Those of us with easy access to clean, drinkable running water should count ourselves very lucky – it’s not a luxury afforded to the whole world, after all.
But the flavour of your tap water depends on where the water comes from and how it’s treated. In some regions, water from the tap is clear and crisp, while in others you might notice a chalky taste due to higher calcium levels.
So, where in the world brags the tastiest tap water? Well, travel insurance providers AllClear have analysed almost 2,000 tap water-related posts on Reddit to decipher just that, and their findings have just been published. Glasses at the ready.
In Europe, Scotland reigns supreme. It’s not only the most-mentioned location on the continent but also the second-most in the world, with Redditers awarding particular praise to water from the nation’s Highlands and lochs.
Norway and Iceland also get a fair few mentions, as do Alpine countries Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Over in the US, the city with the most mentions is (hold onto your Stanley cups) New York City! Water in the Big Apple comes from the Catskills, that lush green mountain belt in New York State. Redditors even attribute the quality of pizza and bagel dough to the city’s great-tasting water.
Then there’s Seattle, with one user exclaiming that they’d ‘never had ‘good’ tap water until moving to Washington state’. Portland, San Francisco, Lake Michigan and Colorado (thanks to the Rockies) also got a fair lot of love from users.
On the other side of the world, Melbourne and Christchurch each got some recognition for the quality of their tap water, as did Yorkshire (described as ‘crispy’ by one Redditor), Armenia, Aruba, Japan, Nepal and the Netherlands.
Thirsty for more? Have a look at ’s TikTok investigation into whether Europeans actually drink water.
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