A genius marketing ploy or a genuine product? This is something we have always wondered when paying through the teeth for a bottle of Evian. After all, it is just water right, yet millions of customers across 140 countries pay a hefty premium when for a basic commodity like water. What is it really different? Dee Francis Padamadan answers –
Water is a complex substance! Evian has a ‘salted’ taste due to it being very hard water and mineral rich. There are much harder waters on the market but Evian has a more recognisable taste. Since Evian is hard water, it can quickly quench your thirst. The mineral content, despite its hardness (high alkalinity) is still in the ‘medium’ category. It is mostly neutral in its pH (with a pH of 7 to 7.2) and not alkaline.
(Note: alkalinity and alkaline are very different things! – just so you know )
Tapwater is •always• alkaline because if it weren’t, it would corrode the (copper) pipes. Hence, one of the most important procedures that tap-water suppliers around the globe have to do is to to make sure that tap water is above Ph 7 before it leaves the plant.
So one of the reasons that bottled mineral waters are of value is to experience waters that are below pH 7. These waters below pH 7 can create a ‘fresh’ taste on the tongue, much like bottled soft drinks. This is a useful experience. To oversimplify urban legends that only alkaline water is healthy is poppycock. Waters are much more complicated than that.
Water is an extremely complex substance and not enough can be said about it. You can write books about water and still not exhaust the things you could say about water.
So different sources of water might hold a great value. Only the consumers know.
Back to EVIAN: specs:
Minerality-Medium
Orientation-Neutral ——-(I personally don’t agree – I feel it has a strong ‘non neutral’ taste)
Hardness-Very Hard
Vintage-15 Years
Carbonation-not carbonated (still)
TDS-357 mg/l ——-(nicely high!!!)
ph factor- 7.2—-(nothing special. All tap waters as I said above are above 7)
Hardness-291 mg/l ————(quite high)
Nitrate-3.8 mg/l
Calcium-78 mg/l
Magnesium-24 mg/l——-(somewhat high)
Sodium-5 mg/l
Potassium-1 mg/l
Silica-14 mg/l
Bicarbonate-357 mg/l
Sulfate-10 mg/l
Chloride-5 mg/l——-(not to be confused with chlorines!!! This chloride is good)
There are many competing waters vying to quench your thirst. Most people pay water bills for tap water which can sometimes be quite alright. It is pot luck. Where I live, our tap water is basically a nice mineral water from natural springs! Obviously it has gone through some processing to meet whatever standards the UK legislations have set for water supply companies in the UK.
With positive globalisation, everyone has the freedom and choice to drink water from Geneva and Alps in France if they wish to buy it. There is water made from melted ancient 12,000 year old icebergs!!! I am not a fan of iceberg melt water because it is too plain and too low in minerals. But hey! it is there if you want it! A brand called Svalbarði and another brand called Iceberg are ultra-low mineral Arctic iceberg waters. So, you may ask: Where and when did we get this ‘mineral water’ habit? Romans used to collect water from different mountains and make them available to buy in their capital in Rome during the heights of Roman civil life! With modern bottled waters, we are actually carrying out this same old tradition of believing that waters from different regions have something about them.
Evian is my 6th personal favourite. My 1st choice is Highland Spring Scottish water (glass bottle version), 2nd is Hildon UK (Hampshire water -also glass), 3rd is Royal Deeside (glass bottle), 4th is Buxton (plastic bottle), 5th is Pellegrini sparkling (glass version), 6th is Evian (plastic), 7th is Perrier sparkling (glass bottle) and 8th is Volvic (plastic). I think that my list is not oriented towards ‘healthiest’ but towards tastiest. Glass bottles beat plastic bottles hands down for taste preservation of water inside. Glass is also recyclable! I think most of us have magnesium deficient diets and Evian contains a lot of Magnesium, making it a good choice when you consider that angle.
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