Acqua Panna

It's been a long, long time since I was in the mineral water blogging game. For years I literally had a blog devoted to mineral water called The Mineral Water Life. Don't try and find it, it's not there anymore. But, I had a lot of fun learning about and writing about one of the few things I love in life that is healthy and has no side effects: mineral water. 

Acqua Panna, sourced from a spring about 20 miles north of Florence, in the Tuscany region of Italy, is a still (as opposed to carbonated) water with a relatively low TDS (or Total Dissolved Solids) of 188 mg/l. With a TDS of that low, in the U.S. it doesn't even qualify as mineral water and -- on the label -- is referred to as "Natural Spring Water." 

You've probably seen this water around in stores, maybe even tried some. Now that it's owned by San Pellegrino (the godfather of mineral waters), which is owned by Nestle, it has extremely wide distribution. What was once kind of a rarity has now become more commonly available in U.S. stores. Granted, it's still not the most easily obtained mineral water, that honor goes to the likes of San Pellegrino and Perrier. 

Acqua Panna, with its elegant, understated, red and white label and its clear bottles still feels somewhat exotic, the kind of thing you get in tiny bottles at museum cafe or see at the airport. Why availability at the airport makes something seem more exotic or sophisticated, I do not know. But that's the funny thing about mineral water, in general: you somehow feel cool just drinking it. It's also good for you (or, at least, not bad for you).

There is also something subtle and sophisticated about the actual taste of Acqua Panna. I used to think that drinking still mineral was pointless. Like, "If there's no bubbles, why even bother? Why not just drink tap water?"

Well, it could just be good packaging, but I happen to believe it's good water. Acqua Panna tastes really damn good. It's so understated as to be extremely difficult to describe, but there is a brisk, alkaline taste that just hits the palate nicely and almost feels like it is cleansing your palate in some indefinable way. 

For the full effect of the Acqua Panna experience, I highly recommend drinking it out of glass bottles. I recommend drinking any mineral water out of glass bottles. With plastic there's just too much chance that it has absorbed the flavoring of the bottle and that microplastics have leached into the water. If you're going to spend the extra $$ on fancy water, why drink it out of a trash bag? Also, in an effort to contribute to the reduction of plastic waste in the world...why not?