AsiaLIFE

Are you too afraid to drink the local water? This month AsiaLIFE subjected one of Phnom Penh’s best-known wine gurus, Patrick Uong, to a blind bottled (and not so bottled) water taste test. He came to some surprising conclusions!

Water O
Aroma: An empty salt-shaker.
Taste: Thick, citrus, sodium.
Comments: This is my favourite. If I was drinking this with a meal, I feel this would cleanse my palate more than any of the others.
Rating: 9/10

La Vie
Aroma: Soap, dust.
Taste: Potassium magnesium, paper, wood.
Comments: I like this because it's rich. It feels nourishing. It’s very viscous in the mouth and feels almost oily.
Rating: 7/10

Oxygenizer
Aroma: Carrots, floral, some kind of flower petal. 
Taste: Carrots, flowers.
Comments: I definitely smell carrots and it tastes as though it was infused with carrots.  I prefer water infused with cucumber, but this is interesting.
Rating: 7/10

Khmer Blue
Aroma: Rubber, petrol, plastic, petroleum, tin.
Taste: Dry, very chalky, slightly mineral
Comments: It feels good
Rating: 5/10

New Day
Aroma: Slightly mineral with a hint of salty chlorine.
Taste: Flat bland and thin.
Comment: It smells like a saltwater swimming pool. It doesn’t taste like fresh, clean, crisp water.
Rating: 5/10

Eurotech
Aroma: I'm getting nothing but the sausage cooking downstairs.
Taste: Thin, metallic, tinny.
Comments: It’s very thin, as though there is no mineral content.
Rating: 4/10

Oxgen
Aroma: Steamed carrots, sugar, empty salt-shaker, sodium, baking soda.
Taste: Sweet - buttery carrots - no mineral.
Comments: This tastes like it’s flavoured. It tastes more like carrots than anything. It's a bit too weird.
Rating: 4/10

Evian
Aroma: Sweet and dry, like dry air, chalky and gravelly.
Taste:. A lot of minerals, too astringent, tinny and sour.
Comments: Wow, a lot of flavour. I don’t like this at all.
Rating: 3/10

Aquafina
Aroma: Plastic, dust, liquorish.
Taste: Not good – garbage, apple peels.
Comments: What the hell is that? This just gets worse and worse. It's just so weird. If I knew it was good for me I would drink it. But since this is blind – I'm afraid this is awful.  It smells like something that has been stored in an Indian warehouse for a long time.
Rating 2/10

Phnom Penh Tap Water
Aroma: Dirt, old pipes, pocket change, salt, chlorine, the sea.
Taste: Not good.
Comments: Oh my God!  Do I have to drink this? Is it safe? Its smells like so many things. It smells like the back tank of a toilet. It smells like laundry water – not soapy – it smells like there's dirt in the water, and it's not clear. Wow that's interesting – if this were wine I would love it. I’m sure it's safe to drink – but it tastes awful. It tastes old, really old – like you're drinking something that isn’t good for you.
Rating: 1/10

And now for the bubbles ...

Schweppes Soda Water
Aroma: Pleasant, sweet, tropical fruit, lemongrass jelly, caramelised sugar, lychee or longan, floral, powdery, just a hint of soda in the back.
Taste: Longan or longan seeds, tropical fruit, slightly sweet and chalky.
Carbonation: Very nice.
Comments: I like it. It’s interesting. It tastes as though it has been infused with some longan or seeds of a longan.
Price per litre: US$1.20
Rating: 7/10

Perrier
Aroma: Dust, soap, chalk.
Taste: Mineral, salty, very chalky and dry, citrus.
Carbonation: Very thin.
Comments: The bubbles are pleasant – they just tickle the tongue.
Price per litre: US$4
Rating: 5/10

Everest
Aroma: Carrot – black liquorish, anise seed, chalky sodium, rocky beach sand. 
Taste: Black liquorish, chemicals, citrus.
Carbonation: Quite an assault of bubbles.
Comments: Really full bodied, but a bit offensive. I don't like this because the bubbles are too strong – and it has that artificially sweet citrus taste.
Price per litre: US$1.20
Rating: 4/10
 
St. Amond
Aroma: Carrots and chalk.
Taste: Carrot, vegetables.
Carbonation: Average.
Comments: Quite dull. I don’t pick up any mineral content. It tastes more as though it's been infused with vegetables, and it's really thin.
Price per litre: US$2
Rating: 3/10

San Pellegrino (Patrick thought he LOVED Pellegrino)
Aroma: minerals – spring water.
Taste: Sodium, expired and tired, too much mineral, acidic.
Carbonation: Doesn’t last.
Comments: That's bad! That’s bad, that’s bad!  I need something to wash my mouth out with. It starts out high with a lot of sodium and a lot of bubbles and finishes flat. It doesn’t taste clean or fresh it tastes expired and tired, but I keep drinking it! Maybe there's too much mineral content. It’s totally overpowering.
Price per Litre: US$2.53
Rating: 2/10

Crystalline
Aroma: Carrot, sea salt, air.
Taste: Carrot, minerals, clean.
Carbonation: A bit flat.
Comments: The smell reminds me of getting dried sea salt on your skin as a kid on the beach. This is the thinnest and the least charismatic. Even though it has less charisma it has much more mineral content and tastes quite clean. It would make for a good palate cleanser.
Price per Litre: US$0.86
Rating: 6/10

Disclaimer:  All of these taste tests were blind and the water was tested at room temperature, which is why Patrick swears he didn’t recognise his beloved Sam Pellegrino. He’s devastated. Please be kind to him.