Distilled water tastes simply like water with a bit of bitterness in it and, well… Empty and quite boring. Because it doesn’t have trace elements giving the water its usual taste.
With a first sip, distilled water tastes flat and strange, and it’s quite hard to tell why. You just know it.
It’s not even about the taste itself that you’ll find strange. It’s the mouthfeel. It’s how it feels in the mouth when you have a mouthful of it. Distilled water definitely tastes different from ordinary tap or bottled water. And anything that is different from what you’re used to will be suspicious.
Related: Is bottled Water Distilled?
My advice is actually to taste it. The only true way to taste distilled water would probably be a blind tasting test. Which is not too hard to arrange:
• Get three different water (bottled, tap, and distilled)
• Identical drinking glasses
• And a scientifically minded partner to pour and mix them while you’re not looking.
Megahome Countertop Water Distiller to make your own distilled water
Why it Tastes Like this
TAP WATER
It has fluoride, chlorine, iron, and other minerals that your taste-buds used to. When purified, some parts of those chemicals get removed.
REVERSE OSMOSIS
It is considered the most healthy water purification technology. But even that leaves some dissolved solids. So RO purified water does taste different from distilled water.
DISTILLED WATER
It is produced while boiling and collecting evaporated water.
Water vapors cool down, condensate, and drop to a collector container. Microorganisms and bacteria are totally destroyed this way. And all the other dissolved materials are left behind. That’s why distilled water is often referred to as pure and bland tasting.
Why should you get used to the taste of distilled water?
It’s clear the distilled water is not harmful to you in any way. In fact, the water has been evaporating into the atmosphere for as long as there’s been life on earth. There it is collected and gathered into clouds. That’s right, rainwater, which gives life to plants and trees, is distilled water.
It could be said that distilled water lacks minerals in it. But that does not make much sense. True, that distilled water has no minerals whatsoever. However, there’s no proof that you can get all the minerals your body needs from any mineral water. Foods are the main source of minerals, and water makes up only a fraction of that.
Below is a table with data on how many mentioned minerals you should be getting daily.
| Mineral | Daily needs of minerals for an adult | How much expensive bottled mineral water per 1litre | How much would you need to drink to meet daily need |
| Calcium | 700mg | 76mg/L | 9 liters |
| Potassium | 3500mg | 1.1mg/L | 3182 liters |
| Magnesium | 270mg | 25mg/L | 11 liters |
| Sodium | 6g | 6.8mg/L | 882 liters |
So there’s no way to meet your daily mineral needs without drinking expensive mineral water. Swapping that for distilled water changes nothing.
Besides, if you care about purified water in your glass, you probably care enough about getting good and mineral-rich food to your plate in the first place. So your mineral needs should be covered this way.
How to improve the distilled water taste
So there are no health concerns about drinking distilled water. But the taste is another matter. You or your kids might still not prefer it. But there are ways to affect the taste for the better.
To change the taste of your distilled water, simply add anything to it. This will alter the inner chemistry of the water, making it taste differently.
• Tiny bit of salt
• Tiny squeeze of lemon
• A piece of herb or fruit
Even changing the temperature does change the mouthfeel of it. So a couple of ice cubes could do the job pretty well. Both distilled and reverse osmosis purified water lack minerals. You can remineralize water at home easily with this guide of tried and trusted methods I’ve published. How to Add Minerals to Water?
If the taste of distilled water isn’t a problem for you or even satisfies you, I recommend looking over to the Best water distillers. You might find one for your home.
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