My guess is that in the majority of the food and beverage industries there are professional tasters. Wine tasting is nothing unique – perhaps a tad more glamorous than say, a tomato ketchup taster, but certainly not unique. (Please note that I have nothing against ketchup or ketchup tasters!) 

Water tasting is however, something far more curious. As we all know the bottled water industry has grown enormously in recent years (and dare I suggest, is also a generator of some handsome profits). Only a decade ago there was quite a scandal in the UK when the Coca-Cola Company attempted to sell filtered mains water to consumers under the brand name Dasani. When the source of this water was made known the backlash resulted in its rapid withdrawal from the market. Supplying a water that cost only 0.03p and selling it in a plastic bottle for 95p was deemed simply not acceptable, no matter how ‘space age’ the filtering process was claimed to be.

Having said all that, I personally use different types of water in different situations. For example, I use mains tap water to boil for making tea, whereas our everyday drinking water is sourced from a natural spring in Sanxenxo and collected in large containers every few days. I have to admit that you can really taste the difference – the mains tap water obviously contains chlorine (that strangely makes good tea), whereas the spring water is much softer on the palate – what some people might describe as ‘sweet ‘water.

In London there are now bartenders who are creating infusions of water, adding a distillation of hay and grass to give consumers an alternative type of soft drink with their meal. The end result is apparently quite unusual. It’s perfectly clear, but has a straw-like bouquet, and in the mouth is slightly savoury with a lingering and rather pleasant taste. However, at £4 ($6) a glass, this might seem a little steep for many.

Another alternative might be pure iceberg water, claimed by its producer to be “the purest water on Earth”, made from icebergs formed by snowfall that settled in Greenland 12,000 years ago – a snip at only £13 ($20) a bottle.  Of course, all this is paled into insignificance when compared to Claridge’s Hotel in London which has a ‘water menu’, including bottles up to £50 ($78) a litre!  For water……..

My guess is that in the majority of the food and beverage industries there are professional tasters. Wine tasting is nothing unique – perhaps a tad more glamorous than say, a tomato ketchup taster, but certainly not unique. (Please note that I have nothing against ketchup or ketchup tasters!) 

Water tasting is however, something far more curious. As we all know the bottled water industry has grown enormously in recent years (and dare I suggest, is also a generator of some handsome profits). Only a decade ago there was quite a scandal in the UK when the Coca-Cola Company attempted to sell filtered mains water to consumers under the brand name Dasani. When the source of this water was made known the backlash resulted in its rapid withdrawal from the market. Supplying a water that cost only 0.03p and selling it in a plastic bottle for 95p was deemed simply not acceptable, no matter how ‘space age’ the filtering process was claimed to be.

Having said all that, I personally use different types of water in different situations. For example, I use mains tap water to boil for making tea, whereas our everyday drinking water is sourced from a natural spring in Sanxenxo and collected in large containers every few days. I have to admit that you can really taste the difference – the mains tap water obviously contains chlorine (that strangely makes good tea), whereas the spring water is much softer on the palate – what some people might describe as ‘sweet ‘water.

In London there are now bartenders who are creating infusions of water, adding a distillation of hay and grass to give consumers an alternative type of soft drink with their meal. The end result is apparently quite unusual. It’s perfectly clear, but has a straw-like bouquet, and in the mouth is slightly savoury with a lingering and rather pleasant taste. However, at £4 ($6) a glass, this might seem a little steep for many.

Another alternative might be pure iceberg water, claimed by its producer to be “the purest water on Earth”, made from icebergs formed by snowfall that settled in Greenland 12,000 years ago – a snip at only £13 ($20) a bottle.  Of course, all this is paled into insignificance when compared to Claridge’s Hotel in London which has a ‘water menu’, including bottles up to £50 ($78) a litre!  For water……..