Our little Forray Into Science

So for years now we've been meaning to test whether those fancy bottled waters at the store that cost so much are actually that much better than the cheapy bottles, or even tap water. We finally got bored enough this week to turn our curiosity into science!


We purchased the following bottles of water: Fiji, Evian, Smart Water, and Nestle Pure Life. For the test, we also placed tap water into a plastic cup, and chilled it in the fridge along with the bottles of water so that all would be cold, and would potentially have the same plasticy taste. The costs for each type of water at Walmart are as follows (Listed as cost per liter):




Fiji $2.28





Evian $2.33





Smart Water $1.97




Nestle Pure Life $0.29




Tap Water $0.0001



My hypothesis was that the premium waters (Evian, Fiji, Smart Water) would all taste better, which would actually explain why people are willing to spend so much more for a particular water than seems logical. After testing, I find it safe to refuse to reject this hypothesis, although it does need some revision, seeing as there was one exception to the expensive water = good water conclusion.





Procedure:
1) All waters were chilled in the fridge to have a uniform temperature
2) Five scotch glasses, all of the exact same size and make were procured, along with straws, also of equal length
3) The waters were all dispensed into the glasses
4) A box was placed between the glasses and the bottles such that the test taker could not see which type of water corresponded with which glass
5) The test taker then sampled each glass and gave his/her opinion about what type of water the glass contained, and also ordered the waters from 1-5, 1 being the most desirable, 5 being the least


The results were interesting.










So from the results alone we can deduce two things: Katy has more refined taste buds than I do, and Smart Water is actually pretty gross. I think the problem with it is that it has too much of a slightly bitter aftertaste.

It was also interesting that Katy found the two most expensive waters to be the best-- I suppose her tastes are not only more refined, but also much more expensive than my own.

Conclusion:
This biggest thing that I was looking for in my water was a lack of that "plasticy" taste that so many bottled waters seem to have. I had thought that the tap water would be the best in this regard, but after spending 24 hours in a plastic hospital cup, it tasted just as plastic as the others. I still defend the good Utah tap water by saying that if it were to be stored in a glass bottle rather than plastic, it probably would have tasted better.

Expensive water does taste better, but does it really taste better to the tune of 7-8 times the cost of cheaper bottled water, or about 20,000 times the price of tap water (granted this doesn't include the cost of a decent bottle to keep your water in).

One very decisive conclusion that we arrived at was that buying smart water is decidedly stupid. Not only is it rather expensive, but it scored either last or just before last on both of our tests of desirability. So no offense to anyone who's die hard about Smart Water, but that stuff is gross, and expensive too!

Perhaps the best conclusion about bottles of water actually comes from the bottles themselves. The Evian bottle is pretty and feels much more ergonomic in your hand. The Smart Water bottle has the flip top squeeze opening. The Fiji bottle is rectangular, which is pretty novel in a world of otherwise round bottles. If I had to guess the biggest reason, aside from advertising built brand names, that people will spend lots of money on fancy bottles of water, it is because the bottles are just that: fancy!