Taste Of Boiled Water
Why is it that water when boiled tastes different compared to when it is straight from the tap?
You are exactly right. The water lacks oxygen and the taste is pretty bad. You can do what many do around the world and put tea in the water and it does a good job of covering up the taste. You can also try to re-oxygenate the water yourself by filling a bottle up about 3/4 of the way up with boiled water, putting the lid on and shaking it vigorously for a minute or two...it actually helps a good bit. The more you shake, the better it taste. I have opened the cap a few times and recirculated the air before I shake the bottle some more, but I am not sure it helps that much.
I read that a little salt helps and I did try it but for the pinch I put it did not seem to matter. I will give the shaking option a test and see if that helps but in the end I will have to get used to the new taste because the water you get from your tap is almost like drinking from a drain.
If it has a lot of sulfur (rotten egg smell) in it, then there pretty much is nothing that will fix it that is cheap. A lot of well water had sulfur present. We had a house in college that had really bad smelling tap water (sulfur) and the only thing it was good for was showers and for flushing toilets.
If you only have a little bit of sulfur in the water, then a carbon filter might be enough.
Edited: Vincenzo on 18th Jan, 2011 - 8:40am
The taste of the tap water is normal some days, but other days it smells and tastes like either a toilet or as though it has been mixed with a bit of dirt.
We now use a regular filter like the one attached below as an aide to trap debris, after that we bring it to a boil to sanitize it. I guess the little off taste is worth the relief to know that at least it is not going to bring my health down.
The alternative is to buy water which in a hot Caribbean country is not feasible because of the amount we drink.
Taste Of Boiled Water (Hover)
I cant tell if it is a activated carbon filter as well by the picture, but if you could get one with activated carbon it would help with the taste greatly. However, if you boil, I would try to re-oxygenate the water with shaking it in a bottle.
It does not have carbon in it. I have thought before about using that, but what is the sense if in the end we boil it anyway. I did try shaking it, opening it up and then shaking it some more and I must say that it did improve the taste so thank you for the tip.
My wife believes by drinking it cold it improves the flavor but I can still taste it. I taste it even stronger when I mix it with powdered milk - it tastes even worst.