All the buzz about water.

With this i mean spring water, mineral water and all other water terms out there and their mineral compositions..

A good source of info can be found:
http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/beverages/waters/water-glossary.asp

mineral water - contains minerals or other dissolved substances (gas, sulfur or salts) that alters its taste and gives therapeutic value.
carbonated water - CO2 (carbon dioxide dissolved in water) to give it that effervescent property

Spring water is differentiated from mineral water in that it has a very low level of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), or minerals

Origin of mineral water: It can either be artificially prepared or obtained from naturally occurring mineral springs. The water from San Pellegrino originates 400m below surface where it is mineralized from contact with limestone and volcanic rocks. It emerges from 3 deep springs at at a temp about 22C.

The U.S. FDA classifies mineral water as water containing at least 250 parts per million total dissolved solids (TDS), and is also water coming from a source tapped at one or more bore holes or spring, originating from a geologically and physically protected underground water source. No minerals may be added to this water.

Finewaters Balance: A guide developed by Michael Mascha of Finewaters.com to classify the different kinds of mineral water. It is divided among Still and four degrees of intensity of sparkling water (from right to left): Effervescent, Light, Classic and Bold.










Examples include:

Still: Evian, Fiji, Poland Spring, Spa, Trinity, Vittel, Volvic
Effervescent: Badoit, Ferrarelle, Gleneagles, Sanfaustino, Voss
Light: Daggio, Galvanina, Ramlosa, Sole
Classic: Apollinaris, Fiuggi, Gerolsteiner, Lurisia, San Pellegrino
Bold: Perrier, Saratoga Springs, Tipperary, Ty Nant

As I read somewhere, many people don't like a high concentration of minerals in their water - i.e they prefer water to be flavorless. Those who do, can enjoy San Pellegrino (a sparkling mineral water) to add a bubbly to their main.



For a price difference comparison, a 750ml of San Pellegrino bottle reached US$10 in NY restaurants while in Italy, a 1.5L is sold for 1 euro. wat a mark-up!

On the other hand, distilled water is pure water free from dissolved salts