Dina Bengelsdorf Week 4 - All Waters Are Not the Same

All Waters Are Not the Same

For as long as I can remember, I’ve claimed that different brands of water have completely different tastes. My friends used to think I was joking, but the quality of my water has always mattered to me. I have tried almost every water in the industry. Supermarket and Trader Joe’s water, Poland Springs, Fiji, Voss, Essentia, Life Water, Zephyrhills, Dasani, Kirkland: you name it, I’ve probably had it. Drinking good water is such an important experience for me, which is why I want to share my bottled water journey with you all!

I vividly remember, sometime in elementary school, when my family and I went to Florida for vacation. We went to buy drinks and could not find Poland Springs. I was devastated, to say the least. Voss and Life waters were fine but I wanted a more casual drinking experience with the same exquisite taste. Unknowingly, I pulled out Zephyrhills from the refrigerator shelf. When I drank it in the car, I vowed to stay loyal to Poland Springs. But they only had it in the North. Thankfully, I was only there for a one-week vacation.

Who would’ve thought that over five years later I would move down here? I still refuse to take a Zephyrhills water bottle out of my refrigerator and drink it on my own will. I searched every supermarket for Poland Springs, but in the meantime, Fiji and Kirkland would have to keep me satisfied. But when I finally found a Poland Springs supply down south, I formally compared it to the other bottled waters I had tried.

Voss water tastes good but I find the cylinder bottle weird and awkward to drink from. Life Water and Essentia are fine but not distinguishable or very memorable. Kirkland from Costco is the second best for water-drinking on a daily basis. Zephyrhills and PureLife should never be someone’s primary drink unless it’s an emergency. Smartwater is better, mostly because it has the sticker of a fish or a cloud that you can see if you look closely inside the bottle. Finally, Dasani is at the bottom of the list. I don’t like the taste and there were rumors that there were high levels of lead or some other toxic chemical in there, so I refuse to drink it, even if that rumor isn’t true.

Last but not least, I believe that Poland Springs is arguably the best water of all time. It is less “luxurious” than Voss or Fiji so you could take it anywhere - to a party, on a bike ride, to school, to a workout, and so on. It tastes freshly from a spring in Maine, like the company advertises. But maybe my rankings are biased, since I came from up north and have had Poland Springs in my refrigerator throughout my entire life. What is your top water? Do you think all waters are not created equal?