The taste test: mineral waters

Mineral waters

It was the day of the Spending Review and we were feeling ascetic. So a tasting of still mineral waters was prescribed by the FT Weekend politburo. We tested 24 in all, in plastic and glass, from home and abroad. We also included jug-filtered and unfiltered tap water as a sanity check, because we live in an age of designer waters, where the world’s most expensive brand (Bling H2O from the US) costs £33 a litre. Our two most expensive were Berg (“iceberg water from Canada”) and Veen Velvet (“smooth spring water” from Finland). At £6 or more per litre, these two came in at five times the price of petrol and eight times the price of milk.

Now for our panel of four, including a newcomer, the Bibulous Shipowner (BS). He’s a world authority on bananas but also harbours an acute palate for wine. The Gourmet Celeb (GC) was back – and having just finished excavating an aircraft hangar of a wine cellar under his mansion, he was moderately thirsty. The Gluttonous Pig (GP) was appalled at the sight of so much zero-calorie water, and only agreed to carry on when promised a 1989 claret afterwards. The Discerning Litigator (DL) maintained her usual sangfroid until near the end, when the phrase “water torture” was overheard from behind her clipboard.

I’m normally quite happy drawing a jug of London tap water and leaving it in the fridge for the chlorine to come off. Chilled in this way it’s perfectly acceptable. Both our unbottled samples were indeed drawn a few hours in advance, but up against mineral water, and at room temperature, they struggled. In 22nd place was the jug-filtered sample: “as far as I know I’m not a dying man”(BS); “a slap in the teeth”(GC). The unfiltered tap water came in 23rd: “heady bouquet of chlorine”(GC); “a mildly sterilised armpit”(GP).

But which product came in 24th? With exquisite irony, it was Berg from Canada, the most expensive water in the tasting. A caveat here – its flavour may have been tainted by the plastic bottle it came in: “creamy, like Dulux Emulsion”(GP); “Château Paint Stripper”(BS); “seriously unpleasant”(GC); “bizarre”(DL). Intercontinental waters from Fiji and New Zealand and a few other Europeans also fared poorly. This highlights the folly of shipping water around the world. The British waters were generally in better condition and less likely to be affected by plastic.

Now for the top three. In third place came Hildon, in a plastic bottle. The company declined to supply us with a sample, but we obtained a bottle anyway, and it did well: “chalky, interesting, complex”(GP). Second was Buxton, also in plastic: “actually, not too bad”(BS); “neutral purity”(GP). But our winner came from Italy, safely contained within an attractive glass bottle. Solé was: “pleasing; slightly acidic aftertaste”(GP); “consistent, clean”(BS); “ooh, I like this – like an explorer finding a clean, sweet, refreshing stream”(GC).

To sum up: the waters genuinely do taste different, but you need to judge them at room temperature and concentrate particularly on the aftertaste. Avoid plastic bottles from abroad. And finally, they really are nicer than tap water but a damned sight more expensive. I reflected that among the four of us, only the Bibulous Shipowner was really at home with all these swankily branded waters. He let slip that he stays at a Tuscan hotel with 16 waters on its restaurant “water list”. How the other half drinks.

Next week: Paul Betts

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The winners

1. Fonte Solé

From the foothills of the Italian Alps in Lombardy. This has very low sodium content and a slightly sweet taste. It is exported to the UK by train. £19.95 for a case of 12 x 750ml Sole Arte (www.solewater.com; www.aqua-amore.com)

2. Buxton

Bottled from the St Ann’s spring in the Peak District and naturally filtered through ancient limestone. www.buxtonwater.co.uk

3. Hildon

Low-sodium mineral water from a Hampshire spring. www.hildon.com