Who knew there could be so many variations of our most basic essential? Watsons Water’s rose and honey water is only the latest to join the ranks of the many flavoured waters on the market.
Our cadets decided to put a selection of these flavoured waters to the test, comparing flavours and nutritional value to find out which are the best.
1. Watson’s Rose and honey flavoured water
As soon as we opened the cap, the pleasant aroma of roses rose to our noses (try saying that three times fast!). However, while you can smell the floral scent, you can’t really taste it. Instead, there is a hint of honey. Out of the waters we tested, this contains the fewest ingredients and least sugar – only 1.1g per 100ml — making it the most natural option.
Volume: 400ml
Price: HK$7
Where to get it: 7-Eleven
2. Suntory Lemon tea flavoured water
This tastes exactly like ice lemon tea! We don’t know what kind of sorcery has been used to make clear water taste like brown tea, but it worked. It tastes like a cross between CC lemon and VLT. This drink contains natural mineral water (which contains some salts), sugar, black tea, lemon juice, salt, mint extract, flavouring, acidity regulator and caffeine. We’d be conscious of over-doing it on the caffeine if we drank this all the time, but as it names suggests, it’s good for mornings.
Volume: 550ml
Price: HK$13.9
Where to get it: Yata supermarket
3. B’lue Lime flavoured water
You’d expect lime to be sour, but this one is overwhelmingly sweet and has a really artificial taste. It has a strong lemony scent but the lime flavour is almost non-existent. It has the most sugar – 4.8g per 100ml! Apple juice, acidity regulators, vitamins, food flavour, sweetener, and antioxidants are added to the water. The sweetness comes from the sucrose and high fructose corn syrup. Martha says she will never drink this again.
Volume: 600ml
Price: HK$9.9
Where to get it: Wellcome
4. Glaceau vitamin water - Peach flavour
While this water does have a mild peach smell, it’s accompanied by a sour taste that we did not expect. It has several added ingredients, including chamomile, sucrose, acidity regulators and flavourings. We suggest you give it a miss; it contains too many kinds of suspicious sounding chemicals that end with “-ide” and “-ate”.
Volume: 500ml
Price: HK$14.9
Where to get it: Wellcome
5. Pokka Sapporo Japanese white peach flavoured water
The scent and taste of peach is much stronger in this drink than in the Vitamin Water – perhaps a bit too strong considering we still want the refreshing taste of water. It almost tasted like we were drinking actual peach juice – except there wasn’t any added! The drink contains, in addition to water, only fructose, glucose, syrup, acidified and favouring. Maybe it would be better if we just ate a real peach...
Volume: 500ml
Price: HK$12.9
Where to get it: Yata supermarket
6. Adelhozener German apple and kiwi flavoured water
This bottle has the most unique cap: rather than simply pouring the water into your mouth, you have to shoot it out by squeezing the bottle. But that’s about where the novelty ends, as this flavour was our least favourite. None of us could taste the sweetness of red apples – all we got was the bitter taste of kiwi. However, if you’re in need of a breath of fresh air, you might want to give this a shot. According to the label, it contains natural mineral water, fructose syrup, acid, sweeteners, flavour and 15 times more oxygen than regular water. Apparently...
Volume: 500ml
Price: HK$8.9
Where to get it: Wellcome
The verdict? Tasting the different flavours was an interesting experiment. The seemingly identical-looking bottles of water each had an unexpected taste, proving you can’t judge a drink by its colour. Dare to try?