F&B Managers Guide

WHAT ARE THE BASIC FEATURES ABOUT WATER?

NATURAL WATER VERSUS PROCESSED WATER

Great waters are bottled as they come from the ground. Occasionally, an overriding national regulation may impose a safety process on every bottler that is unnecessary, but is complied with as a matter of law. Great waters require no cleansing, disinfecting, filtration, carbonation, chlorine, ultraviolet light, or ozone debacterialization, nor do they need any “polishing”—a practice of introducing trace elements to make cheap processed water “taste” better or different. This process invariably backfires, resulting in an unnatural flavor or aftertaste

NATURES – There are three natures for water:

• • STILL – Water contains little or no appreciable CO2 as it is extracted from the earth.

• • SPARKLING – Still water artificially infused with CO2 to make it fizzy. Most sparkling waters fall within a narrow range of infusion levels, although certain brands are known for their more aggressive infusion levels, and others feature smaller, softer bubbles.

• • NATURALLY CARBONATED – Also known among water aficionados as the “nat-carbs,” these rare waters contain natural, often complex, carbonation naturally – exactly as they are harvested from the earth.

TDS

TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids. It is the overall measurement of the amount of minerals suspended in the water. To show the extremes, distilled water (which does not occur naturally anywhere in the world, and is ideal for irons and radiators, not humans) has a TDS of 0. The highest TDS natural waters have a TDS approaching 3,000. The actual measurement is “milligrams per liter”; also known as “parts per million.”

• • EVIAN IS A LIGHT-TDS WATER AT 357 MG/L.

• • TY NANT IS A LOW-TDS WATER AT 165 MG/L.

• • SPA IS A “PURE” WATER AT A TDS OF 33 MG/L.

• • VITTEL IS A MID-TDS WATER AT 841 MG/L.

• • SAN PELLEGRINO IS HIGH-TDS AT 1108 MG/L.

An example of a very good very high-TDS water is Apollinaris, at 2,650.

pH

pH technically stands for ‘percent hydrogen.’ In simple terms, pH measures the acidity or alkalinity of a substance. Acidity is the sour taste found in lemons and vinegar, while alkalinity refers to the tart or bitter taste associated with baking soda and, as I remember saying as a child, soap. The pH scale works like a balance beam, with 7.0 in the middle representing perfect neutrality—indicating no acidity or alkalinity. Any substance that is perfectly neutral in pH has a pH of 7.0. Distilled water has a pH of 7.0, and great natural waters can range from the mid-5s to the mid-9s. Most great waters have pH levels clustered between the low 6s and high 7s.

Of course, there is some relationship between TDS and pH, but it may not be as strong as you might imagine. For example, there are very high-TDS waters with high, neutral, and often low pH values. The same holds true for other TDS ranges. This variation creates a spectacular opportunity to identify the waters that best suit your body chemistry and taste.

PACKAGING

Packaging is both a matter of practicality, and subjectivity. Fine dining calls for glass, and portability typically connotes plastic. Within the glass and plastic families, there are quality groups as follows:

• • DESIGNER GLASS (TY NANT 750 ML)

• • SUPERIOR GLASS (HILDON 750 ML)

• • GLASS (DUCALE 1 L)

• • DESIGNER PLASTIC (WATTWILLER JOUVENCE 1 L)

• • SUPERIOR PLASTIC (EVIAN 330ML)

• • PLASTIC (MOUNT OLYMPUS 20 OZ.)

• • SPORT CAP (SPORTISSIMA – LEVISSIMA 1 L)

You can devote an entire academic career to the study of water. Over fifty nations have university-level graduate programs focused on industrial applications and systems for human drinking water. Some universities also offer courses of study in “food anthropology,” a topic that examines the placement and sociology of food and water consumption throughout recorded history.

MATCHING WATERS WITH VARIOUS FOODS

There are three techniques that are valid. You will be able to learn through experimentation which method works best for you:

PH BALANCING

• FOOD SPECIFIC – While most foods do not have a greatly abnormal pH, there is a surprisingly wide range. For example, tomatoes and tomato products, the staple of Italian cuisine, are sharply acidic, with pH levels that can easily drop below 5.0. Certain spicy foods – not only Italian, but from anywhere – are even more acidic. The ideal waters to consume with acidic foods are the high pH waters, listed in our Purchasing Manager’s Guide as degrees of sweetness and tartness. Similarly, some foods are quite alkalinic compared to the neutral level of 7.0. One example is oysters, which run surprisingly high in their pH. The ideal waters with alkalinic foods are the lower pH waters, listed in the PMG as degrees of sourness.

• BODY CHEMISTRY SPECIFIC – It is a fact—sometimes an unpleasant one—that our natural body chemistries tend toward one extreme or the other. Most often, particularly as part of the aging process, the tendency is toward excessive acidity. When body chemistry is the overarching factor, the selection of waters should be counteractive. For example, people whose bodies tend toward high acidity should consume higher pH (alkaline) waters for regular hydration.

CONSISTENCY

• STRONG – The consistency guidelines are akin to the wine-drinking precepts of “red wine with meat and game, white wine with fish and fowl.” Heavier waters—that is, those higher in mineral content—have the structure and robustness to accompany stronger-tasting foods. Nothing compares to a sharp cheese washed down with a delicious European heavy mineral water, such as Borsec. This principle holds true for all strongly flavored foods (somewhat subjective from person to person): the food usually tastes better and provides a fuller culinary experience when paired with a strong water.

• MILD – As you might expect, the opposite holds true for mild-tasting and bland foods. There’s no law against pairing a bottle of Ferrarelle (potent stuff!) with yogurt—but why? Any mild-tasting food, including boiled meats, eggs, unseasoned pasta, etc., works best with a crisp, clean low-mineral water. Try Ty Nant, or even lower-mineral options like Spa or Daggio, the next time you poach a chicken breast in dry white wine.

SYNERGISTIC

• STILL WATERS – Most experts agree that very unusual or challenging foods—such as gassy, exotic, unfamiliar, or overly seasoned dishes—are best paired with still water.

• SPARKLING WATERS – To add zest to an otherwise pedestrian dish, sparkling water can work wonders. Your constitution may not appreciate the heavily carbonated options. Fortunately, there are several small-bubbled, softer fizzy waters to choose from.

• SPARKLING WATERS – To add zest to an otherwise pedestrian dish, sparkling water can work wonders. Your constitution may dislike the heavily carbonated options. Fortunately, there are several small-bubbled, softer fizzy waters to choose from.

Selecting the appropriate water requires an understanding of the intended environment and the purpose for consuming it.

Aqua Maestro, through its extensive experience and experimentation with fine waters, in conjunction with leading Food and Beverage Managers at four and five-star properties, is pleased to suggest the following guidelines.

Before anything else, the packaging of fine water must be suitable for its purpose and the setting:

FIXED ENVIRONMENTS

• HYDRATION – at work, bed stand, around the house, medicine taking, watching television, etc. — ANY PACKAGING
• CASUAL DINING – PLASTIC; SUPERIOR PLASTIC; GLASS; SUPERIOR GLASS
• FORMAL DINING — DESIGNER PLASTIC; GLASS; SUPERIOR GLASS; DESIGNER GLASS

MOBILE ENVIRONMENTS

• HYDRATION – physical labor, physical exercise, automobile, walking around — ANY PLASTIC or SPORT CAP
• DISPLAY AS BEVERAGE OF CHOICE– SUPERIOR PLASTIC; DESIGNER PLASTIC

CURATIVES

• HEALTH PROPERTIES – natural supplementation of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, sulphate, potassium, and silica; for uses as purgative, digestif, circulatory stimulant, diuretic — ANY PACKAGING

From the guidelines above, select the Packaging(s) appropriate for the Function. The next consideration is matching the water with various foods. 

According to the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) in their Regulation 21 CFR 165.l10(a), bottled water is “water that is intended for human consumption and that is sealed in bottles or other containers with no added ingredients except that it may optionally contain safe and suitable antimicrobial agents.”

Fair enough, but as you will see below, that leaves a lot of room for bottlers to call themselves just about anything they please. There have been notable cases in recent years involving questionable claims about natural spring water, among other thing

The FDA likes the following labels, and definitions:

ARTESIAN WATER OR ARTESIAN WELL WATER: Any water drawn from a well within a confined aquifer qualifies as artesian. The critical aspect is that the water level in the aquifer must, at some point, rise to the top of the aquifer. However, there is some convenient fine print: so-called artesian water may be deemed to rise to the necessary level with the assistance of external forces, such as pumps, that “enhance” the natural underground pressure. Clearly, not all artesian waters are created equal, but the FDA has an anti-discrimination policy regarding artesian water

WELL WATER: Any water that can be extracted from a hole drilled in the ground that taps into an aquifer qualifies as well water. So, is there any difference between “artesian water” and “well water”? Well, no, not really. And we have yet to see a brand in a convenience store whose label boasts “WELL WATER.”

SPRING WATER: Any water from underground that flows naturally to the surface is classified as spring water. But then the fine print comes into play again. “Spring water” is supposed to be collected at the spring (where it has naturally flowed to the surface—remember?), except that it can also be collected from a hole drilled into the underground formation. It kind of sounds like well water again, doesn’t it? “NATURAL WELL WATER” doesn’t exactly have the same ring as “NATURAL SPRING WATER.”

GROUND WATER: Another confusing piece of terminology is that it should actually be called “underground water.” What the FDA refers to as “ground water” must emanate from below the ground, specifically from a saturated area where the hydrostatic pressure is equal to or greater than atmospheric pressure. “Ground water” is generally found at a shallow depth, and there’s plenty of it on the market. If you can show us a bottle that screams “NATURAL GROUND WATER,” I’ll eat my hat.

SURFACE WATER: Finally, here’s something that sounds like what it is. Surface waters include anything from a stream to a reservoir to a river. Technically, it could even include standing water, but there’s no way standing water would meet the requirements as a drinking water source—though it’s not that it hasn’t been tried.

PURIFIED WATER: Any of the preceding water types—artesian, well, spring, ground, surface—that are subsequently distilled, deionized, reverse-osmosed, carbon-filtered, chlorinated, or subjected to a host of other processes that meet the FDA’s definition of “purified water.”

MINERAL WATER: In America, the FDA requires that anything calling itself “mineral water” must contain at least 250 milligrams per liter (parts per million, or “ppm”) of total dissolved solids (TDS). Mineral water must come from an underground source that is geologically and environmentally protected. Furthermore, no minerals can be added to this water. If the TDS is under 500 mg/l, it is referred to in the U.S. as “low mineral water.” From 500 mg/l up to 1,500 mg/l, it is simply called “mineral water.” From 1,500 mg/l and above, it is classified as “high mineral water.”

Perhaps the most basic difference in waters is not specifically addressed by FDA regulations. As it happens, this difference is the essence of Aqua Maestro’s product line: the distinction between “natural” waters and “processed” waters

NATURAL WATERS: As shown on the H2O 101 page of this website, natural waters are exactly that—natural. In other words, untouched. Virginal, if you like. The water is of such quality and nature that it is bottled precisely as it comes from the ground. See “Choosing Waters” for a complete list of our brands.

PROCESSED WATERS: Touched—often extensively—prior to bottling, the processes include everything from basic debacterialization to the removal of trace elements and grit, as well as the addition of elements to simulate real mineral water.