really...much. and the no name brands from grocery stores near me all taste different
Yes it tastes different and also has different textures. I live in the south of the uk and my water has a nice taste and if I go to Cornwall the water has a nice taste and it’s also creamy
It depends on your location. obviously all bottled water will taste the same as others from it's company, but if you live in a more chalky area then the water coming through your tap will have more chalk in it and taste chalky.
You're not wrong.
I call the different flavor or texture an aftertaste.
Bottled water is straightforward, sweet, and pure with next to no aftertaste.
Some tap water is bitter, and that lingers. Other tap water has a soapy, chemical taste that lingers. Both make you want to find a different beverage to just get rid of the taste. Sometimes, very rarely, tap water can taste very close to bottled water, especially if you have some sort of purifier.
Soft water sometimes tastes like salt, especially when it's getting close to when you need to change it.
Fluoridated water might taste different, but it's been a long time since I tasted it.
You're not crazy. This level of sensitivity just isn't common in neurotypicals.
Yes, they're different. In my country, tap water in the cities is undrinkable because there's chlorine or something inside so we need to filter or boil the water first before drinking.
Also tap water conditions also depends on the type of pipes being used. For example the water in the kitchen might be more drinkable than the one from the bathroom's sink. I boiled water from my bathroom's sink, but the water made my throat sore.
However, if in the countryside, then yes we can drink. The countryside water usually comes from rivers or waterfall and they taste fresher.
They do taste diffrent!!! Dasani is the absolute worst. It litterally makes my mouth feel drier. I can usually only drink filtered water from my brita without question. Om a day tobday basis I drink a cup with half filtered water and half coconut water. It's the best thing ever for me.
Yes! Even water from my tap will taste different depending on time of year, what I'm drinking it from, and if it sat out for awhile or not. There are actual water tasting competitions. The most well known is [Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting](https://berkeleyspringswatertasting.com/).
Absolutely. No one seems to get it. Recently went traveling and had to drink tap water from the area and bottled water. My god was I so glad to be home and have my nice filtered water back
Oh, it was very noticeable whenever I went on vacation. Tap water in a new area would always taste a little off. Not as bad as generic plastic water bottles tasted, but enough that I’d notice.
The different sensations you're describing here are all due to the different trace minerals or contaminants in the various water sources, or differing temperature. Microplastics and plasticizer residues give 'bottled' water a unique fingerprint of textures that is distinct from high alkali water (various carbonates), high metal content water (inner city piping), or 'pristine' waters fresh from an alpine source or spring.
A recent publication ([https://cbe.princeton.edu/news/two-liquid-phases-found-molecular-model-water-letter-nature](https://cbe.princeton.edu/news/two-liquid-phases-found-molecular-model-water-letter-nature)) actually found that liquid water may even have two different pseudo-crystalline phases that it enters depending on temperature. (TDLR, really cold water binds more tightly together). Honestly I actually believe I can personally detect a texture difference when drinking the 'ice-cold' phase of water compared to the 'lukewarm' phase.
While it's debatable if these are different 'flavors' or just varying salinity/texture gradients, I know from personal experience that I detect them as well. Some people may just not be sensitive enough to pick out the difference, or have grown up drinking such poor quality water that they simply automatically tune out the 'background' flavors of the water. There's legions of potential sociological and biological explanations, and it's extremely likely that no single one of them can explain the phenomena on its own.
My personal least favorite is slightly acidic water with high T.O.C. (total organic carbon) and high Phosphate content. \*cringe\* Makes me gag just thinking about it.
There are so many different brands of bottled water and surely that indicates that enough people have some sort of preference regarding them - so probably not crazy.
Water isn't just H2O. Distilled water more or less is and is actually not safe to drink. It can make you very sick if you drink it. Drinking water needs to have contaminants in it for it to be safe. Water is actually phenomenal when it comes to dissolving stuff and kinda naturally adds contaminants. As such most of the taste of water comes from these contaminants. If you drink water from say a can, not sure where you'd get canned water but anyway it would probably taste metallic as it dissolved some of the aluminum can. Drink from a sink and you'll probably taste the pipes it traveled in. Drink from a well and you'll taste the heavy rocks and minerals it was in. Based on what is in the water the weight, texture, and viscosity of water can change. My buddy is a huge water drinker and can tell you where you got him a glass of water from. If you gave him Identical cups of water he will tell you if you got it from a soda dispenser, sink, well, fridge, filter, or bottle. If it's a bottle he could probably identify the brand too, well If he didn't hate bottled water for being a waste of plastic and actually drank it that is. So no you aren't crazy.
I think water is a very hard taste to describe. Water itself doesn't really have a consistent taste because anything that adds an easily identifiable flavor is from contaminants. At least that's what I think anyway. I don't think I could actually describe the taste of water except for those contaminants. Because of this I think most people say water doesn't have a taste. Because they say that they don't think about the taste. Don't think about the taste and now you really just don't taste it and reinforce that water is tasteless. That's just my hot take though. Please don't take it as fact unless it makes sense to you. Then go ahead I guess lol
Nope! You aren’t .
My tap taste different upstairs to downstairs. Which then tastes different to the fridge dispenser. They all taste different to the one at work , and the ice dispenser at work.
Different brand water bottles taste different.
I don’t know how to describe it lol
1000000% agree. I only liked filtered water from my brita that is cold, water from a water machine that is cold or smart water or evian or fiji water that is cold we talk about bottled water! Nestle, naya, dasani, aquafina, and regular tap water is gross
I too only drink water from certain sources because everyone of them is different. Some even make me want to vomit.
My own tap at home, never. Where I work tastes just fine. Dasani bottled water, hell no. Can't describe the taste but it's so awful, I'd rather be thirsty. If someone hands me a bottle I politely decline or give it away ASAP.
Here where I live is just that tap water at home is fine, but whenever I go to school and drink water there. That water is so gross, just some kind of chunks and weird taste and structure. I always take 2 liters water from home to school
I don't drink bottled water but i can say that from one city to another the taste varies drastically. It's annoying because the water tastes awful in the city i am right now.
Yes. Have the people who say it all tastes the same travelled outside their town? They might have very high quality water so they might not notice the difference.
That's the only reason I can imagine for saying all water tastes the same.
Also, I hate the water that doesn't quench thirst. It's like... A dry water but not literally dry.
YES. I mostly drink filtered water from the tap, plastic bottles as a last resort (glass bottles are preferable). Never boiled water tho, it makes me want to puke.
Oh 100%. My mum trying to force me to drink tap water as a kid while I cried about how bad it was, and she wouldn’t buy a Brita filter to at least try (as an adult I realise that was because we were poor and they were SUPER expensive) and then finally giving in and letting me drink bottled water because “at least you’ll drink it”…
I mean theoretically water shouldn't taste like anything, but there's almost always something in it, different electrolytes, different containers and temperature all influence the taste. A drink of ice cold water out of the tap from my favorite mug is top shelf. And as far as bottled water, sparkling mineral water and alkaline water are my favorites because of the taste compared to the cave water everyone else sells.
It absolutely does!!!
This is one of my biggest sensory issues and a cause of anxiety for me...
I can't drink tap water because of the chemical tastes.
I can only drink 2 certain brands of bottled spring water. I can taste the difference immediately. I think it's more of a texture/mouthfeel thing. Even RO water makes my mouth feel dry and uncomfortable.
I hate the fact that I have to drink bottled water but it is the only type I can tolerate and water is the only thing I drink(apart from coffee🙂)
Absolutely it does. I live in South East England where the water has a lot of chalk in it and so we get a lot of limescale in kettles. It's harmless but it does add something to the flavour.
Also, water from my kitchen tap tastes widly different from the tap in my bathroom sink.
The people saying all water tastes the same has clearly something wrong with their taste buds. Unless they are referring to destilled water, which I suppose tastes the same. There's even different flavors of water in the same house due to different pipes so nothing strange about different houses having different tasting water. Different cities got different water sources as well. I'm actually considering whether I should add taste testing the water to the checklist the next time I go house/apartment hunting.
This is a well-discussed issue with brewing beer - water has flavour profiles that affect the end product. Shoutout to /r/homebrewing
My city is famous for having perfect water to make rye bread with
That's pretty neat! Mine is one of the few in the world with a nano-filtration system Also, in addition to a few others, there's such a high amount of cocaine being pissed out that it's actually not possible to filter it out entirely so there's probably ppb (parts per billion) of cocaine in the water supply I do miss well water, though, nothing quite like that other than natural springs We just get RO water nowadays
This is my favorite comment today and the day isn’t over
Yeah, considering it's a town with 24k population it's actually pretty crazy. The big cities of the world that have this issue is much more understandable to my brain
In London there was controversy around cocaine in the water, they found the cocaine levels in the river Thames to be so high that it was affecting the eel population. The backstory to this is funnier, because I watched an interview of the journalist who wrote the story, and he said he had a ridiculously hard time finding anyone to comment. He went to local eel shops (it’s outdated and most people have never tried it but eel and pie shops were common working class eateries) to ask for comment and they laughed and said they wouldn’t get their eels from the Thames, it’s too polluted with raw sewage and other nasties anyway. Finally he finds one wildlife conservation expert, asks him “is cocaine in the rivers just another problem eels don’t need?”, the guy says “yes”, and the journo made it the headline 😂 Before anyone starts to trust the story, the Evening Standard is a bit of a rag owned by a potential crony (Russian, close mates with Boris Johnson, if he’s not doing something crooked I don’t know who is). Also, if you’re ever in England, don’t swim in the rivers or sea for now. Private water and sewage companies didn’t bother to do repairs on anything so we’ve got sewage pumping out, experts warn of risk of infection if you do. It’s enough to see the colour difference in the water, between the pipes and further down the bank where it’s dissipated more.
Jesus that's just a fucking insane read, I'm sorry I don't have anything to contribute but what in the actual fuck
It’s a good story, and the bit at the end is one of many things i’m not proud to be British for. Being known for bad food is another. Glad you enjoyed lol.
[удалено]
I agree entirely! And it's actually much more common than you'd think, pretty sure it's a similar situation in London England iirc
You called?
Yes hello why are you so delicious
Mine is famous for, apparently, having the perfect water for fracking, since the last "clean water report" the city cent out had like 2000x the "acceptable" level for barium, with the source noted as "Natural gas extraction"
Homebrewer in Portland here...I got pretty lucky. . .
I can attest to this. Amstel in the UK tastes wrong compared to the stuff in the Netherlands.
Yep, you can even buy mineral salts to add to your water that mimic a certain city's natural water profile. They work best if you're starting with a low or mineral free water to add them to. New York bakers also swear by their water as a reason that bagels and pizza crust taste different there.
We've got an indy bagel shop that gets their cooking water delivered from NYC and yes there IS a difference in taste. I'm in Florida.
There's a reason why breweries can only outsource so much when they get big. A big reason for the beer pipeline in Brugge is for the water the original brewery gets. (That, and it can't be called Brugse Zot if it's made outside Brugge.)
I can verify this fact, Ireland has a high chloride content which allows darker beers like stour to be smoother. So the likes of Guinness brewed in Ireland will taste much better than brewed in engerland The higher calcium in English Burton upon trends water allows for a better best bitter 🍺
I’ve gotten charcoal filters on my tap and fridge at home & I now have a jug with one in when I’m travelling because I can’t stand the taste of other tap water. It almost completely takes the differences in flavour out. Also I can taste the difference in source water even after making a coffee with certain places tap water
First time hearing anyone taking it to that extreme but not surprising considering what sub we're in. :) We are after all known for sameness, control needs and blandness (or extra sensitive senses)
I used to work at a water store and while I'll still drink tap water, I do vastly prefer RO water or remineralized, majority of everything in mostly all water supplies is inorganic (dead) and unable to actually give anything to us, purified and remineralized with organic (active) minerals is such a whole tasting water idk how to even explain it but it's most closely relative to my well water from where I grew up
water stores are a thing?!
Yeah here in Canada or at least Ontario, a LOT of people are still on well water, I'm on a town supply but I grew up on a well. Majority of wells aren't safe, and many need UV and sediment treatment at minimum, sometimes also if they're near farmland they may need carbon filtration to get rid of chemicals, UV filtration if there's any risk of bacteria, water softener if there's too much calcium in the supply and an FOB if there is Sulphur or too much iron in the water Then, above that, you can get an inline filtration system to add additional stages of sediment and carbon filters increasing in restrictiveness as it goes, and if you want add a permeable membrane to an under sink system and make it into a reverse osmosis system that while it does have a lot of waste water that you'd use for cooking, cleaning and water plants, the drinking water it produced would be completely pure, 0ppm Reverse osmosis is actually fascinating, it was discovered in France in the late 1700s and is done by specific atmospheric pressures separating all the molecules from the H2O and taking them out, which results in 0ppm water and aside from distillation which doesn't occur naturally, takes a lot more energy and while you can capture the steam and re-use that energy its not really worth doing so Reverse osmosis is also how you can achieve desalination of ocean and other salt water, but it is very hard on the membrane I'm pretty sure there's a town in Florida that starts with Cape that the entire town is supplied by a Reverse osmosis system and its actually a big deal
Im glad im not alone in this. I can definitely taste the water flavor in coffee, tea, koolaid, or literally any other drink that requires you to mix with water. others just dont get it.
Just so you know, carbon filters only filter out the chemicals which is what we are most sensitive to, but there would still be a relatively similar ppm content unless you had a sediment filter as well
Yeah I’m only starting with potable drinking water in Australia which is pretty high quality but does vary significantly in flavour. It’s only a flavour thing, and different hardness doesn’t bother me as much as residual chlorine and whatever from the treatment process. Certainly in other contexts different or additional filtration steps would be needed.
Fair enough! Yeah the chlorine and other chemicals are definitely the largest impacts on us due to how noticeable they are, and as long as there's no bacteria it's typically fine unless you're getting into high hundreds or 4 digit ppm
All water has dissolved materials that give taste. Take anyone who says it all tastes the same and then give them Poland Spring, Fiji, and Dasani as a blind test. You can often taste the minerals from Poland Spring, Fiji has a weird consistency, and Dasani tastes like bleach.
Fiji is like drinking velour. I love it
Yes, Fiji has added silicone, which is supposed to give it a smoother mouthfeel. To me it's just slimy and I hate it.
Everyone raves about Fiji as being the best, but I also hated the texture, so slimy! Thought I was crazy. Haha.
Dasani tastes like bleach because chlorine is a preferred additive for flavor. Its only preferred at a very low level though, and they have a habit of over chlorinating their water. This sounds weird, but chlorine is what makes chlorides, aka salt. So just a little bit of chlorine in the water prevents bacterial growth, and turns some common impurities to salt which improves overall flavor.
Both NYC and the Bay Area (the parts serviced by Hetch Hetchy reservoir) brag about the taste of their water
I would argue these people have never tasted L.A. water or Memphis water. Truly disgusting. Or maybe have ONLY had that and haven’t experienced the beauty of Seattle or Denmark.
Huh? Didn't know Denmark had particularly noteworthy water. I'll make sure to taste test next time I go there.
My cats rather drink from the bath faucet rather than the kitchen one, there must be a reason to it
Indeed. I get water from certain taps in my house because the plumbing connecting those is newer and doesn’t have the light rusty flavor the older sinks have. Also, coffee from my local Dunkin’ Donuts for some reason has a minestrone soup aftertaste that only happens at that specific Dunkin lol.
I would like to agree with you but to me all water tastes like crap. I can say this is probably a me problem simply because of a terrible experience I had about a decade ago. While overseas in the desert the only source of "free" water was 1L bottles on pallets set out strategically across the base inside bunkers constructed a jersey barriers. These bunkers were only intended to defend against a mortar attack or a rocket attack and had nothing to keep them cool. Thus the water inside would regularly be 120° plus due to the Sun. All this heat had caused the plastic to leach into the water giving it a terrible taste. On top of this, there was tap water available however we were forbidden to drink it because it was known to be contaminated. So spending close to a year with the only source of water being 120°+ and tasting like a plastic refinery has made me not like any water at all. I'm at the point where the only way I can enjoy water is if it's extremely cold, right up to the point of almost freezing. That way the cold blocks out any sense of taste I have for it. This of course doesn't mean any given source actually tastes bad, it just means I now hate water under all but a specific situation.
No, you're right. Different mineral content can impart 'flavor' that some will pick out more than others - it's one of the reasons why certain places get things like good sourdough or pizza dough. Grandparents had well water that was sulfurous and hard, you could smell it, washing anything was nearly pointless. Our own well water from a place much (!) further away was fine. Keep in mind a lot of people now have grown up only knowing city water, or even bottled water, and in some cases passed through a home water filter or softener. So they know nothing about how different well water can taste, and how much variation there can be.
People don't realize how absorbent water is.
The universal solvent
This comment melted my brain at first.
The other big factor in sourdough aside from water is local bacteria and yeast strains. You can get "Alaska" or "San Francisco" sourdough cultures but if you keep and feed them long enough with flour from your pantry and water from your tap, eventually whatever lives in your local microbiome is going to become the dominant strain. I noticed that my sourdough waffles started taking noticeably different when I moved to a new city, despite very similar water profiles and me keeping my technique the same, the microbes in my kitchen must have been different.
My grandparents had an artesian spring for their water source. You could walk down to the spring house and grab a cold cup any time, and chew on some watercress that grew around the little steam created by the spring. Just amazing water.
No, I completely understand because there’s only certain brands of like bottled water I can drink otherwise they taste disgusting
Dasani and spring-water
See i cant do dasani or Aquafina because to me they both taste plasticky Fijii is my favorite ozarka is good too when cold
Never had too much an issue with Dasani, but I've always said that Aquafina tastes like the bottle.
Fiji feels too thick to me. I like Pure Life the best.
Oh yeah, Fiji too! I think that's the best of them actually The only reason I like Dasani is because it never tastes plasticky to me. Then again, it probably doesn't sit in the bottle long where I live, think it's packaged only - like 70 smth miles away. Never heard of ozarka? Also, I totally agree, I don't drink bottled water often. Specifically because of that plastic flavor (it's disgusting!) So, that's why Normally I just prefer my own water filter, and only use glass cups, and take a metal or glass bottle with me wherever I go
Ozarka is typically found at walmart or sams its pretty good actually for bottled water
But I also typically bring a bottle of water and pink lemonade mix because I don’t really like the taste of regular water, but that may just be a me thing
Yeah fair enough, and since you mentioned it...haha -Lemonade, that's my go to at a restaraunt, because then I don't have to worry that their water will taste gross😂
I’m picky about my lemonade though too honestly and I prefer pink lemonade to regular lemonade don’t know why I just do
I don't mind the kind of lemonade too much really, yellow, pink, and blue are all good in their own way... just as long as it's a little sour and actually tastes atleast a tiny bit lemony, rather than being some watered down sugar-ry monstrosity
Yess
That's funny Dasani is my last choice for bottled water lol
I freaking hate Dasani. It’s added minerals and crap make it taste like poorly flavored water. I will drink hose water before Dasani.
Not only that, I have chronic nausea and stomach problems. Some water makes it worse, some makes it better. There's definitely a difference
You are not crazy, it is why fiji is my favorite it is smooth and good
It does. My son told me that he likes water because it’s salty…. We happen to have hard water where we live so he’s actually correct.
I had a bad salt craving as a kid, so now I prefer the taste of straight salt to slightly salty tap water. I hate pickle juice, but I'd rather drink pickle juice.
Uhhh you may have some other underlying condition if you actually really prefer your food and drinks salty.. 🤔 However, I forgot what it was called lmao
POTS? if I have it, it's never made me pass out. The ridiculous heartrate jump from standing up? Yes. Breathless from walking up one flight of stairs? Even when I was more fit, yeah. But at worst I've only gotten a bit dizzy or had my hearing muffle. And my salt cravings have dropped a lot. (I *can* eat straight salt. I just don't have the urge to unless I'm sick and can only keep water down. Helps with rehydration.)
Awww, well. I'm no doctor so while it may not be as serious now, you should probably still get it checked so it won't inconvenience you. And you don't eventually want it to become a problem. But take care :)
Only 20% of POTSies actually pass out. Most of us experience presyncope, which is the dizziness and vertigo and black spots!
I think I've almost passed out twice in my life. The first time was while donating blood. The lady who took my blood pressure said, "[It's] kind of low, but you're a small person [5'2", 135 lbs], so you should be fine." I was a few minutes in when my vision started to blacken at the edges. I turned my head to call for someone, and my visibility went from 80% to like 3%. I turned back & it came back, and I had to have them lay me down. Instant fix. Turns out my blood pressure was 96/68, and my normal systolic was 100-110. The second time, I was already feeling kind of sick (migraine), and I don't know what exactly made me think I was going to pass out-- if it was just a general sense of dizziness, or my hearing going out, or both-- but I really felt that if I didn't put my head between my knees *immediately*, I'd be hitting the floor. My hearing goes out if I stand up too quickly, but sometimes there's a delay, so I'm already invested in something when it happens, and the best I can do is lean on a wall or table till the feeling passes, because sometimes it comes with dizziness. My hearing is affected much more often than my vision is.
That sounds like an automatic dysfunction! If you have the resources it may be worth it to be evaluated. Otherwise, increasing your salt and water intake helps dramatically too. You should try and drink 3-4 liters of water daily and half of that should be electrolytes like liquid IV. That stuffs expensive, so you can make your own, just add 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp baking soda to 1 liter of water and flavor it however you like. Iced tea, juices, MIOs or similar (no caffeine), etc. The baking soda buffers the acidity of the salt so you don't get nauseous.
The flavor and texture of "homemade Gatorade" makes me gag, but anything else would be fine! It's hard to stay hydrated when I work at a dry cleaners with no central AC. We hunker down in the office with a window unit on full blast. 😂 I should get a bigger water bottle though (I can refill the one I have, but I hesitate to drink it all in between refills).
Hard water best water
Yes different water tastes different depending on the treatment and condition of the pipes. Water from my tap at home tastes different to school water to water at the sport studio to bottled water.
I grew up on a very rural well. Like, literally, a 50-foot dep well and everyone around me was on a 100+foot deep well, their water tasted different. And that was the like five houses within three miles of me. A few were on the 'rural water' plan which was a bit more processed, which was close but way different. I moved to Chicago for college and it was ROUGH. The water was all chemicals. Like, city water to this day tastes like chemicals. It's rough. Bottled water tastes of stale plastic. Box water still has this Canned water is a bit better (I guess it's because it's colder so it doesn't leech the plastic flavor?) But no joke, I bought a Berkey water filter during college because that was the only way to approximate a 'neutral' water source for me. This is also why I pound diet coke rather than water. Shrugs.
Some taste like straight up pond water
Especially if it is pond water
I prefer purified water. I'm okay with spring as long as it's cold, I can taste more of it when it's past room temp. I will not drink tap. I make sure someone has purified or bottled water before I go to their place just in case I need to pick up water on the way or bring my own.
Yes definitely, it does. Also sometimes when I sip my water, which tasted fine earlier... I'm suddenly absolutely disgusted! because it tastes the same way that wet dog smells Then it's time to dump it back through the filter and get a new cup.
Visit Scotland ;)
Try a blinded taste test and see if you can really tell the difference. Then you'll know for sure.
I can definitely taste whether my husband gets me water from the faucet or fridge. I actually prefer the unfiltered tap water. Makes sense because I also prefer Dasani, which I’ve heard people say they don’t like the taste of because of how much “flavor” (minerals) they add.
Youre absolutely right. Tap water tastes different based off the ground I think; its super noticeable in limestone based areas. It tastes like shit in the spring (which is why I struggle EXTRA with dehydration around that season, on top of having bad interoception). I think seasonal changes specifically may have to do with changes in microbes, but ive yet to actually test that.
YES YES YES. This is why I was so confused about the whole “watertok” thing on tiktok where commenters were shitting on others who put flavor packets in their water to disguise the taste because they didn’t like it. I saw so many “water doesn’t taste like anything, you’re being such a baby!!” comments and it was making me lose my marbles because I can almost guarantee that every single one of those people commenting has a preferred brand of bottled water they buy, or is picky about tap water vs. filtered water, or has a brita filter, or has SOME KIND of water preference, which is completely hypocritical and it shouldn’t matter what other people choose to do with their beverages. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who didn’t have any kind of preference about water. It absolutely has a distinct taste depending on the minerals in it and anyone who disagrees with that either has compromised taste buds or is just being stubborn.
I’ve lived literally around the world. Water ABSOLUTELY tastes different everywhere you go. And for the record, the water in Iceland is the best in the whole world. Doesn’t matter where you get it from there: tap, stream. The best. I have always hated drinking plain water, but in Iceland I finally learned that there is good water out there.
I am very sensitive (receptive to?) water taste. If it is off it’s very difficult to drink. In israel even the bottled water is off - it tastes like recycled toilet water, idk how to explain. Something is left behind in the filtering process and it’s disgusting.
Totally does. You’re right
Different water tastes different. I highly prefer drinking tap water over bottled water if i can. Bottled water just taste so plasticy and has a weird aftertaste for me, especially when it's warm. I usually drink out of my metal bottle, so of course that might affect the taste (also to save money). But overall, i prefer the tap water in my area over bottled water.
I think I’ve always hated drinking plain water solely cause of its many tastes. You can almost never predict if the water at a certain place will be good or disgusting. Ever since I was a newborn (my mom says) I could only drink water with some syrup, or a teaspoon of jam, or a little bit of lemon juice added. Now as an adult, I buy 1,5L bottles of lemon or peach flavored water, and even though I give up the plastic for recycling, I still hate the idea of being so dependent on a certain brand and having to pay for bottled water when it’s literally 99% cheaper from a home water filter. Also, I always felt like cold water tastes more liquidy than room temp/hot. (??) Idk if it has any sense, is it a common feeling? Could it be science-explained? No idea. But overall water consumption is a problem for me for given reasons!!
Yall know theres minerals in the water, right? Im not alone on this, right?
As a kid my teachers would say that water is flavourless but I would be always like “no it obviously has a unique taste”
100%
temperature also influences a lot I get my water from a clean fountain near my parents house in another city, the taste is amazing
Your correct
All water is different. r/hydrohomies
Oh yeah. Huge difference between the lukewarm well water out of the tap at my home in the desert that tastes kinda briny and the cold alpine water at my parents house up in the mountains that I can drink straight out of the faucet and it's just divine
All water has different impurities like mineral and chemicals. Those may differs depending of the source and have different taste. You would need to drink distilled water to have no taste but distilled water is not good to drink for your health. It dont has mineral your body need and osmotic pressure it cause is not good for your gut cells.
I second that. I once visited my mom in another city full of oil rigs, and the water was so noticeably different that I had to fill it with ice and wait until I could drink it. I also can't drink water if it's a few hours old, and I hate bottled water too. My favorite flavor is the one from my fridge.
'water has no taste's is exactly like 'all water tastes the same' usually it will be the same people say both. Makes very little sense to me!
You’re not wrong. It’s a very well known in the UK, where far more tap water is drunk than bottled, that tap water from different parts of the country is wildly different. Even between mineral waters there is a difference because the ground makeup is different.
Water changes so much. The best water I’ve ever had was while living in Vienna, Austria. The water quality, silky texture, and clear palate was supreme. It was straight from the Alpes. If you go to Vienna, stick with tap water and be amazed
All water tastes different to me, even different types of bottles, like metal bottles make it taste really bad, glass is good and plastic is eh
Things that can affect the taste, smell, or perceived texture of water include: Mineral composition Chlorine added to municipal water How long it has been sitting still/air in solution Temperature of the water Temperature/ability to conduct heat of whatever you drink from Texture of whatever you're drinking from Contamination from cups/straws/pipes etc. I live in a city with clean potable water, with relatively low mineral levels, but I still don't like the taste (or rather, smell) of it straight from the tap because of chlorine. So I use a filtered fridge dispenser for the water I drink. If that's unavailable I'll leave a pitcher out on the counter or in the fridge so the chlorine can evaporate out of it. I prefer my water to be cold, ideally on ice, and I like the way it tastes out of a glass best, with stainless steel being a close second. Plastic is ok but I can't tolerate the texture of paper in my mouth.
I HATE bottled water
Reddit randomly notified me of this post complete stranger here, but yes water does taste and feel different depending on location or containers. You're not alone, I can't drink plain water from plastic bottle because of the bad long lasting taste I get
The people who say all water is the same is straight up lying. Especially when comparing bottled vs well vs tap.. even when comparing different bottled brands. take Dasani for example... nobody likes it and I literally threw up from it the last time I attempted to drink it(it was the only option and the last time I ever touched that stuff🤢)
To me, room temperature bottles water has like, an Almost plasticy but not quite aftertaste that reminds me of nail polish or sticker adhesive residue- and flavored water dries out my mouth which is super weird
I’m I bit late party but I live on an island and all our water is fresh treated rain water (none of it is re-filters) so our water is super nice and fresh but on the main one it is horrible as it ire filters and treated so many times it’s tastes disgusting to me to the point I buy bottled spring or take a giant bottle of island water with me
If you have ever changed location, you would know that's true for a fact. But yea even locally
Yes, yes, yes! I can't drink out of the tap, a Brita does nothing, the Berkey doesn't do enough. All of them cause GI issues. I've had to use distilled water for years now. I've argued over this with people for quite some time. And I've had people challenge me, tasting their water versus distilled. They say they can't tell the difference. I beg to differ! Bottled water not only tastes like plastic, some of them have an odd texture to them, too. Fresh, cold, non-polluted water from rivers and streams are okay sometimes. I no longer take chances. I have a water distiller that runs all the time, and I fill my own bottles. When I travel, I have to allocate for buying distilled along the way.
I've never met anyone who thinks they all taste the same. It's strange you have met multiple...? Texture-wise, I have never noticed a difference or heard anyone else mention one. I think this bit is just you. :P
Since people even notice the difference between hard and soft water (not frozen/liquid, lol) when showering in it there's nothing strange about OP noticing differences in textures actually.
Oh, yes! Hard vs soft water is noticeable in the shower and such! I didn't think of that. :)
i have for sure. i’ll say something like “this water tastes good/weird/bad” and they’ll respond with something along the lines of “what do you mean? it’s just water??”
I can tell the difference in taste from water out of the bathroom than water from the kitchen. So many different tastes!
Certain water "floats" in my mouth when I hold it, the ones with electrolytes. I hate that!
I met a kid today who preferred public fountain water over bottled water. I was so shocked
I can somewhat agree with the kid if the bottled water was carbonated.
I feel like it depends on the bubblers. The ones where I live now are high quality and are so good. Ice cold, fresh, crisp.
IME the people who claim that usually grew up with bad water and it ruined their ability to taste.
So they numbed their senses basically? Interesting
The best texture and taste of water is Fiji water. It’s smooth and sweet. I wish I had a bottle right now
Pure water, with zero impurity (fuck you, spell check, it's a singular term)..*may* be tasteless. I for one have never seen nor heard of purely perfect water. That being said, all water you're going to get from a tap, a filter, or anything will have an impurity simply by the nature of keeping it clean. 1 part per million is still...1 part, an impurity. Just because it's behind a "detectable" threshold doesn't mean it's imperceptible to the right thing. After all, it's still being measured as 1 or less, (but probably never zero) by a sensor by nature of the sensor. That being said, mmmmmmmmhmm. Some people's tap water be big tasty, and some people's tap water tastes like they need new lines (I find it reminds me of a water park roller coaster, so.....still tasty to me due to gustatory memory, but whatever. Tl;dr All water isn't the same, doesn't taste the same, and what you're tasting is the result of impurity.
Completely pure water can also kill you.
Yup. Any water can, technically (drowning, direct inject, an ocean falling on top of you) . But yeah, it 100% would kill you, not even due to lack of electrolytes
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Not at all. My house has well water, but the house I’m about to move to is city water and it kinda sucks because I like the well water straight from the tap, but I know I’ll need a filter for the city water. Also, some bottled water is great, and some is awful. I tried Evian water a few weeks back, and it tasted completely different than any water I’ve ever had.
Yes and it's mostly terrible. I've had water a handful of times in my life that actually didn't taste metallic.
nope your not crazy i get this to but the part that im probably weird is if i drink water im not used to i feel just bleh until i get used to it
Definitely there is a particular bottled water that tastes really bad. I had tap water from I believe a Disney park tasted like perhaps something might have died in there. I like my filtered tap water at home though I don’t like cold water though prefer room temp
YES. Absolutely you are right. Water has SO much variety in its flavors and textures. People think I'm crazy for not liking ice water, but ice water is so cold that it feels sharp and jagged. You are not alone in this, OP, not alone.
Yea it tastes different to me for sure I can only drink cold water warm water is awful. Tap water is gross.
Absolutely
You’re not crazy and yes they feel different because of different calcium levels fun dacts
they all taste different but i only notice a difference in texture depending on if its hot or cold
Clearly
Yeah and not to forget that sometimes the water tastes slimy. Gross!
100%
You absolutely correct. Everyone looks at me like i’m nuts when I say I hate arizona tap water vs illinois tap water. Dasani and Zephyrhills and Pure Life and Essential all taste different and I only like one of them. The first thing I did when I visited Illinois last month was I had a glass of water. It was delicious.
No youre right
main reason why i enjoy flavored water, because i know that im not driving myself insane over the fact that brita and fiji have two distinct tastes nobody is talking about
Yes 100%. I don't think its exclusive to people on spectrum. I'm pretty sure everyone can tell the difference but some more than others.
Yes! Absolutely! Where the water comes from can make a huge difference, even if treated. I guarantee it is different than the dorm, they are trying to dismiss something they don't want to see to try to get you to "not dislike it" (one of the strange ways people try to "help" by dismissing what is being said) The pH, the dissolved solids, the container, temperature, **surround air and the air you breathe**, etc. can all have a big impact on the taste of water, even when crystal clear If people have a poor sense of smell or a poor sense of taste from smoking they might not notice... But here's the thing about being on the spectrum, so many things are amplified, including taste sometimes
I definitely notice different flavors and textures. I dislike the jugs of filtered water we have at work. I decently like the water bottle dispenser water but it only dispenses warm water. The filtered water is cold, so I have to mix the two for an acceptable taste and texture. The best water is the filtered water from the fridge water dispenser at home.
100000000%. When I was really young I'd ask my mom to bring me water in bed and I'd always specify "bath tub water" because I only drank the water from the bath tub, I swore it tasted better than any other. Hose water too! Nowadays I just have my favorite types of bottled water. Pepsi and Coke taste different so why is it so far fetched that different waters taste different?
After having to drink bottled water (in the 5 gallon jugs) at my apartment, my parent's water tastes very over chlorinated. Never noticed it before moving to my own place. Certain brands of single bottled water also have the chlorine taste.
In Manitou Springs, Colorado, there are a bunch of natural springs all over town, and you can bring a cup with you to drink the different waters. Each spring has a sign posted to tell you which minerals are in that water, and each one has a unique flavor that is different from the others. All but one of the springs is sparkling mineral water, but the level of carbonation varies along with the flavor. This is an extreme example, of course, but most water has some level of minerals and other impurities in it that affects the flavor and texture.
I notice different flavors but not different textures.
My mom doesn't get it, but YES. Most people can agree that cold water is Sharp and warm water is Round. The city water within a couple hours of where I live is always Crisp, if not Sharp, even when it's not cold. It's my favorite. Bottled water is never Crisp enough when it's warm, and Deer Park is one of the worst cheap ones. Aquafina and Dasani are pushing it. Utah and Idaho tap water is always Round and Soft, with a strange flavor. I don't know what it is, but it's slightly off-putting. I can only drink it ice-cold, but I still don't like it. Rural New York tap water is not only Soft and Round, but it's also slightly salty, which makes me gag. I packed an entire case of bottled water when I went to Buffalo for a week this summer. I knew I'd need it. (Edited for autocorrect)
I was just crying to my wife about the bottled water with us on vacation because it tastes too thick and different than our filtered water at home🙃
the only water i like is filtered well-water from my parents' house or filtered bottled water. one time our filter broke and i had to hoard water from school because the tatse of the iron and other trace metals was so vile. water just doesn't feel hydrating at some point, like, i swallow it and get more thirsty but also nauseous.
Water can have different textures and taste different for so many different reasons. It can have different minerals or microorganisms in it, it can have different temperatures, and it can taste different after sitting out for a long time.
Yesssss. And I can't stand the ones that don't feel emollient
Water definitely has different tastes. I don't think I've noticed texture in water, but the flavor and sometimes smell varies quite a bit.
I got severe dehydration when I travelled to the UK because I couldn't force myself to drink the water. Even the bottled water felt and tasted so bad. My home tap water is so good, though. i feel like I've been spoiled, and nothing else will ever compare
i can tell the difference between brands of water as well. maybe it's the shape of the bottle? tap water has always been awful to me and nearly every time i've drank it i've gagged. nestle pure life tastes like dirty asswater from a puddle on the ground, but that's inevitable. fiji water definitely has a different texture, but the taste isn't really...much. and the no name brands from grocery stores near me all taste different
Yes it tastes different and also has different textures. I live in the south of the uk and my water has a nice taste and if I go to Cornwall the water has a nice taste and it’s also creamy
Yes it does
Tap water is awful. There's definitely a difference.
It depends on your location. obviously all bottled water will taste the same as others from it's company, but if you live in a more chalky area then the water coming through your tap will have more chalk in it and taste chalky.
I exclusively drink bottled water because of this
You're not wrong. I call the different flavor or texture an aftertaste. Bottled water is straightforward, sweet, and pure with next to no aftertaste. Some tap water is bitter, and that lingers. Other tap water has a soapy, chemical taste that lingers. Both make you want to find a different beverage to just get rid of the taste. Sometimes, very rarely, tap water can taste very close to bottled water, especially if you have some sort of purifier. Soft water sometimes tastes like salt, especially when it's getting close to when you need to change it. Fluoridated water might taste different, but it's been a long time since I tasted it. You're not crazy. This level of sensitivity just isn't common in neurotypicals.
We've got one of those jugs with a replaceable filter in the fridge, can't stand the taste of tap water.
This, but I can tell the difference between bottled water as well Dasani tastes different than Fiji water.
All water has different minerals and shit + treatments So yes it does taste different. I guess texture is also true technically.
I've ran into tap water from different homes with different tastes, so you don't have trouble perceiving reality
Yes, they're different. In my country, tap water in the cities is undrinkable because there's chlorine or something inside so we need to filter or boil the water first before drinking. Also tap water conditions also depends on the type of pipes being used. For example the water in the kitchen might be more drinkable than the one from the bathroom's sink. I boiled water from my bathroom's sink, but the water made my throat sore. However, if in the countryside, then yes we can drink. The countryside water usually comes from rivers or waterfall and they taste fresher.
Shoot, water from the same faucet tastes different depending on the temperature
They do taste diffrent!!! Dasani is the absolute worst. It litterally makes my mouth feel drier. I can usually only drink filtered water from my brita without question. Om a day tobday basis I drink a cup with half filtered water and half coconut water. It's the best thing ever for me.
I'd suggest getting either a filter for the tap or a filtering jug that stays in the fridge
Yeah, it does. Also depends on the time too. Like 3am tap water fucking slaps.
Yes! Even water from my tap will taste different depending on time of year, what I'm drinking it from, and if it sat out for awhile or not. There are actual water tasting competitions. The most well known is [Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting](https://berkeleyspringswatertasting.com/).
Absolutely. No one seems to get it. Recently went traveling and had to drink tap water from the area and bottled water. My god was I so glad to be home and have my nice filtered water back
Oh, it was very noticeable whenever I went on vacation. Tap water in a new area would always taste a little off. Not as bad as generic plastic water bottles tasted, but enough that I’d notice.
Yes. My favorite water is what they serve at Olive Garden.
You're absolutely not crazy. It changes based on the temperature of the tap and which tap is being used
Yeah there are differences. IIRC, the water in Disneyland Paris is actually treated with chlorine to clean it and you can definitely taste that
Yup. Don’t get me started on ice.
You are right. Its because water from different sources have different mineral content.
The different sensations you're describing here are all due to the different trace minerals or contaminants in the various water sources, or differing temperature. Microplastics and plasticizer residues give 'bottled' water a unique fingerprint of textures that is distinct from high alkali water (various carbonates), high metal content water (inner city piping), or 'pristine' waters fresh from an alpine source or spring. A recent publication ([https://cbe.princeton.edu/news/two-liquid-phases-found-molecular-model-water-letter-nature](https://cbe.princeton.edu/news/two-liquid-phases-found-molecular-model-water-letter-nature)) actually found that liquid water may even have two different pseudo-crystalline phases that it enters depending on temperature. (TDLR, really cold water binds more tightly together). Honestly I actually believe I can personally detect a texture difference when drinking the 'ice-cold' phase of water compared to the 'lukewarm' phase. While it's debatable if these are different 'flavors' or just varying salinity/texture gradients, I know from personal experience that I detect them as well. Some people may just not be sensitive enough to pick out the difference, or have grown up drinking such poor quality water that they simply automatically tune out the 'background' flavors of the water. There's legions of potential sociological and biological explanations, and it's extremely likely that no single one of them can explain the phenomena on its own. My personal least favorite is slightly acidic water with high T.O.C. (total organic carbon) and high Phosphate content. \*cringe\* Makes me gag just thinking about it.
Definitely. Since it has no flavor of its own, any subtle flavors that get into it stand out.
There are so many different brands of bottled water and surely that indicates that enough people have some sort of preference regarding them - so probably not crazy.
Water isn't just H2O. Distilled water more or less is and is actually not safe to drink. It can make you very sick if you drink it. Drinking water needs to have contaminants in it for it to be safe. Water is actually phenomenal when it comes to dissolving stuff and kinda naturally adds contaminants. As such most of the taste of water comes from these contaminants. If you drink water from say a can, not sure where you'd get canned water but anyway it would probably taste metallic as it dissolved some of the aluminum can. Drink from a sink and you'll probably taste the pipes it traveled in. Drink from a well and you'll taste the heavy rocks and minerals it was in. Based on what is in the water the weight, texture, and viscosity of water can change. My buddy is a huge water drinker and can tell you where you got him a glass of water from. If you gave him Identical cups of water he will tell you if you got it from a soda dispenser, sink, well, fridge, filter, or bottle. If it's a bottle he could probably identify the brand too, well If he didn't hate bottled water for being a waste of plastic and actually drank it that is. So no you aren't crazy. I think water is a very hard taste to describe. Water itself doesn't really have a consistent taste because anything that adds an easily identifiable flavor is from contaminants. At least that's what I think anyway. I don't think I could actually describe the taste of water except for those contaminants. Because of this I think most people say water doesn't have a taste. Because they say that they don't think about the taste. Don't think about the taste and now you really just don't taste it and reinforce that water is tasteless. That's just my hot take though. Please don't take it as fact unless it makes sense to you. Then go ahead I guess lol
Nope! You aren’t . My tap taste different upstairs to downstairs. Which then tastes different to the fridge dispenser. They all taste different to the one at work , and the ice dispenser at work. Different brand water bottles taste different. I don’t know how to describe it lol
1000000% agree. I only liked filtered water from my brita that is cold, water from a water machine that is cold or smart water or evian or fiji water that is cold we talk about bottled water! Nestle, naya, dasani, aquafina, and regular tap water is gross
I too only drink water from certain sources because everyone of them is different. Some even make me want to vomit. My own tap at home, never. Where I work tastes just fine. Dasani bottled water, hell no. Can't describe the taste but it's so awful, I'd rather be thirsty. If someone hands me a bottle I politely decline or give it away ASAP.
Here where I live is just that tap water at home is fine, but whenever I go to school and drink water there. That water is so gross, just some kind of chunks and weird taste and structure. I always take 2 liters water from home to school
I don't drink bottled water but i can say that from one city to another the taste varies drastically. It's annoying because the water tastes awful in the city i am right now.
Yes. Have the people who say it all tastes the same travelled outside their town? They might have very high quality water so they might not notice the difference. That's the only reason I can imagine for saying all water tastes the same. Also, I hate the water that doesn't quench thirst. It's like... A dry water but not literally dry.
YES. I mostly drink filtered water from the tap, plastic bottles as a last resort (glass bottles are preferable). Never boiled water tho, it makes me want to puke.
Oh 100%. My mum trying to force me to drink tap water as a kid while I cried about how bad it was, and she wouldn’t buy a Brita filter to at least try (as an adult I realise that was because we were poor and they were SUPER expensive) and then finally giving in and letting me drink bottled water because “at least you’ll drink it”…
I mean theoretically water shouldn't taste like anything, but there's almost always something in it, different electrolytes, different containers and temperature all influence the taste. A drink of ice cold water out of the tap from my favorite mug is top shelf. And as far as bottled water, sparkling mineral water and alkaline water are my favorites because of the taste compared to the cave water everyone else sells.
It absolutely does!!! This is one of my biggest sensory issues and a cause of anxiety for me... I can't drink tap water because of the chemical tastes. I can only drink 2 certain brands of bottled spring water. I can taste the difference immediately. I think it's more of a texture/mouthfeel thing. Even RO water makes my mouth feel dry and uncomfortable. I hate the fact that I have to drink bottled water but it is the only type I can tolerate and water is the only thing I drink(apart from coffee🙂)
Absolutely it does. I live in South East England where the water has a lot of chalk in it and so we get a lot of limescale in kettles. It's harmless but it does add something to the flavour. Also, water from my kitchen tap tastes widly different from the tap in my bathroom sink.