Why does Dasani taste like that? 💦👅🤢

Does Coca-Cola follow the whims of conspiracy theorists?

Since I was a young boy exploring the various bottled waters of the world, I always knew something was slightly off with Coca-Cola’s flagship water brand, Dasani. Despite the sleek bottle design, the taste of Dasani always left something to be desired. It turns out, I wasn’t alone. Over the past few decades, an underground movement against Dasani has been steadily growing, resulting in a conspiracy theory that Dasani’s creators added table salt to the formula to make customers thirstier and thus in desperate need of more Dasani.

On this week’s episode, with the help of Johnny Pujol of Tap Score and water sommelier Martin Riese, we get to the bottom of the big question: Why does Dasani taste like that?

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What are your favorite bottled waters? Was Coca-Cola right to make the change? Let us know what you think in the comments below. We’ve reached out to Coca-Cola for insight on the formula change, and will update you if/when we hear back!

Below, check out some links to research from the episode, a video of our blind taste test, an ode to my personal favorite bottled water, and a quick follow up to last week’s episode on follow ups!

Here’s Martin’s comparison of the old Dasani formula with the new version:

@martinrieseofficialDasani water changed the look and feel and reformulated the water. Let’s dive into it! #dasani #water #watersommelier #martinriese #watertok #cocacola #fyp #foryou #fy #foryoupage

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Tap Score’s side-by-side analysis of the two formulas:

mytapscore

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While we’re here, I need to shout out my favorite bottled water, Poland Spring. Looking into their history, I learned that they used to sell water (and later on, gin and whiskey) in bottles shaped like Moses — yes, that Moses — in reference to the story from Exodus in which the prophet taps his staff against a rock and creates a spring of water for the thirsty Hebrews. Behold:

Poland Spring’s “Moses” bottle circa 1876 (via BAHarris.org)

And lastly, we had a few listeners ask us about how our discussion of follow up questions applies to queer couples. Here’s a bonus clip that didn’t make it into the episode:

If you like what you’ve heard and read, please share with a friend and leave a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts, it really makes a difference. Throw us a follow on Instagram, X fka Twitter, and TikTok. Have feedback or an argument you want us to settle? Shoot us an email at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com.

Thanks and we’ll be back next week with a mailbag episode!