Does all water taste the same? The short answer is, no. Many factors go into how water tastes, including its source, mineral content, purity, and more. So, if you've always thought water tasted the same until you had Waiākea, welcome to the club (we hear that a lot). That brings us to the big-ticket question: why does Waiākea taste so good?
PREMIUM BY NATURE
Completely isolated from the rest of the world, Waiākea offers purity in its ultimate form. Located just outside the quiet town of Hilo and surrounded by rich, bio-diverse forest preserves, a deep well source sits at the eastern base of the Mauna Loa volcano, one of the purest environments on Earth. Originating atop the volcano as rain and snowmelt – the water slowly filters through thousands of feet of porous, volcanic rock, re-emerging at the surface as refreshingly crisp, naturally alkaline water.
This pristine environment and unique process give Waiākea an award-winning tasting profile for its distinctive taste and terroir. This taste and terroir are determined by its mineral composition, alkalinity, contamination level, and age.
MINERAL COMPOSITION
The secret to great-tasting water is its mineral composition, or total dissolved solids (TDS). Many naturally alkaline waters have a very high TDS, which unfortunately makes the water heavy and hard to drink regularly.
Waiākea is so unique because its TDS level of 82 mg/L make it the most drinkable with a light, crisp taste, yet is rich in essential minerals like Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Sodium, and Silica. Silica specifically gives Waiākea its famous smooth finish.
ALKALINITY
A water's orientation, or alkalinity, comes from its pH. The pH, or potential hydrogen, measures the level of acidity or alkalinity (remember high school chemistry?). With a naturally occurring pH of 7.6-8.2, Waiākea lacks any sour or acidic taste that lower pH waters offer. This unique, naturally alkaline pH is what gives Waiākea its very slight "hint of sweet" aftertaste that loyal customers praise it for.
CONTAMINATION LEVEL
A water's contamination level, or virginality, indicates how protected water is from its surroundings. This is determined by the water's level of nitrate. Nitrate is easily carried through soil by water, and this contamination may come from fertilizer, animal waste products, decaying plant matter, septic tanks, etc; this is what you don't want in your drinking water. Waiākea's unique volcanic filtration process keeps these harmful contaminants away, giving it a superior rating in virginality with a nitrate level of only 0.59 mg/L.
AGE
Vintage indicates the age of the water before it's sourced. Waiākea is a young water. It's constantly flowing and takes less than 30 days to arrive from where it originates. Very young waters like Waiākea don't have much time to absorb as many minerals, nor contaminants as mentioned above, resulting in pure water with a light, crisp, and clean taste.