Water - Hmmmmmm......

Water - my favorite drink - yes I even drink more of it than beer. Tap water at that. At home I have the fridge with built-in water and ice dispenser tied into the under sink filter. I really don't care about the filter and change it about once a year but it does help keep the sand out.

Here is an article in today's SFGate about water tasting.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=
/c/a/2006/03/22/BAG33HS4DG1.DTL

In another of those blind tastings designed to demonstrate what suckers water drinkers have become, ordinary tap water faced off against its high-priced bottled brethren in head-to-head combat.

The idea, according to the earnest young organizers of the first-ever Tap Water Challenge, was to see if people could tell tap water from the $1-a-bottle stuff.

The answer was, they couldn't.

"We're falling for something we shouldn't be falling for,'' said David Assmann, deputy director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment, paper cup in hand. "You really can't tell the difference.''

(David Assmann???? San Francisco???? okay I'll stop.)
Yeah I buy it sometimes, but only for the convenience. I'm not much for drinking soft-drinks (an occasional Dr. Pepper) because I don't need the calories and I find diet drinks leave a bitter aftertaste. Even at fast food joints I usually just ask for water and that really drives them. They all try to give you these little bitty cups. Why? Well because soft drinks are their biggest money makers. 99 cent burgers and other specials make them nothing. Fries and cokes are where all the money is, that's why they love to offer combos. I don't eat from fast food chains very often as I prefer local places with good food most of the time. Why go to MickeyDs when we have John's or Happy Jacks or Andres? When I do go for fast food I can often get by with a $2 meal. I know, y'all are thinking I'm just a cheap bastard. I prefer frugal.

Frankly most beverages cost nothing to make, relative to their price. Even beer. Far more is spent on packaging, transportation and marketing. How much bottled water is spring water? Not much. Names like Auquafina may invoke that thought but really read the label. Remember when this craze started Perrier and Evian were the big dogs. Now Pepsi (Auquafina) and Coke (Dasani) dominate the market. They are the big boys and the big market chains sell their shelf space to those with the most.

If I were in Mexico (or some other ferign place, say like Canada) I would stick with only bottled water, but only because the odds are better. You might still get something right out of the local tap. But here in the USA and most other western nations tap water is both highly regulated and tested.

PT Barnum strikes again. (btw he never said it - but you know what I mean).