What are you eating and drinking tonight?

[Lord Kangana]

Thirlmere. But it gets mixed in holding reservoirs on the way down.

[Gary the Enfield]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... rtastetest" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some edited highlights:

A recent Which? survey questioned 3,000 of its readers and found half were unable to tell the difference between tap and bottled water, and 20% actually preferred tap.

The testers were awarding marks out of five for smell, clarity and more importantly taste, and choosing their personal favourite. One glass of warm, one glass chilled, with all, incidentally, saying that the water almost always tasted better chilled.

The results in order of preference were:


1. Severn Trent Water
2. Anglian Water
3. Thames Water
4. Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
5. Southern Water
6. Scottish Water
7. South West Water
8. Yorkshire Water
9. United Utilities
10. Wessex Water


Oh dear.

[Lord Kangana]

Hang on, those results aren't for the 3,000 surveyed though, are they? They are from the testers. The logistics of getting 3,000 people to blind taste 10 waters are almost insurmountable.

And moreover, they are a panel I would suggest who live and work in London and have therefore grown used to the taste. You can do that wih most things. Its deeply flawed.

A fairer test would be to send samples out to the various regions and have them compared against their own water. I mean, how long was the shipped in water hanging around before the test?

[CrazyHorse]

Hang on, those results aren't for the 3,000 surveyed though, are they? They are from the testers. The logistics of getting 3,000 people to blind taste 10 waters are almost insurmountable.

And moreover, they are a panel I would suggest who live and work in London and have therefore grown used to the taste. You can do that wih most things. Its deeply flawed.

A fairer test would be to send samples out to the various regions and have them compared against their own water. I mean, how long was the shipped in water hanging around before the test?

Never mind that, it's just piss funny to see how yon southern fairies take the suggestion that their water is crap as a close personal insult.

[Lord Kangana]

Indeedy.

[thebish]

Hang on, those results aren't for the 3,000 surveyed though, are they? They are from the testers. The logistics of getting 3,000 people to blind taste 10 waters are almost insurmountable.

And moreover, they are a panel I would suggest who live and work in London

now that's REAL evidence!!

[Lord Kangana]

Suggest they don't then.

[thebish]

Suggest they don't then.

I suggest that we know not either way! not everyone lives in London....

[Lord Kangana]

No. But they all do.

[thebish]

No. But they all do.

...and they are? (names??)

[Lord Kangana]

Read the link.

[thebish]

Read the link.

addresses?

[Lord Kangana]

They all work in London. If you think they're all commuting from the Outer Hebrides, you obviously know very little of my industry.

[thebish]

They all work in London. If you think they're all commuting from the Outer Hebrides, you obviously know very little of my industry.

ok - fair cop - i didn't read the article! (and - no - I am not a caterer!)

However, that survey isn't the only one to conclude that London Tap water does not "taste like shit" - or that (in general) bottled water tastes better - which is where we started.

Personally - I am appalled by the general acceptance of the idea that we need to buy water in plastic bottles in the UK... maybe I'm easily appalled - but (to me) given the ready availability of clean, drinkable tap water all across the UK, this is bonkers. the bottled water industry appears to have persuaded the majority of Londoners (for instance) that it would be almost suicidal to contemplate a journey on the underground without a bottle of water to rehydrate you...

another survey...

Daily Telegraph Monday 17 December 2007
London tap water has been rated superior to expensive mineral waters in a blind tasting conducted by some of the most sophisticated drinkers in the country.
At less than 1p per litre, it beat 20 bottled waters, including some which sell for £50 a litre, in the survey conducted by Decanter, the wine drinkers magazine.
The panel, made up of Masters of Wine, top sommeliers and some of the most experienced palates in the country, voted tap water supplied by Thames Water third equal in a tasting of 24 products.
The top scoring water was Waiwera , from New Zealand, which sells for £9 per litre at Claridge’s. This was followed by Vittell, which costs 39p a litre at Tesco.
The result comes a month after the National Consumer Council launched a campaign to force restaurants to offer free tap water.
Bottled water,considered a luxury until the 1980’s, has become a key part of most restaurants’ menus.
Claridge’s, the hotel in Mayfair, launched an entire water menu earlier this year, featuring 30 brands from around the world. The star product on the menu is a 42cl bottle of Volcanic, found more than 200 yards under volcanic rock in New Zealand’s Rotomo HIlls, which sells for £21 – the equivalent of £50 a litre.
However, it came a lowly 18th place in Decanter’s tasting. Bling H2O, from California, the second most expensive at £40 a litre, came 22nd. Its bottle is encrusted with Swarovski crystals.
Hardly any of the esteemed tasters realised that the London water, drawn from a kitchen tap in South Kensington, was the cheapest.
Terry Threlfall, the sommelier at Michelin-starred Chez Bruce in London, picked it as his favourite, giving it 19 points out of 20.
Guy Woodward, the editor of Decanter, said the tasting was instructive in showing up the “outrageous” prices charged for mineral waters.
He said: “It’s bad enough that restaurants get away with charging largely ignorant consumers scandalous mark-ups on wine, but charging £5, £10 and £20 for a resource which is freely available is an outrage-particularly when even the most well-trained palates couldn’t tell these supposedly superior products apart from plain tap water when tasting a range of waters blind.”

[Lord Kangana]

I'm not taken with bottled water either. Its a bit of a scam.

But again, thats a flawed article. You don't get table service and your meals cooked for you at Tescos, thats why its counter intuitive to expect there to be no mark up on wine (or anything) sold in a restaurant. To make money enough to make the business viable, you need to be charging between 3 and 4 times its cost price. So that fiver bottle of wine becomes 15 to 20 quid. If the writer isn't happy with that, perhaps he can just open his own bottle at home in front of the telly with his microwave Lasagne..

[thebish]

I'm not taken with bottled water either. Its a bit of a scam.

But again, thats a flawed article. You don't get table service and your meals cooked for you at Tescos, thats why its counter intuitive to expect there to be no mark up on wine (or anything) sold in a restaurant. To make money enough to make the business viable, you need to be charging between 3 and 4 times its cost price. So that fiver bottle of wine becomes 15 to 20 quid. If the writer isn't happy with that, perhaps he can just open his own bottle at home in front of the telly with his microwave Lasagne..

if the day ever comes that I would - even for a moment - consider paying £50 for a litre of bottled water in a restaurant (however lovely/attentive the waiter/waitress is) - then I have authorised my children to shoot me.

[Lord Kangana]

Thats fine, but I'll bet that a bottle encrusted with Swarovski crystals is'nt going to have a cost price of £1.99. Its probably got tap water in it anyway. In that scenario, its not about the water.

[Bruce Rioja]

Didn't Coca Cola launch a bottled water a few years back that they had to hastily withdraw when it was discovered to be tap water?

[Lord Kangana]

I mean, read the bumph:

Bling H2O is the inspiration of Kevin G. Boyd, Hollywood writer-producer. While working on various studio lots where image is of the utmost importance he noticed that you could tell a lot about a person by the bottled water they carried.

In Hollywood it seemed as if people flaunted their bottled water like it was part of their presentation. Whether the bottles had a cool shape or came from an exotic island, none truly made that defining statement. Bling H2O was fashioned to make that defining statement. The mission was to offer a product with an exquisite face to match exquisite taste. The product is strategically positioned to target the expanding super-luxury consumer market. Initially introduced to hand-selected athletes and actors, Bling H2O is now excitedly expanding it’s availability. Bling H2O has been featured at many recent celebrity events including the MTV Video Music Awards and television’s biggest event, The Emmys.

Bling H2O is pop-culture in a bottle. But it's not for everyone, just those that Bling.

Seems custom designed for London if you ask me.

[Lord Kangana]

Didn't Coca Cola launch a bottled water a few years back that they had to hastily withdraw when it was discovered to be tap water?

You'd be surprised how many companies do that.

If you are wary, look on the side, if it simply says bottled water, or purified water, or somesuch, and not spring water/eau de source, its just filtered water.