Should I drink bottled water or use a reusable bottle?

[turbo]

When I was growing up we had fruit flavored tablets called
"Fizzies" that you dropped into a glass of water and it created a carbonated fruit flavored drink. I loved them.

Oh my, they're back!

http://www.fizzies.com/

Fizzies? I hated those things! They ended up tasting nothing like Kist strawberry or orange sodas or Coke. More like someone threw an Alka-Seltzer into a glass of Kool-Aid.

That was back in the day when Coke was so heavily carbonated that it had to be distributed in very thick bottles. And if you drank Coke too fast, the phosphoric acid would irritate your sinuses. My grandfather had a heavy-equipment repair business, and he had a little cooler that dispensed 6-oz cokes for 3 cents each. It was originally 1 cent each, but by 1962 or so, the price increases had caught up with him and you had to put in 3 pennies to get a Coke. He insisted that you drink the Coke right there and put the empty bottle in the wooden crate because Coke wasn't making those bottles anymore and the local bottler needed all those tiny bottles they could get if they wanted to keep putting out runs of that size.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Aw poor old Coke they were always struggling what ever happened to them?

Actually I don't like Coke it's too sweet, I prefer non brand cokes or even Pepsi if there's nowt else.

 

[arildno]

I had some friends visit Norway this year and they said the natural water purity was amazing, it was literally tasteless and very very cold, probably part of the reason. It's not something I'm an expert on which is why I'm reserving judgement until I see a comparative test until then I'll believe the hype but won't be making any firm assertions.

One shouldn't drink water coming from the underside of glaciers, though..far too much minerals in it..(lots of crushed rock..)

 

[Evo]

Actually I don't like Coke it's too sweet, I prefer non brand cokes or even Pepsi if there's nowt else.

I find Pepsi too sweet, so I prefer Coke, but I drink diet Coke. Diet Pepsi has a funny taste.

 

[turbo]

Aw poor old Coke they were always struggling what ever happened to them?

Actually I don't like Coke it's too sweet, I prefer non brand cokes or even Pepsi if there's nowt else.

Coke (in the 60's) used to be potent and snappy-tasting. Later, they got into price-wars with Pepsi, stopped using cane sugar and switched to corn syrup for sweetening then eventually morphed into the cloying bland crap they are today. In the 60's you could not gulp Coke like today's fountain drinks. You sipped it, so that it wouldn't come fizzing out of your nose and burning out your sinuses. Strawberry and Orange Kist and 7-Up were a bit milder, but still WAY potent compared to today's watered-down sodas.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

One shouldn't drink water coming from the underside of glaciers, though..far too much minerals in it..(lots of crushed rock..)

Oh don't worry they had a water purifier as well, pump action dealy. One of them's a bit of a Ray Mears type, know's everything about survival, probably could survive without food or water in any environment, given a television crew and a mobile

Aye Turbo, they no doubt ruined it.

Evo I don't really like Pepsi either but if there's no choice?

You can literally feel Coke eating away at your teeth, I believe even in diet stuff it is pretty enamel damaging. Not a Coke fan, I really prefer mixed fruit drinks, like Um Bungo, or Fanta: Fruit Twist, there sweet but at least they have a bit more flavour than cola.

 

[Evo]

About the only soda I drink anymore is Fresca, it's grapefruit flavored, crisp and tart, not sweet.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Now your talking I'm a big fan of grapefruit juice

Why are grapefruit called grapefruit I wonder?

 

[Evo]

Now your talking I'm a big fan of grapefruit juice

Why are grapefruit called grapefruit I wonder?

Good question, they sure don't resemble grapes in any way.

 

[moose]

About the only soda I drink anymore is Fresca, it's grapefruit flavored, crisp and tart, not sweet.

It used to be so much better, but then they slightly changed it...

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Why are grapefruit called grapefruit I wonder?

From the OED:

grapefruit ("greIpfru:t). Also grape-fruit. [f. grape
n.1 + fruit n.; so called because it grows in clusters.]

On the other hand, the first quotation in the same OED article is:

1814 J. Lunan Hortus Jamaicensis II. 171 The shaddock
was originally regarded by Linneus as only a variety of the
orange... There is a variety known by the name of grape-fruit
on account of its resemblance in flavour to the grape; this
fruit is not near so large as the shaddock.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Actually I don't like Coke it's too sweet.

I note that Coke (and most national brands) has less sugar in it than the local brands. A can of Coke has around 28 grams of sugar I believe. But the local stuff has 40 and up. The most I have seen is 48 grams. Fruit juices also have much more sugar than Coke. Even Coke at 28 grams is overwhelmingly sweet. I wonder if there is a market for less sweet soda.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Ohh that gave me a great marketing product for Pop companies!
Dehydrated soda! You take a bottle of their $1.50 water, and add a $0.50 packet to make your own soda. Basically like coolaid, but you'd have to have some reagent that reacts with water to make it release co2. That way when you're hiking in the woods and need a refreshing drink, you can have a Coke! Thats what they want right? To replace water? I can be a millionaire...

No you can't.
http://www.sodaclubusa.com/default.htm

 

[J77]

Shamefully, I only drink bottled water -- tho' I have tried to argue the environmental benefits of tap water with my gf -- plus I told her the plastic makes you impotent -- she was having none of it

 

[ranger]

I was just watching the news this morning and NYC is among the best cities in the country with healthy tap water.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

I note that Coke (and most national brands) has less sugar in it than the local brands. A can of Coke has around 28 grams of sugar I believe. But the local stuff has 40 and up. The most I have seen is 48 grams. Fruit juices also have much more sugar than Coke. Even Coke at 28 grams is overwhelmingly sweet. I wonder if there is a market for less sweet soda.

Remember I live in the UK, You'd have to provide a link to sugar in colas before I'd believe that, I've heard the opposite you see. I know they use inordinate amounts of sugar because they did a documentary on Coke and colas in general. I never liked it anyway, the documentary explained why, I grew out of my sweet tooth ages ago. Apparently the ridiculous amount of sugar has to do with balancing out the bitter taste of the phosphoric acid and the caffeine. I stopped drinking Coke age 12. The last time I drank it was in a whiskey I tend to go for natural fruit juices in general, where I can be sure there is no sugar added, even if they are very sweet.

I don't no why people defend Coke? Aren't they one of the axis of evil of business?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

You'd have to provide a link to sugar in colas before I'd believe that, I've heard the opposite you see.

Here is a link. The figure of 28 grams in my previous post is a mistake. I think that is the figure on the 2 liter bottle for the amount of sugar in 8 oz. of soda, while a can contains 12 oz. I will look into this a little closer next time I see a bottle of a local brand of soda. In the link you will see that while Coke has around 40 grams of sugar per can, it is relatively low on the list compared to other sodas and fruit juices. I was taken aback by the standard deviations in the data.
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/scripts/popreslt.pl

 

[J77]

"oz."s don't sit well with us British folk either

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

"oz."s don't sit well with us British folk either

An oz. is a measure of liquid volume equal to 0.00017361111 barrels, OK? Look 200 years ago we bloodied your noses because you were forcing us to use the metric system without representation. Get over it.

 

[J77]

An oz. is a measure of liquid volume equal to 0.00017361111 barrels, OK? Look 200 years ago we bloodied your noses because you were forcing us to use the metric system without representation. Get over it.

Pah -- you were all Europeans back then

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

An oz. is a measure of liquid volume equal to 0.00017361111 barrels, OK? Look 200 years ago we bloodied your noses because you were forcing us to use the metric system without representation. Get over it.

We were fighting Napoleon as well yo know , actually we then came back and burned down the Whitehouse. The wars were pretty much stalemates, no one won them as such. In the End it was decided that the cost of war would be to great to press so we left you to it. Anyone who thinks it was a stunning victory for one side or the other probably doesn't know the history.

Oh as I say I'm English the only one of those drinks I recognised was Seven Up. So that list is not very useful, thanks for trying though anyway. For some reason in this country they don't believe that how much sugar is in soft drinks comparatively would be much use telling people on the web, I couldn't find anything? Perhaps it's a conspiracy?

"oz."s don't sit well with us British folk either

16 oz to the pound you young whipper snapper :) what would you rather Kg's

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

For some reason in this country they don't believe that how much sugar is in soft drinks comparatively would be much use telling people on the web, I couldn't find anything? Perhaps it's a conspiracy?

This site has some info, but not in tabular form. If you click on a particular brand, and then on one of the sub-brands under the words "Nutritional information", then it will display the sugar content. I believe the units are grams per 100 ml.
http://www.britvic.com/Brands.aspx
Here are a few results:
7-up regular - 10.6
Pepsi regular - 11.0
Britvic 55 orange - 11.3
Red Devil - 15

Note that in the US, Coke has slightly less sugar than Pepsi. 39 grams per can (a can contains 12 oz. or 355 ml) for Coke vs. 41 for Pepsi. That would work out to:
US Coke - 11.0
US Pepsi - 11.5

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Hmm I'm still not convinced. I'd expect orange juice 55% to have more sugar than coke definitely, fruit juices often do. However without seeing a product list of our drinks, it's impossible to judge. I tell you what I'll do, when I've finished my assessment(This Saturday) I'll look into it, and if I can find out the exact values in our drinks in comparrison to coke, in grams or ounces - don't worry I work in both at a stretch - I will.

It may be that English coke has more or less sugar as well, it's not easy to equate without UK sites, and for some odd reason there appears to be very little will to compile comparisons like US sites do. However walking round a supermarket with a piece of paper should suffice. It's easy enough to compare. Even if that sort of information isn't compiled on the internet.

High caffiene drinks I wouldn't count as soft drinks as such, like Red Bull, Red Devil tends to be drunk more mixed with alcohol. And the high caffiene explains the high sugar. Both are available to kids though?

 

[mathwonk]

i do not drink anything out of a plastic bottle except when i fel dehydrated in the airport or on the road in the car. I drink tap water but greatly prefer glass bottled pelegrino water from italy in the green bottle. i recycle the bottles.

it tastes much better than my tap water at home, even after filtering the water through a device on the fridge. if i could afford it i would drink it exclusively.

i noticed last week though the plain tap water in west seattle was better than my filtered tap water.

sometimes the problem is in the house pipes though because i have noticed sometimes the water entering my house at the outside tap is better.

i never drink soda pop. that's just asking for your teeth to dissolve.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

So far, the winner is the local brand of grape flavored soda which has 51 grams of sugar per 12 oz. (355 ml) can compared to Coca Cola at 39 grams.

 

[Kurdt]

Might as well drink molasses.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

A local brand of orange flavored soda has 52 grams of sugar per 12 oz (355 ml) can.

 

[zomgwtf]

I drink both. Typically if there's bottled water around though I'll drink that.

I just like the taste of it more. Even filtered water doesn't taste as good.

 

[gravenewworld]

Nope, it's a complete waste of money and is horrible for the environment.

 

[The legend]

BOTTLED WATER
http://ezinearticles.com/?Do-You-Know-What-Bottled-Water-Has-in-It?&id=447937

 

[The legend]

hey, and the plastic bottle left out is useless too(in the long run, that is..)

 

[Andre]

Hmm Threads beat people in having a second life.

 

[cristo]

BOTTLED WATER
http://ezinearticles.com/?Do-You-Know-What-Bottled-Water-Has-in-It?&id=447937

I didn't think it was a secret that Coke and Pepsi's 'purified' water was nothing more than tap water with a few minerals. Dasani lasted a couple of weeks in the UK before being pulled (partly because the truth came out, and partly due to a contamination at one of their plants).

I do drink bottled water, like 'spring' water, but drink tap water when at home.

 

[The legend]

Hmm Threads beat people in having a second life.

LOL!

They don't beat though...

 

[mugaliens]

I drink water from the tap, but I almost always put it in an old Gatorade bottle. I may be wrong, but I figure the longer I keep it, the less chemicals will leach out of the plastic (diminishing log or e curve).

And yes, I wash/sterilize it regularly.

 

[George Jones]

I have moved around quite a bit, and I usually drink tap water. I have lived two places, however, where I didn't/don't drink tap water - the U.S. Virgin Islands and here in Saint John.

Here, few people drink tap water ; if you lived here, I don't think you would.

In my area at work, everyone drinks from a water cooler that uses 18.5 litre bottles of spring water. People fill up their personal water bottles from the water cooler. Even the water I boil to make my tea comes the water cooler - tea made from the tap here gives me heartburn.

At home, my wife and I used to buy 4 litre (about 1 gallon) bottles, but we recently switch to two 10 litre bottles that we refill at the supermarket. This water is filtered by reverse osmosis and other methods.

Edit: fill up a 4 litre bottlle with Saint John tap water to see that the water is not clear - it has a slight brownish colour.

We have terrible water here. This weekend, we had our seventh boil water advisory in two years. It made the Canadian national news,

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/TV_Shows/The_National/ID=1611525289.

 

[Evo]

We have terrible water here. This weekend, we had our seventh boil water advisory in two years. It made the Canadian national news,

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/TV_Shows/The_National/ID=1611525289.

You're excused. Also, the gripe was about the little 20 ounce or smaller bottles that people buy and use once, then toss.

 

[turbo]

My wife and I buy Rubbermaid bottles with captive hinged lids, and we fill them from our tap every day. Even when we lived in Skowhegan, with mucky-tasting, heavily chlorinated water, we always drank tap water. I bought and installed a 2-stage under-counter filtration system (equivalent to large Cuno filters) that had fiber filter elements wrapped over activated charcoal. No need to buy water.

When I was traveling as a consultant, I'd always grab a big bucket of ice from the ice machines at any hotel/motel I was staying at, and let it melt, so I could drink that. I figured out fast that the lodging industry would spend the money to filter the water used in their ice-makers.