50 Shades of Clear

The candidates.

I have decided I need a new drink.  Water gets boring after a while, soda is pretty much in the negative category when it comes to nutrition, and you just can't drink wine all the time.  Right?  So, in keeping with my image of myself as a sophisticated, dazzling urbanite (ha ha), I thought I'd give sparkling water a try.


Sparkling water, seltzer, soda water, carbonated water, fizzy water... is basically just spring water (usually) with carbon dioxide dissolved in it to make it effervescent.  I tend to over-think things in general, and my search for a sparkling water was no exception.  I went to a few local stores and grabbed all the brands - if I don't try them all, how will I know what I like?

I divided them into two categories: regular sparkling, and mineral.  Taste tests were performed over a series of evenings.  The verdict?  Of the mineral waters, I preferred Gerolsteiner.  Of the regulars, I guess Voss was the crispest.  But to be completely honest, they all pretty much tasted the same.

The regular line-up.

The mineral waters.

However, they are a nice alternative to plain water.  You get fun fizzies in your mouth (that also helps you to feel a bit more full - for those of you on the Tyler Hamilton diet plan of a bottle of seltzer water and go to bed), and you seem so refined sitting with a glass of bubbly.  Which is oh-so-important when I'm sitting on the couch in sweatpants, hair still sweaty from a run, watching Wipeout on tv.  Pass the sparkling water!