By Jordan Thompson
WE MOVED TO THE NEW TASTYMADNESS.COM
If you haven't seen the new Gatorade Commercial completely hating on Vitamin Water then you have a life and are not reading this Blog. If you have seen the newest commercial then you saw how Gatorade is nervous that Vitamin Water, which was started by a company called Glaceau (Now Owned by Coca Cola) and Rapper 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson) is controlling the market on Vitamin Enhanced Drinks.

For the average consumer Vitamin Water is considered to be the next best thing to water, because it is supposedly not full of sugar and calories. Gatorade says that it's Propel Water has much less calories and is supposedly better for you! Now to get straight to the point, so I can talk about my favorite vitamin enriched drink. Vitamin Water is really high in calories, but tastes good! Gatorade Propel makes me want to stay dehydrated when I taste the artificial sweeteners in it.

XXX Vitamin Water wasn't my first favorite Vitamin Water, 50 Cents self titled Formula 50 had my attension from it's inception. It has all the flavor and has a name that makes you feel like it's making you into a porn star. Not really, but if you've been working all day or have been killing yourself at the gym, XXX Vitamin Water will pick you back up and give you the strength and energy to make your partner go "whats gotten into him?" (Or Her, sorry sounds weird cause I'm a Guy) It will make you keep your fridge stacked and never tire from it's taste. Even though I have given up on Formula 50, just like he has given up rapping for a singing career (Ja Rule) XXX Vitamin Water is the only drink I have never gotten sick of drinking.

Well times have changed and being smart is in again, with shows like "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" and "Wife Swap" really challenging viewers. Glaceau, the makers of Vitamin Water, have upped the ante realizing that people are too smart to pay $3 for a gimmicky bunch of colored water with vitamins in it. Smart people are into being healthy and feeling smart. They don't need the appeal of added flavor to draw them in, plus what's healthier than the tasteless wonder that is water. I mean, hello, ZERO CALORIES! So what better way to capitalize on the trend of people being smart and liking water than with Smartwater.

The folks at Glaceau got the best water around by flying up to the clouds and bottling the vapor to bring you "purity you can taste" and "hydration you can feel". This water has ions and electrolytes, words that we here at The Trendliest certainly consider to be "Trendly" (That's friendly and trendy) to you the consumer. So we here at "The Trendliest" recommend that if you fancy being smart, healthy and trendy, go down to your local store and buy as much SmartWater as you can. You'll be much better off for it, but don't take my word for it...take Jennifer Aniston's. She's featured on their Billboard in the trendliest place of all...Times Square.

Cost $1.75/bottle on the avg.

LMFAO... I was planning a post bashing/promoting this piss water but it seems they have done the job for me. They have a Youtube channel, with ad banners when you click each individual video. The video itself telling you to try Vitamin Water, which apparently wasn't enough. I love this movement and all, aside from the hilarity of it, but without actually tasting some of the flavors I can tell you right now that they're trying to get the kids hooked on the sweet and fruity taste of 50 Cent (Formula 50), and not so much the watery vitamins, which is their key to promotion and thus the stepping stone to the place of purchase. The price might be ridics but they'll pop a pussy person for purposely perpetrating.

I don't know... I honestly though the Coca-Cola acquisition was enough to have their sales skyrocket, because if it's good enough for Coke, than it's good enough for the average Joe. Coca-Cola aside, that's a story for another day, but this ad and the rest of them are very random. Random in a sense like, that it'll appeal like a blanket to a wide audience, like for each taste, and intrigue the curiosity of plenty of random folks. But what I don't get is how can you make such simplistic, indirect advertisement and expect people to spend 5 beans on quarter water. It must be the aggressive content that's making the general public in 50 Cent's core audience... Oh, you didn't know?

Article in Business Standard.

I should note at this time, that my tap-water standard is from San Diego.

The Contendors:

• Kirkland Signature - Premium Water
• Spring! - Dannon Spring Water Bottled Water
• SMARTwater by Glaceau
• Penta Water
• Evian Water by Danone
• Aquafina by PepsiCo
• Dasani by Coca-Cola
• Voss
• Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water
• FIJI Water

The Winner: FIJI Water (Runner up: Voss)

FIJI

FIJI water is considered the original premium still water and despite the chic new kids on the block, it’s still the best. Back in 2001, I visited the ice flows in deep Canada. If you bring a container, you can catch the melt as it flows through the ice crevices and taste what I consider the gold standard of pure water. Of all the waters I’ve ever tried, FIJI s the one that gets the closest to that standard. Good even at room temperature, FIJI tastes clean and clear, has a perfect mineral balance that tastes crisp and refreshing with almost no aftertaste, and goes down smoothly like premium vodka. Like some waters also in this category, FIJI feels like it’s easily absorbed into your body. My only slight gripe is that it may feel a little too unnaturally smooth once you get up and above room temperature and starts feeling less and less like you’re drinking water.

Voss

Voss is undoubtedly one of the best premium waters out there and is always a great choice at a restaurant. Sharing many of the characteristics as FIJI, Voss is great at room temperature and has a cleansing palette. Unfortunately, it loses the top spot to FIJI for its slight metallic aftertaste.

Penta Water

Penta water is one of those waters you’d love to hate. Its claims towards bodily health are laughable and got to the point where it’s banned in some countries for false advertising. It loves to go on and on about its patented filtration system that is so unique, it somehow justifies it having a price higher than FIJI, although it really just sounds a lot like an everyday centrifuge. Marketing aside, Penta is a surprisingly decent water. It tastes pretty good and is fairly refreshing, but it must be served slightly chilled. The crux of this however, is even the worst waters taste pretty good if you get it cold enough, so Penta’s advantages are marginal. An okay premium water, but the price will have you scratching your head.

SMARTWater

Smartwater is an interesting mix of premium and non-premium characteristics. It's well balanced, easy to drink, and more refreshing than non-premium waters; however, the taste is a mix between an off-taste tap and a fresh premium water source. My initial sense was that they over filtered it, and in a zealous pursuit of ultra-pure water, they only added the minimal amount of minerals back in to avoid tasting completely bland. Back in one of my internships, I had access to ultra-pure HPLC water (< 1ppm) and it tasted like cardboard. I should advise at this time that you do not try any significant amount of truly ultra-pure water because it will cause your cells to burst and that iron-like taste in your mouth is blood. So anyway, while this is a very decent bottle of water, there's not much in it so it somehow feels like you're not drinking anything particularly interesting.

Aquafina / Dasani

Aquafina and Dasani are almost equal as top performers in the non-premium water category. Aquafina is slightly more refreshing, making it good in regaining fluids from exercise, but Dasani tastes better. Aquafina is very temperature sensitive, and its taste starts to seriously degrade at room temperature and above. Hot Aquafina is almost as mineral-y as tap water in terms of taste, but retains its smoothness. Dasani (PepsiCo’s answer to Coca-Cola’s Aquafina) is much less temperature sensitive and tastes fine at a little above room temperature, but is much less refreshing and doesn’t seem to absorb as well.

Kirkland Signature Premium Water

For people who fridge their water bottles constantly, Kirkland can’t be beat. It tastes like every other non-premium water: like filtered tap; but sometimes that’s all you need. The taste is non-offensive, and the wholesale price makes it extremely reasonable. If you ”just want water” Kirkland is the way to go. For those who are particularly price sensitive, a Brita filtered-pitcher in the refrigerator is a bit more economical and yields similar results.

Evian Water

Evian bottled water is pretty average filtered tap water. It tastes like tap, it’s still a bit metallic, and it’s only slightly refreshing. I’d say Kirkland and Evian are on the whole pretty head-to-head, but Kirkland’s price is just unbeatable; especially when Evian is marketed and priced as a “premium” water sometimes.

Arrowhead Water

Arrowhead bottled water tastes a little worse than the Arrowhead coolers you see in office break rooms. It’s extremely metallic to the taste and has a metallic odor which makes it doubly offensive. I really wonder if they even filter this water source because it tastes pretty horrible.

Dannon Water

But if you thought Arrowhead was bad, Dannon water is disgusting. If you see a bottle with the older label (doesn’t say “Spring!” on it, it just says Dannon on it), just go thirsty. It has a slightly off smell to it and is disgustingly smooth, which gets worse with hotter temperatures. Even at room temperature, it starts feeling like you’re drinking smooth vanilla syrup. The newer Spring! Line fixes this and now it tastes on par with Kirkland water. Even still… Yuck

• August 2004 - Tata Motors signs a deal to buy the commercial vehicle unit of South Korea's Daewoo Group for $102 million.

• June 2005 - Tata Steel Ltd buys Singapore's lone steel miller, NatSteel Ltd, for $286 million.

• July 2005 - Tata Coffee buys US-based Eight O'Clock Coffee Co for $220 million from Gryphon Investors.

• August 2006 - Telecom firm Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd buys US-based Teleglobe International Holdings Ltd for $239 million and completes the $130 million purchase of Tyco International's global undersea fibre optic cable network unit.

• January 2007 - Tata Tea buys 30 per cent of US enhanced water firm Energy Brands Inc for $677 million. It sells the stake less than a year later to Coca-Cola for $1.2 billion.

• March 2007 - Tata Steel acquires Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus Group for $13 billion, India's biggest overseas takeover yet.

• January 2008 - Tata Power buys stakes in Indonesian PT Bumi Resources Tbk's two coal mines for $1.3 billion.

• February 2008 - Tata Chemicals buys US soda-ash producer General Chemical Industrial Products Inc for $1.01 billion.

Above information courtesy: Economic Times

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Honest Tea sells USDA certified organic bottled teas. The company has had a history of social responsibility and many of the teas have been linked to particular causes or non-profits (such as the Crow Indians and City Year), with a percentage of sales being donated. Sales of Honest Tea in 2007 were $23 million.

Honest Tea currently has limited distribution and is mostly in organic grocery stores. Coca-Cola will seek to expand Honest Tea's distribution and make it more main stream- selling it in restaurants and in more grocery store chains.

With sales of soda and other sugary beverages declining due to health concerns, it is no surprise that Coke has decided to buy a major part of Honest Tea. Coca-cola purchased Glaceau (the makers of Vitamin Water) in 2007, and  owns brands such as Odwalla,  Minute Maid, and many others.

Personally, I feel very disappointed about this. I wish there was a readily available company that was selling accessible organic Ready to Drink Teas.  I always felt good when drank Honest Tea, and now I don't think that will be the case. What was once a small company started out of Maryland will shortly become another name of Coca-Cola's brand list. I was also disappointed when Coke bought Glaceau, another brand that I really liked. I feel that small brands are just getting gobbled up by the major players (namely: Pepsi Co, Coca-Cola, and Nestle.). I wish I knew how this worked, because oh how I am disappointed in them. Honest Tea's creators see this as an opportunity to distribute the tea further, to more people. I'm not sure if I see it the same way. Maybe I'm just becoming disillusioned. That is just my opinion.

(to see the opinion of the creators of Honest Tea, view the Honest Tea blog and website for more information)