Which sparkling water is the best? | Hacker News Reader

Which sparkling water is the best?

maximevidal.com

26 pointsvmaxmc238 comments

Other good bubbles around the world:

US - Trader Joes - Surprisingly good bubbles, couple different flavours but I like the plain shit. I think they use different suppliers regionally, SW US is my jam, it seems to pack a lot more punch on the bubble front.

US - Topo Chico, technically this one is Mexican, but Coke bought it in 2017. It's great. Broadly available in the western US, but should be able to find it in specialty stores throughout the country.

Thailand - Singha in the stubby glass bottles is great.

Vietnam - Danh Thanh. In the glass bottles. If it's plastic bottles make sure it was bottled in the past 30-60 days at most.

These are the ones that come to mind off the top of my head.

thank you!

UK - Harrogate and Buxton

Keep in mind that some sparkling waters, such as San Pellegrino [1] taste great IMO, but have pollutants in them you may care about. Worth considering adding that dimension to your chart.

[1] https://www.oasishealth.app/search/item/38?name=san-pellegri...

Saratoga has consistently been my favorite sparkling water - highly recommend, though I’d imagine it’s hard to come by in Paris!

I recommend to try out Vichy Catalan[0], tastes really good and has a slight salinity to it.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_Catal%C3%A1n

Oh yea I will!

Slight?? It has 3g of salt per liter, which is very high - not least because 1g of that is sodium. Having said that, I like it very much.

@vmaxmc2 Most sparkling waters are not naturally sparkling, co2 is injected. On the contrary, Rozanna and St Yorre and it seems St Géron are natural sparkling water ... and are the less liked ... You should add that info to your matrix

Why no Salvetat? https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Salvetat_(eau_min%C3%A9rale...

Unfortunately San Pellegrino is owned by Nestle, but yes, while usually not buying any bottled water (just using our excellent tap water), it's also my favourite.

Better out of glass than plastic. Glass cools the liquid and also cuts the risk of microplastics and leaching.

I'm lucky where I live. I think we have some of the best public water in the world. We have one thing right.

I’m a fan of extra spicy water, so in the US -

Topo Chico, the thick glass bottles

Jarritos Mineragua, also glass bottles, these are commonly flavored at taco trucks, but I only do plain

Proud Source sparkling, tall silver cans

super depressing no one has mentioned La Croix (nb it's pronounced la-CROY). the best sparkling water in the entire world. very few minerals

bizarre to me to have a ranking of sparkling waters and NOT include the literal GOAT

I don't know why people have strong sparkling water preferences. HEB makes generic canned low-minerals sparkling water, and it's great because it has no flavor. Any purified water with gas should taste like that, but water companies add minerals to create a distinctive taste.

Anyone could analyze a Svalbarði bottle, and copy the mineral profile using purified tap water + salts + carbon dioxide. It's water.

Spindrift. Not pure water, but greatly improves by having just a little real fruit juice and being lighter on bubbles.

Disappointed Topo Chico isn't included. I've tried sparkling water all over the world and it's my favourite.

Thank you for your contribution sir, I will try your Topo Chico.

Topo Chico is definitely a must try. Costco does a “Kirkland Signature Italian Sparkling Mineral Water” which is surprisingly good. Like Topo Chico, the Kirkland water maintains carbonation for what seems like hours post opening, unlike some sparkling waters

Topo Chico gang! It's my favorite too, in particular the 12oz glass bottles. I really like how it has thick bubbles and doesn't easily go flat.

Their 'Sabores' (flavored) line is nice too, even if I find it doesn't have that same bubbly-ness.

You can leave a bottle of Topo open room temperature for two days and by some magic it'll still be surprisingly carbonated.

I don't think Topo Chico qualifies as sparkling water, it has enough gas to be soda water.

I like goofy projects like this. Too bad I've never seen most of these brands in the US.

Man, looks like the sparkling water world of the United States is a whole new universe for me to wander. I'm excited.

A couple of things:

"Seltzer" and "Sparkling water" often mean the same thing, but a lot of semantics are different. "Seltzer" is usually lower-cost, and often flavored. (IE, plain seltzer is basically sparkling water.)

Some of the seltzers have strong flavors with artificial sweeteners, and thus sometimes the difference between a seltzer and a clear diet soda is very little.

European "sparkling water" (imported here) tends to have less carbonation and is more about the flavor from the minerals.

BTW: I suggest looking at sparkling water from Quebec. About two years ago I took my family there, and we kept buying big glass bottles of something good (can't remember the name) that appeared to be local. It'll be more like San Pellegrino / Perrier, compared to an American seltzer with heavy flavoring.

St Yorre is my favourite. I will have to seek out this Rozana !

No way I don't believe you

I also liked St Yoree and really like Rozana for a few glasses a day.

I always bring a six pack home when I’m in France.

that's crazy

> We were waterlogged men.

I laughed, thank you.

Fun article, from someone who detests sparkling water (water shouldn't be spicy!)

I love spicy water! Putting it that way makes me thirsty for more.

I retired my Sodastream claptrap (for both practical, economic, and ethical reasons), and got a tank of CO2, a regulator, and an adaptor for standard PET soda bottles.

The important thing for getting a lots CO2 into the water is chilling it as cold as possible, and a good trick is to put a little bit of water in a bottle, setting it on the side in the freezer so you get long thin ice at the bottom, then whacking it to break up the ice and give it lots of surface area, then adding tap water to it. The trick is figuring out the right amount of ice to make for the size of the bottle and water temperature, but once you find the balance, you can get the water very cold this way, and get a lot of CO2 into it to make it extremely fizzy.

You can also boil the water beforehand and let it cool to room temperature before chilling, and that will remove most of the air dissolved in it, which allows more CO2 to dissolve. But that's a minor optimization (that takes time and energy and hassle) on top of the important thing which is simply chilling it to as close to 0 degrees as possible.

Then buy heavy glasses or mugs and put them in the fridge or freezer, so you won't need any ice (which makes it go flat quicker), and it makes it delicious and satisfying to serve and drink. A&W Root Beer drive-ins are famous for their frozen mugs, which freeze the root beer into slush, and they sell big thick A&W mugs to use at home. There used to be one in Mountain View near the railroad tracks, where I got mine.

I've been enjoying Darcy O'Neil's "Art of Drink" for tips and recipes. He has several videos about carbonated water itself, and many others about different flavors and formulas. He even shows how to make super spicy soda with Capsaicin!

Introduction to Carbonation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhsOFFYc-N0

Carbonating Water: The 2 Most Important Things To Do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBNJ7yzIvtw

Quick Carbonation Setup Soda Water

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWkvNGQsOes

Seltzer, Club Soda, Carbonated Water, Soda Water: What's the Difference? Which One Tastes Better?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgTj-xWBXZw

Electrolyte Mineral Water Formulation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUS7qi6_xvQ

Soda Frequently Asked Questions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l9qC9E5qRc

Carbonated Water on Tap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un6_OXYiRZA

Capsaicin Hot Drops for Drinks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXHAypkueps

Wow, thanks for all the details! Maybe I really have to give spicy water another try...

Spindrift not in the list?

Never seen it for sale in France! I will order it and taste it. We don't want fizzy blind spots over here.

> We limited ourselves to ones that you could readily buy in Paris, up to the limit of what we could carry.

Is Sprindrift even available in Paris? It's an American company, and from a few minutes of Googling, I doubt it's available outside the US.

Spindrift is amazing. So much better that champions of other brands will disqualify it on the basis of it actually having a trace amount of sugar.

personally, disagree on Spindrift being considered water. that jazz is homeopathic juice.

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