Bottled versus filtered water

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bravozulu
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#1: Post by bravozulu »

I went this morning to the Intelligentsia espresso house in Venice, California. It is the place were I took two classes on the subject. They told me an interesting finding about water quality and espresso. The cafe has a large Reverse Osmosis system, complete with a charcoal filter and a tank that re-introduces minerals back into the purified water. The minerals contribute to flavor and are needed to trigger the auto refill sensors in the boilers of the espresso machines.

This morning, the gal who taught my class said their entire staff of baristas took a blind taste test of various bottled waters. In our area the leading brands are Sparkletts, Arrowhead and Evian. The Sparkletts won, hands down. The baristas favored it over their own expensive RO filtered water. What a surprise. Sparkletts is the brand I have delivered to my house weekly. 18 gallons. So it looks like my only need for a plumbed in system will be for a softener for the dishwasher when I get a new espresso machine. Spakletts is sold nationally, with headquarters in Georgia.

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endlesscycles
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#2: Post by endlesscycles »

Favored it as water, as a brewing solvent, or as an espresso solvent?
I feel like each of the three are entirely unique.
-Marshall Hance
Asheville, NC

bravozulu (original poster)
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#3: Post by bravozulu (original poster) »

For brewing Espresso.

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the_trystero
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#4: Post by the_trystero »

bravozulu wrote:I went this morning to the Intelligentsia espresso house in Venice, California. It is the place were I took two classes on the subject. They told me an interesting finding about water quality and espresso. The cafe has a large Reverse Osmosis system, complete with a charcoal filter and a tank that re-introduces minerals back into the purified water. The minerals contribute to flavor and are needed to trigger the auto refill sensors in the boilers of the espresso machines.

This morning, the gal who taught my class said their entire staff of baristas took a blind taste test of various bottled waters. In our area the leading brands are Sparkletts, Arrowhead and Evian. The Sparkletts won, hands down. The baristas favored it over their own expensive RO filtered water. What a surprise. Sparkletts is the brand I have delivered to my house weekly. 18 gallons. So it looks like my only need for a plumbed in system will be for a softener for the dishwasher when I get a new espresso machine. Spakletts is sold nationally, with headquarters in Georgia.
Interesting. I'm trying to decide which water to use for my Flojet. I need to start testing.

For drinking water I always buy Arrowhead over Sparklets for no real reason.
"A screaming comes across the sky..." - Thomas Pynchon

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bostonbuzz
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#5: Post by bostonbuzz »

Interesting to hear. I'm curious about what's so special with that water (% of which minerals). RO seems a bit extreme, unless you're trying to never have to descale. Please keep in mind that there is a common pervasive myth about the quality of bottled water. Most bottled water is simply local tap water put into a bottle at a bottling factory, and there is nothing special about (it except that the bottle generally sits in a landfill afterwards or adds to pollution somewhere).
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Marshall
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#6: Post by Marshall »

bostonbuzz wrote:Most bottled water is simply local tap water put into a bottle at a bottling factory, and there is nothing special about (it except that the bottle generally sits in a landfill afterwards or adds to pollution somewhere).
This is an urban myth. Bottled water in the U.S., if it isn't spring water, is city water that has been filtered, sanitized, distilled (or RO'd) and re-mineralized to a flavor profile. It's heavily government regulated.

http://www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety/prod ... 077065.htm
Marshall
Los Angeles

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michaelbenis
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#7: Post by michaelbenis »

Volvic is highly regarded here in the UK, though I have to say I fail to perceive a difference between that and the results from pouring my local tapwater through a Brita.

Interestingly there is ongoing speculation in Italy over whether filter jugs do what they promise, following tests by La Sapienza University and enquiries by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office. There is even talk of a possible class action suit.

One thing does appear clear: they should be changed no less frequently than once a month.

For those who can understand Italian or enjoy Google Translate, you can read more here:

http://www.helpconsumatori.it/?p=36100

http://www.helpconsumatori.it/?p=37616

Brita's comments: http://www.helpconsumatori.it/?p=35873

All from a consumer information website
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bravozulu (original poster)
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#8: Post by bravozulu (original poster) »

When I heard about the taste test performed after hours at Intelligentsia coffee bar, I was just about to take samples from my faucet and some Sparkletts bottled water to have them tested at the local university. Most colleges with an agricultural department provide testing services at no charge. Farmers need to know.

I couldn't find a chemical analysis on the Sparkletts website and they hadn't answered my email for a week. I was curious what Sparkletts contained. They did answer, and there was in fact a complete chemical writeup on their product buried deep in their website. I just couldn't find it on my own.

It turns out that dissolved particle specifications are within the desireable range limits explained to us in two espresso seminars. It is all quite boring. But I'm relieved that the water is free of chlorine. To repeat what I wrote earlier, the baristas at the coffee bar were interested in water for brewing purposes. Their own RO and filtration system occupies an entire part of a large room and is serious industrial equipment. They don't use Sparkletts.

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Psyd
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#9: Post by Psyd »

Marshall wrote:This is an urban myth. Bottled water in the U.S., if it isn't spring water, is city water that has been filtered, sanitized, distilled (or RO'd) and re-mineralized to a flavor profile. It's heavily government regulated.
Marshal is right. The true equivalency is, "Most bottled waters are no more special than the tap water that they start out as." Most cities take great effort to deliver clean and healthy water. Some municipal plants put out better water even than some bottled water plants.
Alas, Tucson isn't one of those.
Espresso Sniper
One Shot, One Kill

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bostonbuzz
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#10: Post by bostonbuzz »

I don't want to get off topic, but here it goes, the governmental regulations of bottled water are inadequate. Here is a great article. http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/07/09 ... 33331.html. Of course, the NRDC has a lot to say as well. http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/exesum.asp "our 1998 survey found that 43 states have fewer than one staff person dedicated to bottled water regulation. By comparison, hundreds of federal staff and many more state personnel are dedicated to tap water regulation.", and "FDA says its rules do not apply to water packaged and sold within the same state". The FDA regulations I looked up in the Code of Federal Regulations don't look too promising, and I wouldn't assume what is said there actually happens in the world. The funding is certainly an issue, and the fact that most of the bottled water quality links are broken on the FDA site, including the one linked above, is a bad sign! Quite a bit has been done on this topic in documentary films, especially about the global privatization of water. I don't profess to know very much about it. I do recall, albeit anecdotally, that a big brand name was buying water from some someone with a well (a common practice), except his land was on a superfund site!

R/O, it is safe to say, is certainly purer, and no doubt different brands of bottled water have different tastes. (RO is a horribly wasteful process, although). However, I'd be skeptical to assume that a brand name in one state tastes anything like a brand name in another. My main point, and I think we can mostly agree, is that most Americans have far too great a faith in the quality of bottled water.

Purely person, and on topic, I'd say that brita filters and the like which only take out visible are probably a complete waste of money.
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