WHEN you see someone swirling their drink in a stemmed glass, sniffing it, tasting and slurping it, you might automatically think that they’re a wine sommelier.
A sommelier is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional who works in fine restaurants and specialises in wine. However, there’s also another type of sommelier – for water.
One of the most popular water sommeliers is Martin Riese, who has made a profession out of tasting and judging water.
Drinking tap water is actually where Riese first discovered his love of water. He recalls going on vacation with his family when he was young, and the first thing he did wherever they went was to drink tap water and see how it tasted. He realised that water tasted differently wherever they were, and he wanted to try it all.
Eventually, Riese received his certification from the German Mineral Water Trade Association.
The water he tastes isn’t your typical RM1 reverse osmosis water that comes in a plastic bottle. Rather, it is water from different sources, including spring water, artesian water, well water, rain water, iceberg water, glacier water, and deep sea water.
A deep spring or artesian well is a spring that is generally more protected from human and animal waste. Due to its high interaction with rocks, it has a higher mineral content. When an artesian aquifer is tapped, pressure in the aquifer forces the water up the well and may create a permanent fountain.
For deep sea water, it comes from icebergs near Greenland that melted thousands of years ago. This creates water of a different temperature and salinity compared to the surrounding seawater.
The difference in temperature and salinity kept the melted water ‘separate’ as it sank to the ocean floor.
Most people would turn up their noses at water that is priced five times the typical amount for purified drinking water, but that’s because natural water from different sources actually has subtle taste differences.
The minerals inside the water are what gives it a flavour, and the mineral level is measured by a standard called TDS, or total dissolved solids.
Some regions of Norway produce fruity water with a TDS level of 40, while regions, like in Slovenia, produce salty or metallic water with a TDS level of 7,400.
Research has shown that calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, and sulphate in water affected taste perception the most.
Calcium is naturally found in most spring and well water, and makes water taste smooth and almost milky. Too much magnesium sulphate in water can make it taste bitter or medicinal, but the right amount of it can make it taste more refreshing. Bicarbonate, which is often found in limestone-rich wells, creates a clean, fresh taste that mineral water has.
A study from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University showed that the ideal drinking water temperature is 15°C–25°C which allows the flavour shine through.
The pH of water also strongly influences its taste. A pH range of 6.5–8.5 is desirable to avoid a bitter taste. A metallic taste can occur at pH levels lower than 6.5, whereas a slippery feel or soda taste can be detected in water with pH levels above 8.5.
Just like wine tasting competitions, there are also contests to rank the best bottled waters.
This year, the FineWaters International Water Tasting Competition was held in Bled, Slovenia on Sept 4.
According to FineWaters, vintage, hardness, virginality, and carbonation of the water can also influence the taste.
For example, young water and bottled rain water don’t have much time to absorb minerals, so they tend to have lighter, cleaner tastes.
A water’s hardness is based on its combined calcium and magnesium levels, and the term ‘virginality’ is used to indicate how protected a water is from its surroundings.
Besides that, certain rare geological conditions can produce naturally carbonated water which can be attributed to volcanic activity in which the carbon dioxide inside helps absorb minerals in high levels. Naturally carbonated waters have historically been highly sought after for their supposed healing properties.
In Malaysia, you might have heard of mineral water brands such as Cactus, Spritzer, Alpine, and Evian.
Cactus Natural Mineral Water is groundwater that comes from Taiping, Perak. Alpine Natural Mineral Water comes from Mukim Ulu Sg. and Kota Tinggi in Johor. Similar to Cactus, Spritzer’s water sources also come from Taiping, Perak. Evian, which has a TDS of 345, is bottled at the Cachat Spring in France.
The difference between mineral water and spring water is the mineral concentration. Most jurisdictions require mineral water to contain 250 ppm of minerals and regular testings.
This means that spring water can be mineral water, and mineral water can come from a natural spring source.
Water sommeliers are now making water which has a reputation of being tasteless, flavourful and sensational.
Personally, I only buy bottled water when I have emptied the bottle that I carry around, and I have noticed that it has a different taste, which I’ve always enjoyed without understanding why. Perhaps next time when you drink mineral water, you too can observe if you can taste any differences.
