I just had a fun experience over my lunch break. The San Francisco Water Dept is doing a promotion for their tap water. They had a taste test against two bottled waters to see what people like better. My friend and I did it and we were given our three samples and after we tried them, we were asked if we could tell the difference. The water people seemed a little surprised when I said I could definitely tell the difference. I then proceed to tell them that sample #3 had a paper-like taste that sat on the tongue and was not quenching. Sort of cloudy, not clear tasting. It made me feel like I might be more thirsty. I did not like it. I could tell the difference between samples #1 and #2 but didn’t know which one I liked better. #2 had more of a chemical taste, more astringent, but it cleared the tongue and felt good. #1 had a very flat taste very close to tasteless which is what I look for in water but it didn’t do what I want water for. It did not clear the tongue and it wasn’t very quenching. I finally decided that I liked #2 better because I felt I got more of what I wanted out of it. There was a guy there from KGO that honed in on my friend and I and my babbling over the qualities of each of the samples. Someone was actually interested in my babbling so I just uncorked and let it all out. I was just standing there talking to the woman with the water and a mike appeared next to me. He started asking questions about if I drink tap water and if I would suggest that people are wasting their money on bottled water. I told him that I am very discriminating when it comes to water but that I always make sure I can drink the tap water because I need to be sure I have that source. The only reason bottled water is worth buying is for the bottle. I refill them over and over. More was said. He seemed very pleased by my comments. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get used somewhere. I am very tap water positive.
I left the event feeling very proud of myself for my sensitivities, very tickled, bouncy even. They can be a real pain but sometimes they can be fun. I realized that I was doing to the water what my friends do with wine when they go wine tasting. I always felt poorer because I would have no clue about wine and the things they described. This event made me realize that it is because I can’t/won’t drink wine. If I did, I would probably be as discriminating.
In telling this story around the office, I remembered another one from when I was a kid (some time before I was 7). There was very special water I liked. I didn’t like any other water besides this water. There was always a pitcher of it in the fridge. I would tell people proudly that I liked Tap Water because that was what was in the fridge. I honestly thought Tap Water was a type of water and had no idea it came out of the faucet.
The surprise at my ability to taste the differences in the water and describe them reminded me of another story from years ago. I was somewhere between 7 and 12. My dad wanted to stop spending the extra money on Mrs. Buttersworth syrup. He felt that it didn’t taste any different than log cabin and so the extra money was just a waste for nothing more than a fancy bottle. I said that it did taste different and that I liked Mrs. Buttersworth. Since I was in elementary school, I can see where my dad would think I was just protesting because I didn’t want to switch and not because I could really tell the difference. But he did set up a taste test. Probably to prove to me that I couldn’t tell the difference. He made pancakes one morning and buttered one and put on log cabin and put Mrs. Buttersworth on the other. I tried both and told him which one was Mrs. Buttersworth. We never switched. At another time, he also tried the plug your nose and try to tell the difference between a slice of apple and a slice of potato game. I could always tell the difference.
I have always been sensitive to taste, smell, and touch. Sometimes it is a good thing. Most of the time, it isn’t. Extra ability in hearing and sight serve me well more often than not. But tests are showing that my hearing and my sight are heading downhill. I figure it is the same for the others, just that they aren’t tested.
I’ve heard the apple/potato test as a small piece of apple and a small piece of onion. But you have to more than just block your nose, you have to pinch it shut so you don’t get the smell from the back of your mouth. It also has to be a small enough piece that you can’t tell the onion because it’s layered.
Apple and potato usually have different textures.
you are familiar with the supertaster concept, yes?
I’m with you on the water thing… It sometimes drives M nuts because we’ll go someplace, and I’m disturbed by the minute changes in the tap water – mineral balances, etc…
For some reason, I quite like Dasani… But other bottled water? yeah, it’s about the bottle.
Of course, I’ve taken the “Pepsi Challenge” a half-dozen times now (at various amusement parks and events) and every time, when they said ‘which one tastes better?’ replied with ‘that one, it’s Coke…’ and never been wrong. Despite one tester who insisted that I repeat the test 10 times in a row… I got it right every single time.
And they “over-chill” the sodas in order to keep most people from tasting the difference…
ROTFLOL. I like Dasani too…most of the other bottled waters just taste “empty”. Like Gina, I want the “bite” of water to come though…and if that means chemicals, then, yep, I like chemicals!
(We do *filter* our tap water though, which seems to find the balance between my “bring it on” sensibilities WRT water, and my SO’s “bottled water is better”ness).
Had the most fabulous tap-water for drinking this weekend at Costume-Con in Ogden, Utah.
Crap for showering, but great for drinking.
You did hear about the LA Times survey a few years ago where participants rated LA tap-water higher than bottled waters about 50% of the time? And even better, when narrowing down to people who “only drink bottled water” they rated LA tap-water higher almost 75% of the time?
Hooray for tapwater! I love LA and SF’s. The rest of the state’s sucks. I prefer it straight out of the tap, and can taste plastic, so I hate bottled and Brita-fied water. If they sold SF water out of glass bottles I would buy it.