Ultimate Water Taste Test

We got all this water, but...
"water" we gotta do with it?

Let's talk about that.

♪ (theme music) ♪

- Goooood Mythical Morning!
- The water business is a

multi-billion-dollar business. People
spend a lot of their cash on water that

they think tastes a very
particular way that they like.

- Yeah, people have their favorites.
- Yeah.

It's ironic that it's something that you
can just reach over and --psh!--

- get out of the tap.
- Psh!-- It usually makes that noise.

As we have previously established in
another conversation on this show, the

best thing for your wallet and for the
environment is just to get a reusable

water bottle and filter water from the tap
and enjoy that. But is it better for your

taste buds? That's the question that
we're going to experiment with today.

And we're also exploring-- there's not
just one brand, there's multiple brands.

In addition to just the regular tap water,
you can go to the grocery store and pick

- from a multitude of brands.
- Of which we have a lot of them today.

- Yeah, we have a lot of those.
- And we are gonna conduct this experiment

where we taste them and then see if we
can identify them without being told what

they are, of course. Because if the told
us what they were, I would easily be able

to identify... I would just
regurgitate what you just told me.

Yeah. So this is a game:
Who's a better water taster?

- This is what we have: We have Smartwater.
- We've got Dasani.

- We've got Evian.
- Fiji.

Good old tap water straight
out of the Los Angeles tap.

Here's a curveball. We've got Black Water.
It's not from a river in Alabama;

it's actually a brand that has fulvic
powder in it, whatever that is.

- We're gonna taste it.
- It is actually black.

- Yes.
- And finally, we have pond water straight

out of Echo Park Lake which I think
is just a pond here in Los Angeles.

- (Rhett) Yum!
- We're gonna drink this.

- You ready to go?
- Yeah. It's time to play...

(in unison) Water We Tasting?
(water splashes over soothing music)

As you can see, we have on the
dual-action water-tasting apparatus.

- You've seen this before, right? (laughs)
- Link, in order to talk to me, you have

- to turn in.
- Oh, yeah...

- Hello.
- There's a turnable feature.

And if you wanna move your head
forward, I gotta move my head back.

- Oh yeah.
- If I wanna move my head forward...

- I don't anticipate this being needed.
- It's like two... It's like we're...

- And if a beat comes in...
- It's like we're two construction workers

that have been talked into doing
some sort of SCUBA trust exercise.

Okay, so the way this is gonna
work is we're gonna call for a water.

(slurs) Algsh is... Alex. (laughs) His
name is Alex-- is gonna bring it in.

- Alex? Where are you?
- And he's gonna pour some of the water.

He's gonna show it to you, so you know
what it is. We don't know what it is.

He pours it in there, and then we control
the delivery of the water with our own

- personal valves.
- And then we use our little voters to

vote on what we think it is. All right,
I think I'm ready for Round One.

Whatever he puts in there, we gotta
drink as a team, and drink all of it.

Yeah, but there's no backwash.
Scientifically it's impossible.

All right, Alex. Come on in.

(in unison over water splashing)
Round One!

- Oh, it's a nice sound.
- I hear it glugging out.

And then we're gonna undo our valves at
the same time and just take a little

- drinky-drink.
- Here we go. Three, two, one!

(gulps) Mm!

- Oh.
- I didn't get any water!

- (laughs) I think I got it all.
- You got all the water!

- Alex, we need more water.
- Are you serious?

- I literally got none. You glugged--
- I gotcha!

- (Link) all the water!
- There's still some in there.

Hold on, I need to taste it, though.

(Link) Here, all right. (slurps)

(gulps) Mm. Mmhm.

All right, that was refreshing
but not too refreshing.

(gasps) I'm still drinking over
here. What is going on?

Oh, you're still drinking it?

- The water weight is heavy on my side.
- It's got a soft feel to it, but it's not

anything too special. What's
happening up there? It's glugging.

- Is that you doing that?
- Just trying to finish up, bruh. (laughs)

I wanted to have a little-- oh!
It just twinkled on me.

Twinkled. Man... there's nothing
wrong with that water at all.

- Mm-mm.
- You know?

I don't know. I kinda feel like this could
be straight out of an artesian well in no

- other than Fiji.
- No, see, I feel like this is tap water

that has been treated and then put back
in a bottle, which I know is what they do

with Dasani. It's basically
purified tap water.

I'm actually thinking that this is
purified tap water too, but I think it's

Smartwater because it's got a soft mouth
feel and I think that Smartwater is softer.

- Okay.
- So I'm going with Smartwater for my

- number 1 and let's drain this puppy.
- (laughs) Drain this puppy...

- Let's make sure it's all gone.
- Mine's all gone.

- Okay.
- Bring in the next water!

(in unison over water splashing)
Round Two!

(Rhett) Okay, dump her in there, Alex.

- (crew laughs)
- Okay. Wow, that one was quick.

- All right, so let's count down.
- We should sell this at

- RhettandLink.com/store.
- Three, two, one.

(spits and coughs)

- What happened?
- (coughs and laughs) There's a lotta

- pressure on my side.
- (Link) Oh really?

(coughs and laughs) It went directly into
my throat. There was no tasting involved.

Can you continue or should
I go on without you?

- I'm gonna be coughing for a while!
- (both laugh)

- That did not taste bad or good.
- Oh, I know what this is. Aw yeah.

- Every day of the week.
- I'm definitely thinking this is put your

- mouth under the tap and just turn it on.
- Mmhm.

Definitely tap water!

- Oh, we're agreeing with this?
- Yeah, yeah. I don't know if it's because

I coughed something up
from lunch or something, but...

- (laughs)
- (clears throat and coughs)

Yes, I'm going with tap water. We are
agreeing on that one. We were

both thinking that.

Let's move on to Round Three!

(in unison over water splashing)
Round Three!

(Rhett) Let 'er rip, Alex!

(Link) You should've said "Let it uncap."
'Cause it's not like a bag of chips.

- It could be.
- You don't rip anything to open water,

- do you?
- Why don't you open this one first so

- I don't get suffocated?
- All right, here we go. Three, two...

(gulps)

Hm! (smacks lips)

It's got a "flowed down through
snow in the Alps" kind of a feel to it.

I feel like this water has never come in
contact with a human. Which, incidentally,

that's what it says on the back of the
Fiji bottle. Natural pressure forces the

water towards a sealed delivery system
directly into the bottle, free from human

- contact.
- Now, something about...

- I don't taste any people in this at all.
- No, there's that elevation in this

taste. This is from up high,
not from down below.

- No.
- This is like fifteen years through

- a glacier.
- This never saw humans.

Glacier sand. I taste glacier sand.
I'm going with Evian.

- You're going with Fuji-- Fiji.
- Fuji.

(in unison over water splashing)
Round Four!

(Rhett) Let it go and make it flow.

(Link) Glubba-glubba-glubba-glubba!

Oh, there's a lot happenin' up there.

- All right?
- Ready? Three, two, one.

- Mm!
- It tastes like nothing.

Mm! (smacks lips) Tastes like clouds.

Hold on, which is the one that's
supposed to be like a cloud?

- Evian in the Alps.
- Yeah, no, Evian's not the cloud.

- Smartwater's the cloud.
- Oh, is it?

- (Rhett) Yeah.
- (Link) Smartwater's the cloud?

(Rhett) Yeah. They're the ones that do
the vapor distillation. I can taste vapor

- distillation in this one.
- You taste electrolytes?

Hm. You don't taste electrolyltes,
you feel. Lemme see if I feel 'em.

Now, I have never tasted this Black Water,
but I definitely taste a pH of eight,

which is what they say theirs is. So I'm
gonna go out on a limb and I'm gonna say

this is Black Water.
Okay, bring it on, Alex!

(in unison over water splashing)
Round Five!

(Rhett) You pour it, we'll endure it.

- Alex, you're a good pourer.
- Yeah, man.

- I can just tell by listening.
- (Alex) Thank you.

You ever work at a restaurant?

- That one sounded thick.
- (crew laughs)

- (Rhett) It sounded thick?
- Like you poured something thick.

- Like syrup or something. (laughs)
- Well, here we go.

- All right, here we go!
- Three, two, one.

(gulps)

Mm! Mm! (with mouth full)
I don't wanna swallow!

Oh. (smacks lips)

Ugh. Tastes like goose
poop and paddleboarders.

- (crew laughs)
- Eugh. I-- listen, if somebody's selling

- this, they need to stop immediately.
- (laughs) Oh my gosh.

- But here's the problem, Neal.
- (Link) We gotta drink the rest of it.

- We gotta finish this.
- (Link laughs)

All right, go ahead. I'm gonna...
I'm gettin' it! I'm drinkin'!

- I'm drinkin' a lot! (laughs)
- (laughs) Woo!

Here, I'll drink a little bit more
so you don't have to drink it all.

(groans) Gah!

- Woo! How much pond did you get?
- A lot, man! A whole lot.

- (crew laughs)
- (Link) Can you drink that for me?

- (Link) It's obviously pond water.
- (water trickles)

(Link laughs) Oh, you went on
yourself! You wet yourself!

- That's not my water, man!
- (Link) All right.

That's my drinking buddy's water. (laughs)

(laughs) I think we pretty
much-- that's obvious.

- Oh, man. Mm!
- So the collective water beverage

industry is breathing a collective
sigh of relief right now,

- Yeah, yeah.
- that that was obviously

- goose poop water.
- You can add to all your taglines:

- Never mistaken for pond water.
- (laughs) Let's move on,

now that I know that's done.

(in unison over water splashing)
Round Six!

(Rhett) All right, Alex, you dispense
it, we won't... take offense at it.

(Link) You pour it,
we're sure... drink it.

- (both laugh)
- Now, I will point out before we taste

this, Link, that the last two waters that
you have to choose from and the last two

waters I have to choose from
are totally different, so there's

- definitely a winner here.
- Okay. Three, two, mm.

(slurps) Mm!

- (gargles and laughs)
- They're really all starting to

- blend together at this point.
- I tried to gargle but I can't because

we're attached. Hey, we need to gargle
together. Get a little bit in there.

- Why?
- 'Cause if I lean back, you gotta lean

- back, 'cause of the apparatus.
- (slurps) Oh.

(both gargle)

- Hm. That didn't help.
- Definitely not mouthwash.

There's nothing special about this one.
I'm gonna say this one is the vending

- machine staple "Dasanye."
- (Rhett and crew laugh)

- Dasan-yi. Dasani. Dasani.
- And I'm basically saying the same thing

with a different brand.
I'm gonna say this is Evian.

- (Link) Dasani.
- (Rhett) Um, wow. That pretty much

leaves-- You're in Fiji Town
and I'm in Black Water Town.

All right, bring it on!

(in unison over water splashing)
Round Seven!

(Rhett) You gush it,
we'll crush it. (laughs)

- (Link) Or we'll just drink it.
- Yeah.

- This better taste like Black Water.
- All right. I got Fiji here, but then

we'll have an opportunity to switch
'em around before our final answer.

Oh, I just... whew! I
just burped up a pond.

Okay, three, two, mm.

- Mm!
- Yeah, I taste a pH of eight.

(smacks lips) I think this could be Fiji.
That's my only option left. I obviously

have to vote for Fiji, so I'm gonna do
that. All right, so go ahead and vote

for Black, you have to, and
then let's go ahead and regroup.

- I don't think I can reach it.
- I'll do that for you.

Wow. Yeah, there's nothing real special
about that water. It didn't taste like it

- had anything weird in it.
- I don't really know that I wanna change

- anything. Do you wanna change anything?
- I'm going to say... Nope, now I'm

- playing a psychological game.
- Is this my Smartwater?

I was gonna change my first one too,
'cause it was so smooth. I was gonna say

maybe it was the Black Water, but I don't
think that they would've done the

- Black Water first.
- I'm putting my Smartwater here, which

- means my Dasani...
- Oh, you wanna match me now?

- (Link) Yeah, so now we agree on Dasani.
- I really, really want to make Round One

- the Black Water.
- Oh, just to get--

- I am compelled to do that.
- Okay, here you go.

But I don't-- I didn't say I was going to!

- Final answer.
- I don't feel like they would've done

Black Water first. I'm not
touching mine. I'm confident.

- Okay, so, Rhett you start with that one.
- Round One...

- We both said it was Dasani.
- Round One was... Black Water!

- I knew I should've changed it!
- Oh, you should've changed it

- right off of the bat!
- Dang! 'Cause it was so soft and so

different, but I was like,
they wouldn't... Dangit!

All right, so we both missed that one,
and then I know I missed this one.

For the second one, we both said it
was tap water, and we are both correct.

- Really, wow! Dang!
- For the third one, you said Fiji,

- I said Evian... This is Smartwater.
- Both wrong.

Both got that wrong.
It's like shootin' in the dark.

- We both got this wrong too.
- We both got this wrong for that reason.

- This is Fiji Water.
- Oh, man. That better be pond water.

- (crew laughs)
- (burps) Excuse me.

Pond water. Yup, absolutely. We're
really good at tasting that stuff there.

And then this one here is Dasani.
Oh, I would've had it right if I wouldn't

- have changed it!
- And then if I had changed it,

- I would've had it right!
- Dangit. And then-- so we got--

- This is Evian.
- We guessed tap and pond correctly.

- (crew laughs)
- Which, you know, where we're from,

- that's just about right.
- So basically, what we learned is that

our taste buds-- I really couldn't tell
much of a difference between these,

especially drinking them all back to back
with this thing on my head. I'm just gonna

stick with the reusable, refillable,
washable bottle with the trusty

- old filter.
- Well, Link, I should've gone with my

instincts, but I didn't, so that means we
tied, which means neither one of us get...

the prize is getting a water named after
you, so now it's just gotta be named after

- both of us or neither of us.
- Let's call it "The Neither Water."

Neither Water.

(Rhett speaking over a slow drumbeat)
For thousands of years, man has searched

for the eternal life-giving waters known
as the Fountain of Youth. The clearest,

wettest, most refreshing water on
planet Earth. This is not that water.

Neither Water: because you're thirsty
and don't care where your water

comes from... and neither do we.

Thanks for liking and
commenting on this video.

You know what time it is!

- I'm George from Austria.
- I'm Betsy from Italy.

We're in Estonia.

(in unison) And it's time to
spin the Wheel of Mythicality!

If you want a hoodie like the lovely Alex
was wearing today, you can pick that up

at RhettandLink.com/store along
with a lot of other stuff.

Also, click through to Good Mythical More.
We have a few more waters to blind taste

test and we're gonna do that. And explore
this whole Black Water thing a little more.

(Rhett laughs) Interpretive
dance. That'll be fun!

- (laughs) It's your turn to dance!
- Okay. It's your turn to interpret.

(dramatically, over guitar music) And as
we know, our bodies are... majority water

that shaky-shake-shakes and
then it drops like it's hot.

- (Rhett) Ssssssssss....
- And then... ohh. It drops like it's hot.

- The water's droppin'.
- Oh. And then it nourishes our body in

- plastic things, and we have to...
- (Rhett slurps)

We have to search far and wide
for it and we have to bottle it.

- I'm drinkin' it! (slurps)
- We have to... that's not much of a dance.

(laughs) Yeah. That's better.

[Captioned by Caitrin:
GMM Captioning Team]