I took the liberty and sent some samples of Taiwan’s bottled water (the well known brand YES) to the probably most famous lab in Germany (SGS Fresenius) in the city of Taunusstein. I thought I share the results, they can be read here: inxsoft.net/stuff/water-test.html
Looks very good I think with the exception that there aren’t much minerals inside (almost distiled water?)
Of course this was only one sample (I sent 6 liters) and should not be seen as “consistent test”.
Anyways I find it nice that that it can pass all German / EU qualification standards in regards to “purity”.
I did it mainly cause I found the description on the bottles a bit scary (huge variances in the indication on the amount of minerals and stuff) and just had to know after stuff like the DEHP appeared in sport drinks. Personally I mostly drink the sparkling water brand Apollinaris here… but seems YES does it for tea
Interesting. Thanks for sharing. The consumer foundation does testing too and most pass. Yes and More were always good brands. Why is Yes good for tea? I’m a big fan of making my own oolongs and oriental beauties and understand water quality is an issue. What’s so good about Yes?
A few years ago we did some testing on our favorite swimming holes. The result from one place was “don’t drink the water.” Well we weren’t but thanks.
My wife put a bottle of unfilterered unboiled tap water in the lounge room near the idental bottle of clean stuff. Needless to say, I hope the tap the water here is not that bad!
Great job engerim. How did you manage to send six liters of water? Water is hard to transport. It musta cost you a bundle for this little experiment?
tAipei water is fine. I just boil and let it cool before drinking but cooking with it is fine. Boiling just to kill any bacteria that may have gotten in the water from the water treatment plant to my house. Which is what I do here in America too. At least at home I know the water I drink is safe. When in cafes, etc, they just pour water out of the tap in the states.
if you like use a brita filter after the water is boiled and allowed to cool. You will find the taste is smoother (they use charcoal filters to smooth out whiskey too) .
Kaohsiung does have natural arsenic and its not safe to drink.
I think Perrier also has natural arsenic or some other poison and that is why it is filtered carefully before it is bottled.
As for the accidental local tap water drinking, I am in not in Taipei or Kaoxiong but in Taichung. There is a first time for everything I guess. No major illness or diarrhea yet (:
Yes, wasn’t cheap. Sending the bottles (by express, well padded box) around 2500 TWD.
Chemical analysis, main components and trace elements: 350 €
Microbiology: 67 €
So around 20000 TWD total.
YES also had a few products tainted during the DEHP debacle. There was an evaluation by the Gov’t published a few years ago about which brands were “safe” (can’t find the link right now, but there were some surprises in that chart). The only thing I’d be really concerned about is the kind of plastic used in the bottles.
Few articles of that time:
[quote]Tue, Jul 10, 2001 - Page 1
Eighty percent of bottled water and mineral water sold in Taiwan failed to pass a quality-control test and is unfit for consumption, the Consumers’ Foundation said yesterday.
According to the foundation, just 10 of 50 tested brands were considered fit for consumption – evidence that the bottled water and mineral water industry in Taiwan is insufficiently regulated.
Many local bottled water manufacturers failed to pass the foundation’s test because bacteria levels in the water were too high.
For some brands of bottled water, the level of bacteria was 50 times higher than the acceptable standards, according to the foundation.
In addition, the foundation said the quality of bottled water can deteriorate rapidly if bottles are not quickly delivered to retailers and stored properly.
[quote=“Icon”][quote]
Tue, Aug 31, 2010
The two types of water bottles softened after inspectors poured boiling water into them and allowed the water to sit for 10 minutes.
[/quote][/quote]
Pouring boiling water is a bit too extreme I think. I’d rather test it with a heat chamber at 40 C for 24 hours.
Seems I found something new to test Anyways I wouldn’t leave any plastic bottles in direct exposure to the sun.
Although a good side effect might be that the UV kills some microorganisms
Yeah, I also thought it was a bit :loco: but then they were just testing whether the assertion by the company -that it could stand hot water- was true or not. So, they did accomplish their goal. *
I’ll rtaher have them replicate the conditions of riding in a hot truck for X hours and then being stored in a hot warhouse Y months and then see if X+Y means plastic components drift into the liquid within.
BTW, and not so off topic, did you hear about the exploding orange juice in one of those plastic cap cups?
*remember kids reuse the bottles and pour hot tea in them.
Big difference … one has to have a certain amount of dissolved minerals in it at the source, without being added artificially, the other can be tap water, treated by distillation, deionization or reverse osmosis.
In the past lots of waters were not what it said on the label.
[quote=“Belgian Pie”]What does it say on the YES brand label?
Mineral water? Or just water, pure water?
Big difference … one has to have a certain amount of dissolved minerals in it at the source, without being added artificially, the other can be tap water, treated by distillation, deionization or reverse osmosis.
In the past lots of waters were not what it said on the label.[/quote]
It says 礦泉水 (kuang quan shui) = mineral spring water on the bottle.
I always look for that when buying Taiwan water.
[quote=“engerim”][quote=“Belgian Pie”]What does it say on the YES brand label?
Mineral water? Or just water, pure water?
Big difference … one has to have a certain amount of dissolved minerals in it at the source, without being added artificially, the other can be tap water, treated by distillation, deionization or reverse osmosis.
In the past lots of waters were not what it said on the label.[/quote]
It says 礦泉水 (kuang quan shui) = mineral spring water on the bottle.
I always look for that when buying Taiwan water.[/quote]
So, if it almost contains no minerals … you think it’s labeled correctly?
