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Real water drinkers know that not every brand of bottled water tastes the same, and if you can’t tell the difference…Let’s worry about that water intake.

While most cities in North America have decent tap water, bottled water is still readily available at just about any store you can think of—for the low, low price of $1.99 (not fact, but isn’t it crazy that we have to pay for water?).

You know the brands—Evian, Fiji, Voss, Smart Water, Icelandic, Pure Life, and Mountain Valley are all great examples of “good water,” while Dasani and Aquafina tend to be pushed to the wayside.

What’s Up With The Taste?

Any bottled water has to come from somewhere, whether it be springs, aquifers, or tap water. Dasani and Aquafina are two examples of purified municipal tap water. 

This purification process involves something called “reverse osmosis,” which removes heavy metals, pathogens, and other microorganisms potentially swimming around in the water supply. It also removes a hefty amount of minerals from the water, including calcium and magnesium.

While it's all nice and good that we’re not drinking lead, we’re not drinking anything beneficial either. This is where taste comes into play. The Dasani formula involves adding minerals to the now clean water, which is intended to help give the water more of a flavor…but this is where the company falls flat.

The old Dasani formula is sodium chloride, more well-known to us as table salt, purely for taste. And boy, could we taste it. The water had a harsh, chemical-like taste that satisfied nobody in particular, and it was thanks to just a little bit of salt.

Aquafina, on the other hand, chooses not to reinclude any minerals in its purified water. Somehow, this leads the water to taste almost chemical-like, as if we can taste the machinery the water went through because there’s nothing to disguise the flavor. 

So on one end of the spectrum, you have tap water that’s doing too much, and on the other end, you have tap water that’s doing nothing at all. Yet somehow, both are some of the most polarizing drinks in the bottled water community. 

Changing The Formula

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Dasani has become nearly synonymous with bad-tasting water, but the company is hoping to turn that opinion around.

In April 2024, Dasani revealed that they’re changing their formula “in response to consumer feedback, by removing sodium chloride for a clean, crisp taste.”

This announcement came on the heels of Dasani’s “Life Happens Between Sips” campaign, their first major one in over 5 years, according to the press release. Alongside this change, Dasani also made some updates to its logo, which now features a much softer blue color and a more dynamic-looking logo design.

While Dasani said they were looking to modernize the logo, it’s not a far-fetched theory that they’re hoping the lack of dark blue will entice customers to give them another chance. If you’ve had a newer bottle of Dasani recently, what do you think? Is it any different?