I knew a girl in college that would only drink bottled water. She had convinced herself there was a taste difference. She wouldn't even drink tap water filtered from a brita filter
Try Evian versus the waters sold by Coca-Cola (that are tap-water equivalent) and you can really feel it.
Not only did the customers like the waters, many of them claimed that one was much better than another, expressed a preference, and justified the preference with comments along the lines of "I can really taste the difference in this one, it's more XXX". There was even one customer who refused to believe Penn and Teller when they revealed that all of the bottles contained NYC tap water, and insisted that the waters were different from each other. A true testament to how the mind can fool itself.
The episode in question used to be available on YouTube, but now appears to be paywalled by Paramount+ unfortunately.
Taste can differ from building to building, city to city, container to container.
A little-known controversy about NYC tap water is whether or not it is considered Kosher, due to containing live copepods.
Some Jews still insist on filtering their tap water at home, for this reason.
Most people don't change their minds based on new information (dialectic). You have to appeal to their emotions (rhetoric). This is something Aristotle observed 2500 years ago. It's crucial to understand if you want to understand how people make decisions and how you might be able to change their minds about something.
... I say, doing the exact opposite. It's a difficult habit to break.
Maybe what they actually don't care for is some slight aftertaste from the cleaning products used on the glass?
Also, your nose plays a rather big role in your sense of taste. Using a small mouthed bottle that doesn't tend to waft towards the nose as you drink will have an effect.
And if we can agree that different water can taste different, why couldn't some bottled water taste different than non-bottled water?
https://stonepierpress.org/goodfoodnews/bottled-water-or-tap....
If I were faced with the sludge coming out of the pipe in some places, I’d stock up on Brita pitchers. Here, I never go out of my way to filter it.
I still filter the drinking water, but my tap quality is fantastic.
(That said, it's never bothered me to drink tap water wherever I go, and acclimate quickly. I think the bottled water trend is insane.)
There almost certainly is a taste difference. The mineral content is likely different, and the plastic from the bottle can have an influence, too.
I can definitely taste a difference between our (Pur-filtered) tap water and the cheap bottled water we get.
When I was a kid, I wouldn't drink Aquafina (or Dasani) because they tasted plasticky. I attributed it to them using the same plastic for Cola bottles, without the overpowering flavors to mask subtle tastes from the plastic. I'm not as picky now, but my taste buds have gotten less sensitive and it's also possible they fixed the issue.