Trying Bottled Water to Find the Best One and Which Are Worth Buying

Smartwater is vapor distilled, a purification process that consists of heating water, turning it into steam, then condensing it.

The water also contains added electrolytes (which can help with hydration) in the form of calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, and potassium bicarbonate, to create a “distinctly pure taste,” per the brand website.

I wouldn’t necessarily describe the taste as “pure.” Instead, I’d say the water tastes almost completely neutral with a hint of bitterness in a pleasant way.

I paid $1.99 for a 23.7-ounce bottle that even has a nifty flip-top cap. At that price, I’d definitely get it again.

I paid $2.69 for a 33.8-ounce bottle of Fiji’s “natural artesian water.”

According to the brand, this water comes from an aquifer “in the pristine, tropical Fiji Islands.”

I was excited to see what the hype is about considering this water has somewhat of a cult-following from celebrities and influencers. Also, if people are sourcing water from the other side of the planet and shipping it here, it’s got to be pretty good, right?

Turns out … it is. I felt like I could taste a blend of minerals that managed to give the water a subtle richness. It felt elevated — as much as water can feel elevated — and I really enjoyed it.

I paid $2.69 for a 33.8-ounce bottle of Essentia, which calls itself the “#1 ionized alkaline water” right on the bottle and notes that it has electrolytes and a “9.5pH or higher.”

I was curious about the mention of pH on the bottle. The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14 and measures how acidic or alkaline a solution is, with 7 being neutral and 14 being highly alkaline.

There isn’t much scientific evidence that drinking higher alkaline water has any major health benefits, though water with a pH level below or above 7 might have a bitter taste.

Essentia’s water tasted ever so slightly sweet, albeit with a hint of bitterness. Not a negative hint of bitterness, just a semi-pleasant whisper of it.

In many ways, this cheap water sold under Target’s Good & Gather line excited me the most. I paid only $1.59 (or a nickel per ounce) for a 33.8-ounce bottle.

I could really save myself money if this alkaline water, a purified water “with electrolytes for taste,” tasted as good as the others. Why buy the fancy stuff when the bottom shelf will do, right?

Unfortunately, I wasn’t completely sold. Maybe Target needs to add more electrolytes or something because this water had no taste.

To be clear, that’s OK! It’s water — it should have a neutral taste or a mineral profile. This stuff is just fine for affordable refreshment and hydration, it’s just not a category leader.

The priciest option I bought was from Saratoga at $3.59 for a 28-ounce bottle of spring water. The brand has bottled spring water in the Northeastern US for over a century.

What notes or flavors did I get from this, the most expensive bottle of water I sampled? Water.

I’d call this “natural spring water” (the quotation marks are not to imply I doubt that this is indeed natural spring water, I’m merely quoting the bottle) about as neutral as they come.

I didn’t really detect any flavor beyond the purity of neutral water, and that’s all well and good. If nothing else, the cobalt-blue bottle is rather striking.

I paid $2.79 for a 16.9-ounce bottle of Waiakea water, which makes it the priciest option per ounce on this list.

Described by the brand as “premium Hawaiian volcanic water,” this variety comes from a well source at the base of a volcano.

In simple terms, it starts as melted snow and rain that filters through porous volcanic rock and later re-emerges as naturally alkaline water with a a pH ranging from 7.6 to 8.2.

Anyway, despite the cool-sounding origin of this water, it was my least favorite of the bunch. I couldn’t detect much of a mineral profile and it tasted vaguely like plastic to me.

I bought a 20-ounce bottle of Poland Spring water for $2.09.

Its water originally came from the springs in Poland, Maine, but is now sourced from other springs.

I’ve been drinking Poland Spring water for years, but I don’t think I’ve ever done it with great intention or presence of mind. This time, I did.

And what I found was an H2O that was about as refreshingly flavorless as water gets. I detected no real flavor profile beyond that pleasant neutrality of, you know, water.

That said, I’m not surprised this is such a popular go-to for so many people I know.

At the end of my taste-testing (if one can call it that when sipping water), I was well-hydrated and not at all thirsty.

All in all, Fiji was my top pick. I was struck that it actually lived up to its hype.

I was also surprised to find that a basic brand like Poland Spring cost me more per ounce than Fiji water. Although prices can widely vary — especially when buying in bulk — this realization made the more elevated, premium stuff feel less out of reach.

I’d buy most of these waters again except for Waiakea because I didn’t care for the taste especially at its high per-ounce price. I might also skip Essentia, which I didn’t like quite as much as others on this list.

All palates are different, so you might love the Hawaiian volanco water, hate alkaline sips, or think Poland Spring is anything but neutral.

But if my tasting guides you to find a new water you love or to eschew a pricier brand, then that will be — wait for it — refreshing.