There’s a lot of conflicting data on this stuff. I would argue that the question “Do you think our culture is naturally superior” is a potentially misleading, a lot of people are going to pause there because they don’t want to think of themselves as snobs. If you ask the question more positively then suddenly French people appear to love their “tradition and way of life”.
Anyway, I withdraw my original statement since it was clearly based on stereotypes and this isn’t something that can be easily measured. When I rely on a stereotype, I am able to admit my mistake, unlike those stubborn Italians.
UK doing way better than I would have thought on those polls.
Trying to read these polls is like reading tea leaves. When you ask questions about sentiment, you always get a mix of information about what people really think PLUS how they personally interpret the question PLUS how they feel they are expected to answer the question. The best way to do this stuff is to pair questions about sentiment with actual data about measurable behavior. Then you get lots of real insights - the contrasting of what people say they think and do vs. that objectively do is often illuminating. But it’s a lot easier to just do a poll and publish it.
What?
Water is actually a pretty decent resistor when you ultrapurify it and take all the ions out.
They told us not to drink the deionized water. Something about bacteria. I doubted it but I wasn’t enough of a rebel to risk getting the runs.
Was that DI water from a tap or from one of them Millilpore systems?
Right but why would you brew coffee with it?
For science.
I don’t recall how the system was set up. I don’t think it was well characterized, other than tracking resistivity. It just came out of a plastic tap in the wet benches. There was usually something else keeping my stuff from working so I didn’t worry about it.
doesn’t brewing coffee reintroduce a ton of ions into water?
Yeah. Mere exposure to the air alone introduces ions.
What was your operating theory / hypothesis?
seems logical that it wouldn’t affect taste in any way
That coffee made using ultrapure water would yield a crisp and satisfying cup of coffee.
It makes a ton of sense, right? Crazy how it’s nothing like that at all. Took me a while to wrap my head around it, but in the process I’ve come to appreciate waters on their own. I totally get having something like Vichy Catalan paired with a dinner, so I’m not sure if people are including that in the bottled water hate parade. Then there are waters that serve a purpose other than drinking straight. The Aquafinas, Dasanis, and especially “alkaline” waters claiming magical health benefits are the ones that are easy for me to hate. They are just demineralized (read: disgusting) municipal waters and don’t seem to serve any purpose other than convenience at an insane markup.
I would submit that a tiny pinch of sodium and chlorine ions will ruin the taste of your cup of coffee.