Eau de Thames beats Volvic in taste test

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A panel of experts including a wine critic and a top sommelier rated Thames Water's water, poured from a kitchen tap in South Kensington, as equal third best in a blind test of 24 waters. Several judges even rated it their favourite, well above Volvic which came in the bottom five.

The top-scoring water was Waiwera, from New Zealand, which sells for £9 a litre at Claridge's. This was followed by Vittel, 39p a litre at Tesco.

Third came Thames Water's finest which costs less than a penny per litre after it is pumped from the Thames and cleaned up at one of four treatment works to the west of London. Anthony Rose, wine critic of the Independent, nominated the tap water as the one he thought the most expensive. Terry Threlfall, sommelier at Michelin-starred Chez Bruce, also picked it as his favourite.

The most expensive water, the 420 Volcanic, costing £50 a litre at Claridge's, came 18th. Decanter editor Guy Woodward said this showed the "outrageous" prices charged for mineral waters which rival "scandalous" wine mark-ups. He said: "Charging £5, £10 and £20 for a resource which is freely available is an outrage."

John Halsall of Thames Water said: "It is nice to see that these experts recognise what a fantastic product we serve up."