Fancy a Taster?Mineral Water from the Black Forest

Each mineral water is unique. Our editor found out what the differences are and what part the minerals play during a water tasting with Reiner Häberle.

It is quiet at our table. Reiner Häberle looks around, smiling. Susanne is concentrating on tasting with her eyes closed. And Axel is staring into his glass as if the answer to Häberle’s question was written on the bottom. What kind of mineral water is it? “Peterstaler,” suggests Axel. When the water sommelier’s gaze falls on me, I quickly blurt out “Schwarzwald-Sprudel”, although I can barely taste any difference since we have moved on to the sparkling waters. Susanne shrugs her shoulders and eats a spoonful of her lentil salad instead of giving an answer. Then she carries on sipping and tasting the water. “Peterstaler is correct,” says Reiner Häberle as he grabs the next bottle. Next, we move on to the ‘classic’ varieties, traditionally more heavily carbonated. We are taking part in a mineral water tasting in Bad Peterstal-Griesbach.

Before we begin, Häberle explains the tasting procedure. We will work from still to medium up to classic carbonation, tasting the waters in parallel and cleansing our palates in between with tasty morsels from the kitchen of the Kimmig Hotel. The medium water, for example is served with a little bowl of Swabian potato salad to open up the taste buds and allow us to appreciate the minerals again. As we work our way through the different water courses and snacks, the lines between tasting and indulgence begin to blur.

I could clearly taste the difference between the still waters. One of the waters tasted cool to me, the next was very mild and the third was almost earthy and slightly salty. With the medium and classic varieties, both different degrees of sparkling, I found it harder to identify exact nuances of taste. According to Reiner, this is because the carbonation neutralises the flavour of the water a little. “In the past,” he reveals, “you could often only get heavily carbonated mineral water, as this disguised any unpleasant tastes.” This is why heavily carbonated water is known as ‘classic’ in Germany today.

Bubbles Make All the Difference

A Griesbacher ‘Still’ really does taste completely different from a Griesbacher ‘Classic’, although the water contains the same minerals. It is a fascinating discovery. Even what I eat with the water has an influence on the experience. “They all affect each other,” explains the water sommelier as he enthusiastically refills our glasses. As a water philistine, I have to confess it was more about the food for me after a while, but I did come away with an important finding. In the future, I will try different mineral waters together to decide which one I really enjoy most.