Chicago tap vs. bottled water? Guess who won?

isilzha · 03-26-2008, 08:38 PM

Chicago tap vs. bottled water? Guess who won?

Posted by Monica Eng at 11:40 a.m. CDT
As more restaurants turn away from bottled water because of its impact on the environment, Chicago's good old faucet juice is coming back into vogue. So much so that local vegan restaurant The Balanced Kitchen (6263 N McCormick Blvd.; 773-463-1085) hosted a water tasting this morning pitting Chicago's own tap water against Dasani, Ice Mountain and Aquafina.

I stopped by the tasting and was the first to do the blind test. I judged each cup of water (A to D) on clarity, nose, body, taste and finish. Three tasted slightly sweet, bland and round but one had a slight mineral flavor, a thinner body and a clean refreshing finish. It was cup C. I told the tasting organizer and held my breath for the answer and I swear to Mayor Daley, it was good Chicago sink juice. Woohoo!

(Still, we all know that come summertime the nose on that water might release some slightly more fishy notes).

The tasting was done as part of a kick off for the "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign in which green-minded restaurateurs are joining the likes of Alice Waters and Mario Batali in banning bottled water from their restaurants in favor of tap. The rationale is that bottled water creates garbage and produces carbon emmissions in their transport. The campaign is asking local restaurants to sign a pledge not to serve bottled water.

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BerryBaby · 03-26-2008, 08:43 PM

Dasani and Aquafina are from taps as well. Don't know about Ice Mountain.

Unless the bottle states 'spring' water on it, it is from a tap.

Portland has great water from Bull Mountain. Not all the outlying areas are connected to Bull Mountain and some get it from the Willamette River...that water does not taste good at all.

I love Bull Mountain water.