Martin Riese: Water Sommelier Destr*ys 90% of Bottled Water Brands | DSH #1641

Summary

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Digital Social Hour

Episode: Martin Riese: Water Sommelier Destr*ys 90% of Bottled Water Brands | DSH #1641
Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Martin Riese ("Water Sommelier")
Date: November 26, 2025

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Main Theme

In this episode, Sean Kelly explores the unique world of water tasting with Martin Riese, an internationally renowned Water Sommelier. The conversation covers the flaws of the bottled water industry, marketing myths, water quality across the globe, and why most bottled waters are not what you think. Martin brings expert insights and a sense of fun as he guides Sean through a comprehensive, globe-trotting water taste test, all while debunking myths and re-centering the importance of water as both a human right and a culinary experience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Martin Riese’s Water Journey and the Birth of Water Menus

• Grew up tasting different tap waters across Europe, noticing unique flavors even as a child (02:18).
• Inspired to create the first water menu in a Michelin-star restaurant in Berlin, Germany (03:10), later bringing the concept to America.
• Emphasizes that water, like wine, deserves variety and intentional selection in dining.

Notable Quote:

“The history of my idea with water came actually as a childhood… all tasted differently to me… In the restaurant business, it’s all about options. But when it comes to our most important beverage… we’re just saying still or sparkling or tap. Why not give you an option?”
– Martin, (02:18–03:17)

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2. The Bottled Water Industry: Deception & Dominance

• Only about 40% of bottled waters are true spring/mineral water; the rest (about 60%) are simply tap water in a bottle (09:59).
• Major brands, especially in U.S. restaurants, often reflect deal-driven monopolies—not quality or locality (05:00).
• Branding terms like “pure,” “electrolyte,” or “vapor distilled” are often used purely for marketing, not scientific accuracy (11:00).
• Many “premium” bottled waters use local tap water with elaborate stories to justify high prices.

Notable Quote:

"60% on the shelves… is nothing else than your tap water. And that is the scary part and this is the sad part."
– Martin, (09:59)

Fact Drop:

"In Germany, you don’t find any purified water brands because why should I be buying stuff I can make at home?"
– Martin, (10:25)

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3. Health Trends Debunked—Alkaline & Hydrogen Water

• Trends like “alkaline” and “hydrogen” water are mostly hype:
  • The body automatically regulates its pH, mostly via lungs and kidneys.
  • Ingesting high pH water doesn’t meaningfully change body acidity.
  • Studies on hydrogen water are “animal-based, inconclusive, and require much more research” (07:25–08:55).

Notable Quote:

“Your blood is 7.35 to 7.45. Everything a little bit higher or down, you’re dead. You don’t want to mess with that pH.”
– Martin, (07:33)

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4. The “Pure” Water Myth & Mineral Importance

• Pure water doesn’t exist in nature; all water has dissolved minerals (tds: Total Dissolved Solids), which give flavor and health benefits (12:38).
• De-mineralized water can actually dry out your mouth, making people feel falsely “thirstier” (14:51).
• Minerals like sodium, calcium, and magnesium—whether called “electrolytes” or “salts”—are essential, not dangerous in natural, appropriate amounts.

Notable Quote:

“Water is universal solvent… When water doesn’t have any minerals dissolved, it will look for minerals in your saliva. So you drink super low TDS water and it pulls minerality from your saliva.”
– Martin, (15:05)

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5. Tasting Tap Water & Regional Differences

• Martin routinely tastes tap water everywhere for comparison.
• Recommends filtering tap water in major U.S. cities like Las Vegas and LA due to taste and potential contaminants (17:10).
• New York tap water’s softness (from Catskill Mountains), lacking hard minerals, makes it uniquely good for baking and bagels (18:02).
• Many U.S. households lack access to even basic tap water; 2 million people in the U.S. do not have running water at home (20:06).

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6. Plastic, Aluminum, & Microplastics Debate

• Microplastic contamination: Biggest source is car tires, not bottled water (22:05).
• Glass remains the superior packaging for taste and safety; aluminum cans are okay, but always have a plastic liner (23:21).
• Plastic bottles are practical but less ideal for long-term health and luxury consumption.
• Advocates reusable glass, good home filters, and awareness of maintenance (changing filters regularly).

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7. Filters, Home Water Tech & Maintenance

• Brita and other cheap filters do little more than remove chlorine; higher-end RO (reverse osmosis) systems that remineralize water deliver far better taste and health effects (25:03).
• Emphasizes user vigilance: “A filter is a sponge… At one point, the sponge is filled up… You must maintain and replace it” (27:05).

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8. Water Tasting: Six Global Waters & Their Unique Profiles

Taste Test Segment (28:08–49:59)

Still Waters:

• Saratoga (USA) – TDS 40: Smooth, low minerality, versatile (32:04).
• Skilde (Denmark) – TDS 320: Noticeably clouded when shaken due to oxygen, “earthy, slightly salty aftertaste” (34:28).
• Three Bays (Australia) – TDS 1,300: Exceptionally high minerality, creamy, “thick” texture. “Takes 2,000 years to pass through stone layers” (36:04–37:53).

Sparkling Waters:

• Gerolsteiner (Germany) – TDS 2,500: Naturally carbonated, intense minerals, same calcium as a glass of milk (41:02–43:16).
• Vichy Catalan (Spain) – TDS 3,052: Extremely high sodium (“double the electrolytes of Gatorade”), super salty, pairs best with BBQ (47:05).
• Bonneau Me (France) – TDS 5,000: Exceptionally mineral-dense, “anti-hangover water”, metallic, best as a rare treat (48:27).

Historical Note:

• European water brands began as medicinal due to observed mineral benefits; “Seltzer” comes from a German spa town (45:54–46:25).

Notable Quotes:

“It feels almost like… low-fat milk versus whole milk. Low fat milk is like Saratoga, whole milk is the Three Bays.”
– Martin, (36:39)

“Don’t freak out when a water costs a little bit more. Water companies pumping out a million bottles per day, but these are mom-and-pop shops, 50,000 a year maybe.”
– Martin, (40:47)

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9. Water Menus, the Food Pairing Revolution, & Social Mission

• Martin’s water menus now feature in select U.S. restaurants (e.g., Gwen, Los Angeles).
• “Water’s not just for hydration. It can act as a complement to fine dining, much like wine” (49:18).
• Martin promotes global access to clean water, participating with UNESCO (50:18).

Notable Quote:

“I want to bring attention to water because millions of people don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s my second passion.”
– Martin, (49:59–50:18)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes with Timestamps

• Debunking Tap Water vs. Bottled:
  "You have tap at home—does not mean you have the universal taste of water." (28:50)

• Critique of Restaurant Water Selection:
  "It drives me nuts to see two Italian brands in every American restaurant. We have amazing American waters here—no need to ship it in from Europe." – Martin, (05:30–06:10)

• Alkaline Water Myth:
  "You drink this, it goes to acidic stomach pH 1.5 – 3.5, super acidic to kill bacteria. Imagine if alkaline water worked – food poisoning every day. Lucky us, it doesn't!" – Martin, (07:33)

• On the Coca-Cola/DASANI Reddit Theory:
  “There was a Reddit conspiracy that Dasani, owned by Coca-Cola, added salt to make you thirstier in amusement parks. … The TDS was 28.”
  – Martin, (13:57)

• On Maintaining Water Filters:
  "A filter is a sponge… At one point, the sponge is filled up. A kitchen sponge, change out weekly—looks clean, but bacteria is real."
  – Martin, (27:05)

• On Pairing Water and Wine:
  "I'm always saying I can make your wine taste better as a water sommelier."
  – Martin, (35:31)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Time | |------------------------------------------------|-----------| | Martin’s water origin story, water menus | 01:53–03:17 | | Bottled water industry & restaurant monopoly | 04:49–06:10 | | Airport/concession water pricing/rules | 06:10–07:19 | | Debunking alkaline & hydrogen water | 07:19–09:09 | | Tap water in bottled brands (60% stat) | 09:59–11:36 | | “Pure” water and mineral importance | 12:38–16:22 | | Regional tap water profiles (NYC, Alaska, Germany)|17:47–19:22| | Microplastics, tire pollution, container debate | 20:23–23:46 | | Home filters: RO vs. Brita, maintenance tips | 25:03–27:05 | | Water tasting (6 waters + notes) | 28:08–49:59 | | Water as a medicine, historical seltzer | 45:54–46:52 | | Water access & advocacy | 49:59–50:18 | | Fun shoutouts (Lotus of Siam, OnlyFans joke) | 33:07, 51:09|

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Tone & Takeaways

Martin is insightful, passionate, irreverent, and delightfully nerdy, eager to share both the science and joy of water. He avoids pretension, instead embracing a mission rooted in taste, health, and global well-being.

For Listeners:

• Most bottled water is just tap—don’t fall for the hype.
• Minerals are essential. Real spring water, in glass, is best for taste and health.
• Don’t overpay for water “miracles” or marketing gimmicks.
• A good home filter should remove contaminants but ideally remineralize the water.
• Water tasting is as rich and diverse as wine—explore, experiment, and care for your water like you would your food.

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Final Quote:

“Water’s not just water.”
– Martin (51:35)

Transcript

[Host]

So good, so good, so good.

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[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

The problem is there is no pure water on this planet. It doesn't exist because water always has minerals dissolved and you can measure them by tds, Total dissolved solids. And the more minerals combined in a water, the stronger will taste the water. So it's kind of like cooking a soup with no salt. Tasteless. You're adding a little seasoning to your soup and suddenly the soup tastes good. The same with water. So you're adding actually minerals. A fancy word is electrolytes. Other people will call it salt. Salt, it's all the same. Like sodium is a salt, electrolyte and a mineral. We all know how social media is. You need a little clickbait sometimes. People actually paying attention to get your message through. So that was the idea behind the hundred thousand dollar.

[Host]

That makes sense. Okay, guys, another fun episode today. We got Martin here, water sommelier, brought six different. Is that six? Yeah, six or seven? Seven different.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Six and one we cannot taste.

[Host]

Okay.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

One is more like decoration. But I will tell you a little story about it.

[Host]

Beautiful. Well, yeah. So he's a water sommelier. You must be the first one to ever hold that title, right?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

I don't want to say the first one. Like, we have more in Europe and I'm originally from Europe. I think everybody can tell I'm not from South Texas. What people think sometimes. No, I'm German, obviously. I came to the country in 2011 based on an O1 visa, extraordinary ability visa based on my knowledge of water. And then from there I got a green card and now I'm a citizen even. So I'm very proud to be an American and German.

[Host]

Let's go. And you used to be a wine sommelier, right?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yes, I like wine too.

[Host]

So you transitioned to water because you like watermelon?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah, there's like millions of wine sommeliers, why I should do what everybody else does. And the history of my idea with water came actually as a childhood already. Like I realized when I was 4, 5, 6 years old up north. I'm from the Danish border, from a very small town, aventov. It's like 400 people living there, but it's directly on the North Sea. So I was growing up by water. And on vacation time with my parents, I was just fascinated about the different tap waters in Europe. And they all tasted differently to me. And then many Years later, in 2005, I worked in the Hotel palace in Berlin at the restaurant First Floor, it's a Michelin Ostar restaurant, as the general manager. And I guess came to me and said, hey, Martin, you have over 1,000 different wines, but you're just serving one brand of water. And he didn't like the taste of that particular brand. And he asked me, what else do you have for me? And I looked at him. I remind myself a little bit of my childhood. And then I thought like in the restaurant business, all about options. You have a wine menu, you have different liquors on, you have a beer, different taps on beers. Like, you have so many options. But when it comes to what our most important beverage in our lives. Without that, we wouldn't sit here. We're just saying, still sparkling or flat or tap. What do you want? No water has taste. Why not give you an option? So from that I had this idea of a water menu in 2005. So it's not an LA thing. What people sometimes think because I live in Los Angeles now, like tis the.

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[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Did I burn down the joy? I don't think so.

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[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

We're all in for a very big Christmas treat.

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[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

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[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

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[Host]

Nice. Even at restaurants to this day. Like, their water selection is pretty weak.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah, I know. And it's kind of sad because let's be honest, I heard you had somebody that a mafioso already here in the rooms at one point. The water business is crazy. And in my opinion, it's a very messy industry. And there are some big, very big companies out there who trying to. They're buying their way in, into the restaurants and they're saying, okay, you have to carry these two waters and you're not allowed to carry anything else. And they're giving you money for it per year or every two years or whatever they kind of a deal make. And in my opinion, it's so wrong because again, it's all about the guests, I think, in a restaurant and not about making on the side some side hustle money.

[Host]

Right.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

I don't like that. So for me, it drives me nuts when I'm going to an American restaurant. Why I need to see two Italian brands. What I can see at the grocery store everywhere. That doesn't make sense for me. I was just in Houston for, for a great, great water tasting over there. And I went to an American restaurant steakhouse, and they gave me these two Italian brands again. And I was like, this is crazy. We're in Houston and an American steakhouse. Why I need to drink two not American waters. We have amazing American waters here in the United States. Great waters out of a glass bottle. There's no need, in my opinion, when you just have one water to ship that in from Europe.

[Host]

100%. Yeah. Stadium stadiums and airports are really tough too. Yeah, I know LA has actually got the glass Evian, but most airports are tough. Yeah. So shout out to la. But most airports are awful.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

The only problem what I have with LAX with the international airport in Los Angeles, so they banned all plastic bottles by water. The sodas are still okay in plastic. Like, what kind of crazy thing is that? Like when you're already banning plastic bottles. So the healthy beverage is spent now in plastic, but the unhealthy beverage you can still purchase in plastic. And very interesting. All bottled water is more expensive than sodas. So I have a feeling somehow that's my conspiracy theory when it comes to lax, that the big soda companies actually is greenwashing their idea of plastic is bad and they want to push their sodas.

[Host]

Wow, that's, that's a good theory. I mean if you look at the numbers. Yeah, yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Water, that's crazy.

[Host]

$8 for water bottle at the airport, it's not okay.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And second, I can have a Coca Cola or a Pepsi or whatever into a can as well. So. So why it's okay when you're banning plastic bottles? Why are you not banning plastic bottles for sodas? Yeah, there's something off. It is with that idea.

[Host]

Now, I'm sure you've seen a ton of water trends right now. It seems like the hydrogen water is, is the trend. What do you think of that?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Like for 10 years ago, everybody freaked out about ph and alkaline. They all went nuts about it and they said like, oh, this is the new, the new, the new hype. The new we, we found the fountain of youth and all this kind of stuff about ph. And when you think about what is actually ph means your body has different PH levels, not just one. And the idea of alkaline water is when I drink this, I can balance out my acidic body. You don't want to mess with the PH levels. Your body is very regulated through your lungs and your kidneys about the different PH levels, not just one. Your blood is 7.35 to 7.45. Everything a little bit higher or down, you're dead. You don't want to mess with that ph. And second, where does actually water go? When I'm drinking it, it will go into my very acidic stomach. 1.5 to 3.5 super acidic to break down nutritions and to kill mycobacteria. Imagine it will be true. Then people would drink alkaline water to balance out their acidic body. They would have food poisoning every day. Lucky us. It's not so for me it's the same with hydrogen water. They're adding more hydrogen. What always water has H2O. There's already hydrogen dissolved in water. And their studies been done and they're all going to PubMed and all this kind of stuff. I saw the studies, but pretty much all studies are saying we need more research. Second, most studies were done by animals. And third, they don't even know how much hydrogen you maybe need to have maybe an impact. So everything says always maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. And then when you see the price point of hydrogen water like a can for $6 or $7 at a grocery store. I don't see the benefit of maybe there is a benefit to justify a seven or eight dollar water. Now for me. So for me right now I'm not drinking that.

[Host]

Yeah. I'm like, nah, I don't blame you, man. Have you seen the oxygen water? The ofora $30 for the.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

That's crazy. And the funny thing about that brand is literally they are having this hypo oxygenated nano pure terrible word. And all this kind of claims on the front label, when you're turning to the back label, they're saying everything what we said on the front label is not FDA approved. They're doing this for, for reasons of, legal reasons because they would get sued their asses off to all these claims. So it's already debunked on their own label. Crazy.

[Host]

Yeah, they used to. So I'll be honest, they used to sponsor the show, they would send bottles and then I found out they use LA tap water.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

I think Santa Barbara tap.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Moon is the company is out of Santa Barbara.

[Host]

Yeah. So it got me thinking, like what percentage of water companies are just using tap water?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

60% right now.

[Host]

60%.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

60% on the shelves. What you find in the stores is nothing else than your tap water. And that is the scary part and this is the sad part. Actually I was just at Prim when I drove over and I did a video on my socials about look, I found the most scariest place on earth when it comes to hydration because they just had sodas and purified water brands. So there was not even one spring water in that whole store.

[Host]

Wow.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And it literally freaked me out. In Germany, where I'm from, it's the other way around. You don't find any purified water brands because why I should be buying stuff what I can make at home and I get it. Like for example, Pure Life, what you can buy at Costco like super cheap, 30 bottles for I don't know, five bucks or whatever that is. I totally get it. When, when, when you don't have a filter at home, you want to have like good bottled water in a small little container for your kids to go to school or whatever. I totally get it why they're doing this. So for me, I'm not fully against purified water. I'm more about when they starting to build a crazy marketing story around that. Like a fora with oxygenated water and then charging tons of money for it or smart Water. What they're doing about. Oh, we are ultra purifying. It's vapor distilled. Great word. No, it's boiled up tap. That's what that means. Boiled up tap is vapor distilled. Oh so and that is for me like all this then essential. Who's saying like oh, but we are 9.5 pH. The Holy Grail of ph numbers. Sounds like. Yeah, it doesn't do any shit. Like it will hydrate you, but nothing else. Yeah, all these claims are crazy.

[Host]

Yeah. You don't like the word pure in terms of water.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah, let's. Let's be honest. I'm from Germany. I think like for political reasons this word used to be very misleaded in Germany in a very bad way. And we are very. And I'm very lucky and happy and I, and I want to say to all veterans who fought the second World War, they're still alive. The thank you so much for all your service to kick this maniac out of my country where I'm coming from because obviously out of Hitler was a completely insane and maniac and totally disgusting person. And I'm happy. And for me, I just said it in another podcast at H3 actually with Ethan Klein. I just talked about this topic a little bit and I said like the only downside to his. Because he committed suicide with, with his wife. I think it was the easy way out for that guy for sure. Because it would have been way better to let him rot in, in jail to see how liberal we became in Germany and how we open minded now are in Germany about different cultures.

[Host]

He would hate that.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

That, he would hate that. And this is way better than to kill people. So.

[Host]

No, that's facts though. That's facts.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah. So pure. Pure is a fancy word. I totally get it. Like everybody always says, like, yeah, my water is pure. Your water is pure. Water should be pure. The problem is there is no pure water on this planet. It doesn't exist because water always has minerals dissolved and you can measure them by tds Total Dissolved Solids. And the more minerals combined in the water, the stronger will taste the water. So it's kind of like cooking a soup with no salt, tasteless. You're adding a little seasoning to your soup and suddenly the soup tastes good. The same with water. So you're adding actually minerals. A fancy word is electrolytes. Other people will call it salt. It's all the same. Like sodium is a salt, electrolyte and a mineral. And the funny part is we all know Dazani and We all hate it. It's like the number one most hated water in America. Think about it. They're owned by Coca Cola. I heard this. It's kind of like a big soda company. What I heard.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

They came up last year with a new Dazani product. They changed the labels a little bit and put big ads out now without salt. And I was like, what the hell is that? I looked a little bit deeper into it. So there was a Reddit conspiracy theory that Dazani, owned by Coca Cola, adding salt to the water to make you thirstier in amusement parks.

[Host]

I saw that.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah. Yeah. And I was laughing my ass off. Because when you think about what actually In Tazani, the TDS 28, it's super low. Your Vegas tap waters between 200 and 400 TDS.

[Host]

Wow.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Like there is barely anything in there. So what they're doing, they're filtering everything out and adding back some minerals for the taste reason. They called it salt on the nutritionist label. And the TDS was 28. The same people who freaked out about that bought Smart Water. What comes from the same company, Coca Cola, it has the same TDS28 because they love the electrolytes. It is the same guys. Electrolytes is the same word like salt. But now they're promoting it as without salt now. So think about it. That a billion dollar company like where Cola is, was listening to conspiracy theorists on on Reddit to change their formulation. And in my opinion, they change it even worse now.

[Host]

Wow.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Because they already had in the beginning not enough good minerals dissolved in that water. And that's the reason people thought they may be thirstier. Because water is universal solvent. It will look for minerals everywhere.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And when water doesn't have any minerals dissolved, it will look for minerals in your saliva. So you drink this super low TDS water and it will dry up your mouth feel. It will pull minerality from your, from your saliva. And then you have this dry mouthfeel. So people thinking it makes you thirstier, but actually is the other way around. You should have more minerals to make you actually better hydrating and you have a better mouthfeel to it. But Dazani choose to do the other way around.

[Host]

Crazy interesting. Wow. So it actually is hydrating you. Then you just feel like every water.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Will hydrate you, every liquor will hydrate you. Like every beer will even hydrate you too much. Alcohol obviously will have a counter effect at one point. The same with coffee. Your morning coffee is fully hydrating.

[Host]

Really?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yes. This is a myth as well. This idea of coffee will dehydrate you in the morning. It's coffee is 98% water. The same with tea. There's more water into your coffee that you can actually pee out due to the effect of the coffee in later on.

[Host]

I wonder where that myth started. That's interesting.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Should you drink just coffee day in and day out for hydration? Absolutely not. It's the same with a. With a soda. A soda will actually hydrate you. Is it healthier to drink all the time sodas? Absolutely not. Because tons of sugars in there. So water is obviously the most healthiest beverage. But every liquid pretty much will hydrate you. So there's always water dissolved in every liquid.

[Host]

Wow. Do you still drink tap water? I know you mentioned earlier, you drank it in Europe a lot.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

I taste it every day. I just had flamingo tap water. And I have. I have a running geck that I'm tasting always on my social accounts, the tap water in the restrooms. So I'm going into the restaurant, the worst spot. Yeah, sure. And I'm drinking there. And then people always saying, how can you do this? It's the same tap water. Then right in front of the. Of the restroom, what you have in the water fountains, it's tap water.

[Host]

Yeah, sure.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

It's the same when they have maybe in the water fonts, maybe a filter built in. Great. But that's not the real taste of the tap water anymore. Now they're treating it. I want the taste what the municipal source water is actually doing. And I know most of the times in restrooms, they don't play with any filter systems. They. This is like this stuff. What you actually get out of your taps.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

So I'm always tasting this. And let's be honest, when I would live in Las Vegas, the same in Los Angeles, actually. I highly recommend get yourself a filter. Yeah. Or buy bottled water. But I would not drink untreated, unfiltered tap water here in Las Vegas, so.

[Host]

Yeah, I know.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And I understand it's a tough job for them. It's. We're living in the desert here. I totally get it. The water comes from, like, meat from the Kuala River. I understand why it's so hard to even get kind of like water into the city. So I'm not even. I don't want to bash them from a taste perspective. I would not drink that.

[Host]

Yeah. Is New York the best tap water you've had?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

They are good waters. Alaska has very good water.

[Host]

That makes sense.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

My wife lives in Alaska. She works there we have a long distance relationship. No wonder I have a happy relationship because I see my wife four times per year.

[Host]

So formula down, man.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah. So this is great. This works perfectly for both of us. We don't get on our nerves and nothing. And she's a very strong woman and I have a very strong personality and this is just easier for both of us. Alaska is very good water. New York actually has very cool tap water. And there's this infamous story for sure you heard it as well that the bagels and the pizzas are better in New York than everywhere else. So I looked into it and I wanted to know is this really true or this may be a gimmick? So what's happening? So the water comes from the Cat Mountains in New York. It drives down by gravity into the city. That's the reason just buildings higher than five floors need a water tower. All other waters don't have a water tower because there's enough pressure coming from the mountains. What is pretty cool story already. The second really cool thing is why this infamous story exists. The tap water in New York is very soft. That means it lacks especially calcium magnesium. Gluten in bread will react better to soft water than to hard water. So yes, there's actually effect to it that the gluten in bread reacts better to the soft water in New York and therefore the pizza and the bagels are better.

[Host]

I was just there. It's night and day better.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yes.

[Host]

I mean it sucks out in the west coast.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And let's be honest, the more rain you have in a, in a country, the better is the tap water because they have more abundant to water. That's pretty much what that is.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Because we're getting our water in Los Angeles as well. Certain parts obviously from, from the, from the north of California, but a lot from the Colorado as well. The Colorado is pretty far away from Los Angeles. Think about to pump that water into the city of Los Angeles. That's a lot of miles. Obviously they have to treat it to make sure it's safe. Yeah, that's the reason I'm a big, I'm a big fan of investing in your infrastructure. And I know this country is a little bit lacking behind it right now. It's very, very important to save money for infrastructure because we need good water for Everybody. There's around 2 million people in this country not even have tap water. What? Yes. Two million people living without taps. That's crazy. In this country.

[Host]

Is that like Midwest?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah. And I'm not even saying without clean and safe Drinking water. That's one of the four people right now on this planet. I'm talking about 2 million people don't even have running tap water at home. Wow. That is crazy.

[Host]

That's nuts.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

We need to change that.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

That's like, I cannot believe this. That we are still there.

[Host]

Yeah. I didn't know that.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

That's our country.

[Host]

Where do you stand on this whole microplastic debate? Because I just saw the liquid death CEO debate about this.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Let's be honest. Obviously, microplastic is something what we don't want to have in our wardrobes. There's not really a long time studies been done how. How much impact it will have eventually on our bodies. But I don't think it's a positive thing to have microplastic. Let's be honest.

[Host]

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[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

What people don't know, most of our microplastic does not come from water. It's a topic because you see a plastic bottle and then they're all freaking out about microplastic in your sodas. Is microplastic as well. Guys, don't think it's just a bottled water problem. Most of the microplastic actually comes from car tires.

[Host]

Oh, wow.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yes. That's the main source of microplastic in this country.

[Host]

So we're just inhaling the.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah, correct. The indirect use of car tires and we're inhaling this. This is actually the choice. Or it goes into the landfills. From the rundown of our tires. Rain comes down a Path through different stone layers. And this is where all the microplastic comes from. So that is actually the real problem. It's not a liquid death company. It's not a Dazani company. It's actually car tires that makes that huge problem.

[Host]

Crap. I never looked at it that way.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah, yeah. So I think. And again, like, I'm a fan of plastic. No, the best container is, for me, still glass. I understand why people using cans. I understand why people using plastic bottles. Plastic bottles are actually not that bad when it comes from an idea of it's pretty lightweight, it doesn't get destroyed. So I can drop a bottle of water right here or the pool area. That's the reason hotels prefer, obviously, plastic or cans. In Los Angeles, they're changing it now to cans. Pretty much, you're not allowed to bring out a plastic bottle or even a glass bottle to your pool anymore. So they're all switching to. To aluminum. But yes, in aluminium, there is a liner of plastic or there's a. A color. Like, I want to say color, but like a painting. What, distract the water from the aluminium?

[Host]

Yeah, different ways. Yeah. A lot of brands are switching to aluminum, right?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Correct. Yeah.

[Host]

And do you think that's better than plastic, or do you think it doesn't even matter that much?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

I don't want to say it matters as much. The good benefit about aluminum is it holds the beverage better on the temperature standpoint. So from a pleasure standpoint, aluminum makes more sense to me because we all know, like, when you're buying two sodas, one in a can and one in a plastic container, the can is. Tastes way much better, and it actually holds the temperature way longer than your plastic bottle.

[Host]

Right.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

So I think for. For the pleasure idea, they can. Makes way more sense. But again, for me, as a water sommelier, I love glass. That's for me, my main focus. I always try to drink everything out of a glass container.

[Host]

Same here. I order the 5 gallons to my house. Great for the dogs.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Great.

[Host]

You know, I want my dogs drinking glass too.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

You know, I get it. I totally get it. Or get yourself a very good filter system. I just like since a month, like, because I'm always saying I'm not a billboard. So I'm very selective what I'm doing with companies or not. Because I'm getting for sure the same with you. I'm getting a lot of emails about like, oh, Martin, we love your content. We want this and this and this on your site. And was like, yeah, I'm not a billboard. I'm not working for the formula one and have like plastered here. Water companies all over me. That's not my thing. Yes, I'm helping water companies. I have to make money somehow. That's my job. I'm, I'm, I'm helping water companies and liquor companies and beer companies and I help sometimes as well, filter systems. But I want to oversee what they're doing and, and I want to test it for myself. And I just tested. It's called Delta Faucet. This appliance company, what you see in the, in the store sometimes. And they came up with a very cool system. It's an RO or versus most system. What's considered like one of the best filter systems because it literally filters everything out. The downside to our os, it filters out the healthy minerals as well. And that's a problem.

[Host]

Right?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Because I want the minerals. So what they came up with, they have a refilling cartridge where minerals are dissolved. So I'm bringing the water pretty much to a TDS of 1 or 2, like super low. And then I'm bringing it back up to around 100 TDS.

[Host]

Oh, wow.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

From a taste perspective, it's way better. From a body perspective, it's way better because your body wants minerals. So I like that system. I test it out for two months now and I really enjoy it. My cat loves it. She drinks it as well. Yeah, I'm a cat daddy. She loves it. That's a good sign. So I'm very happy about that system. It's great. I'm using my coffee now for it. Great.

[Host]

I need to look into that. I was just going to ask you because like most filters I feel like are bs, right?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah, there's a lot of.

[Host]

Because like Brita is getting sued right now.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Like Britta, let's be honest. When you think a $20 Brita filter can filter out PFAS, then you're dehydrated. That's my biggest insult. Always when I'm saying to people like, I think you're dehydrated. That's for me. You're crazy. Yeah, I'm sorry. Like, why isn't our system like seven, eight or thousand dollars worth and a Brita filter 20? Yeah, sure. There's a quality difference. It's the same when you think a Porsche is the same like a Prius. They're both cars, they're driving from A to B. But it's a totally different, like, feeling when you're driving these things. It's the same with filter systems.

[Host]

That makes sense.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Like when a $20 Brita will literally just get rid of chlorine. That's all what they're doing. And that's it.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

There are better Brita filters out there as well, but at $20 from Walmart. Sorry, guys. Yeah, sorry.

[Host]

We're at the point now where if you want a really good one, I feel like you're dropping thousands. Yeah, that's just the reality.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

The Delta I saw is 7.99, I think, on. On Home Depot right now. So that's not even that expensive. I was surprised as well. I thought it was way more expensive.

[Host]

Yeah. Do you have a shower one too?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah, yeah. I have a shower filter head as well from Delta Faucet. Great. Night and day. Your hair, your skin, totally different immediately. Really? After two days, you feel it.

[Host]

Yeah. Because out here, if you don't have a shower filter, you're screwed.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

This is the problem with chlorine. The chlorine drives your skin nuts. Her and my wife, she's dying her hair sometimes, and when she's in a very highly chlorine pool, her hair will, like, look blue or turkey suddenly.

[Host]

Holy crap.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Because this. This chlorine will actually engage with your hair and with everything else. So I highly recommend, get yourself a shower filter. They are under $100. They are really not expensive. And by this being said, that's very, very important, guys, when you get yourself a filter, you have to maintain your filter. Don't think that I bought one and now I'm good to go. It's like a sponge, guys. Yeah, a filter is a sponge. And. And all the contaminants going into this filter, at one point, the sponge is filled up. That's the reason you should be changing. When you have a sponge at your kitchen, change it out weekly, guys. Weekly, at least.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

That thing is contamination point 500,000 times. There's everything in that thing. So it looks maybe clean, but mycobacteria is a real thing. We all know this now, I think.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

So please be careful a little bit with your sponges and especially with water filtration soaps. And they're more sophisticated. Filters will tell you when to change. They have. They have systems built in and there's an app connected to it, and they will tell you it's time to change me.

[Host]

Great advice. I'll definitely get one this week. Should we do this water taste test?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah. I'm thirsty. I'm getting thirsty.

[Host]

So we got six brands, so I.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Brought six different waters. And again, a lot of people always question. Come on, Martin, it's all the same. It's water. I was just at the Wall Street Journal an article the day before yesterday. And when you see the comments, it's hilarious, man. It's hilarious. I have a tap water. Why is he talking about. Your tap? Is clearly not an Eskildo from Denmark, guys. Like, it's. It's different. I know. It's called all water. It's the same with wine. We're all calling it wine, but there's Cabernet Sauvignons, there's Merlots, there's Pinot Noirs, there are Chardonnays, there are Rieslings. There are so many other grapes. They all taste differently, guys. So because you have tap at home does not mean you have the universal taste of water suddenly at home.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Your tap maybe is great or your tap maybe is disgusting. So even there are differences. So I brought six different brands. They're all coming from the same source. Because it's rainbow at one point. All the water is in the water cycle. Every water. What we have on this planet is billions of years old. We are. We are not running out of water. I know this is a political. It's a political topic. We are running out of water. No, we are not. We have the same amount of water since billions of years on this planet. It's around 360 or no, 356 million trillion gallons of water. What we have on this planet.

[Host]

Wow.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And it's recycled all the time. All the time. The problem what we're facing, why people are saying we're running out of water is more in certain areas, like here in Las Vegas, on Los Angeles, when it doesn't rain for eight months, we have a problem. We saw Lake Meat. I've been there for 10 years ago it looked fine. Now look at it. It's scary how the water came down the water levels. So the problem is, and this is due to this planet gets warm and warmer. I don't want to say climate change because a political topic again. What is crazy? It's not just here, guys. In Europe we have climate change as well. So it's not based on a political party. It's a fact. Because I've been to one or several water companies who are not in existence anymore due to climate change.

[Host]

Wow.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Because it's drying up the wells. So the problem is in some areas it gets too dry. In amer areas, we have too much water. Now it rains way too much in. Way too heavenly. We had in for three years ago in Germany. Suddenly crazy floods. What we never had before, people died. Actually it's unusual that people are dying in Germany for like natural catastrophes. And we had a lot of people dying because we had way too much rain. So yes, that is a problem. So we're not running out of water. The distribution of water is messed up. Big difference. So all these waters coming from the same source, it's rainwater. At one point they're coming down almost like distilled because the TDS is almost zero when it's rain. That's what mother Nature's distilling process is. And now they're passing through different stone layers depending on the different grounds. By wine. We're calling it Terra. That a Riesling from Germany tastes totally different than a Riesling harvest. Maybe in California, same grape should taste the same, but it doesn't. It all about the grounds where the water has been passed through. And therefore water is the most 100% Terra driven beverage on this planet. Like wine. So let's taste some. Let's go. Let's start with America. Obviously, Saratoga, a very famous brand. I love the blue, cobalt blue glass bottles. There's another great brand, Mountain Valley Springs. Yeah, I saw it once, I saw it once in your podcast as well. Both Great waters and for me, these are like the, the most classic and superior waters in the States. Mountain Valley and Saratoga, these are the two brands you want to have in restaurants because that makes sense. Because this is in America. We are here in America. Even I'm background German and I love my German waters. But as a house water, no, do not support European brands. That drives me nuts. I like. No, I live in America. I want American water. It would be the same when I'm in Europe. We have like 500 different water brands in Germany. And I would see Saratoga suddenly I would call them out that as well. The other way around I would say, you guys are crazy.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Okay. Saratoga low in minerality. TDS of 40. So. And you will see the numbers getting up and up and up. Let's taste the first water.

[Host]

Let's do it.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Smells like water and hopefully tastes like water, huh? Yeah. It's smooth, refreshing. I have them at room temperature on purpose because when you chill down a water extremely, you're numbing up your taste abilities.

[Host]

Interesting.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

That's the reason ice cube or like ice cream, let's say tastes very good in the summertime when you have your first spoons. But the last spoon, when the ice is like just liquid vanilla liquid, it's suddenly super sweet. And you're like, man, that is sweet. That's actually the real taste of that ice. Same with water. When you chill them down, they all taste suddenly very similar. But when you don't have them chilled, they will taste differently.

[Host]

Did you know of this brand before Ashton hall blew it up? Were you drinking this before?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Way before him. But I have a video because I thought it was a hilarious video. It was funny and I did exactly the same video with me. Oh yeah. And I thought it was funny.

[Host]

Have you running naked shirtless or whatever.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Absolutely. I don't have any issues with that. I'm funny of mine. Social. I don't have any issues to get naked. I'm not on OnlyFans. Don't worry guys. Don't. Don't worry about that. I'm not that crazy. But the rest for me it's totally fine. But I like that brand. I had this in watermelons already for 10 years ago.

[Host]

Nice.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

So Saratoga, I've been to the spring source as well. I've been with a manufacturing Saratoga at Saratoga Springs. It's pretty cool.

[Host]

Nice.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

It's a great company. And I like this. What is really cool about them, they're very. They really want to make sure mother Nature is not have a negative impact on their water outtake. So they have water stewards on these spring sources and they're looking to make sure that all the waters and all the wetlands surrounding the spring source is still intact. So I like this. So they are very sustainable. And I enjoy water companies who are thinking a little bit more than just being pretty in a bottle.

[Host]

Yeah. 1872. I mean they've been through a lot.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

They've been there and done that.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Okay, Next one is Gilde from Denmark. This is a very interesting water. TDS320. So we're going way higher immediately. And the really cool thing about this water is I can do a little magic trick. I'm the Harry Potter of waters and we talked already about the topic. And let's see if you can figure out what's happening because you see it. It's a still water. But what is happening When I shake this bottle, it gets super cloudy.

[Host]

Huh.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And this is again, we can taste it. It's still. There's no carbonation in this water. So what is this? This?

[Host]

So is that the salt?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Because the over Miller composition is always dissolved so that you cannot see minerals.

[Host]

Okay, so is it the hydrogen?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Correct. It's oxygen actually.

[Host]

Oh, oxygen.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Not hydrogen. It's oxygen. So this water comes from a very cold spring Source is gilde in the Danish language, means ice spring. And when they are bottling this water under very cold temperatures, they're bottling the higher concentration of oxygen with them. Because cold water holds more oxygen than warm water does. That's the reason in New York, sometimes in the morning, in the wintertime, when you open your tap in the hotel, it's very cloudy as well. That's trapped air bubbles.

[Host]

This one I could taste a big difference.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah, definitely. It has way more mouth feel. It's a little bit stronger on the taste. It has a slightly earthy, salty aftertaste. I think what I really enjoy about is Skilde. That's my water for Pinot Noir, by the way. I love Pinot Noir wines and that water is insane.

[Host]

Really?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Like, it matches so well Pinot Noirs. I'm always saying I can make your wine taste better as a water sommelier. That's the cool thing. Versus Saratoga, I think would be a great water for like light dishes, sushi salads, acidic salads, because it's very smooth on the palate and will balance out the acidic notes of salads.

[Host]

That makes sense.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

So you sometimes a pairing is actually you want to do the opposite. Okay, let's see. Next one, we're doing three base. That's a very unique water. Three base from Australia and the TDS 1300.

[Host]

Holy crap.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And as a still water, that's almost unheard of to have so much minerals dissolved. So let's taste this first and then I will tell you why it has so much minerals dissolved.

[Host]

Wow. That's the highest I've heard.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah, 1300 is crazy. As a still water, I now I made a little cuvee here. Wait a minute. I didn't finish my skillede.

[Host]

I made a little mixing.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

The kuveh was not bad, but I want the real thing here.

[Host]

Whoa. This has got a unique taste for sure.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yes. And it has a different mouthfeel as well. The texture is way heavier.

[Host]

Yeah, it's heavy for sure.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

It feels almost like when you think about low fat milk versus whole milk, Low fat milk is like the Iskilden Saratoga versus whole milk is the three base. It has a different texture.

[Host]

Yeah, it's way thicker. Right?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Thick is the perfect word. I've been on Netflix currently on the show down to Earth with Zac Efron. And on the second episode in the season one, there's Anna Kendrick, Zac Efron and myself. We're doing a water tasting and Anna is saying this water is thick. And she freaked out. She could like, not Believe what's going on in her mouth. Because first she thought like, okay, water. So many. Come on, huh? That crazy guy, he has to be the most pretentious person on this planet. And I totally get it. When you never saw me, you never heard about the concept of water sommelier. And you hear there's a guy out of Germany who lives now in Los Angeles and is a water sommelier. I would call BS as well.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

But when you meet me, I think you realize, okay, that guy is not pretentious at all. He makes even fun of myself. I know I look like Harry Potter. It's fine. Like, I have the same size. I'm a. I'm a very small guy. Five, six. You're slightly taller than me, my friend. No, but three base is pretty cool because it takes the water 2,000 years to pass through all the different stone layers.

[Host]

What?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

That is the crazy part about three base. And that's the reason this water is so high in minerality, because it takes 2,000 years. It's super smooth and creamy. I love this water. This water is a great match for like pizzas, cheese dishes, pasta dishes, I think because they're a little bit heavier and stronger. On the pace panel. I love that waterfall. It can hold up to stronger dishes.

[Host]

I'd imagine that one costs the most then out of these.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Actually almost all the same price.

[Host]

Really?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

They're all between three and four dollars.

[Host]

Oh, wow.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah. I'm always like, good water does not need to be expensive. Very important to me. I. I hate when people pushing like super expensive waters. And now for sure, somebody will call me out because they maybe saw me once. I did a water tasting once with Diplo and two chains.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And I think Diplo is following you, actually. I see. Great guy. Love him. Amazing music, what he does. Very creative. And he's actually a very humble and nice guy. Because I met him, I talked to him a little bit. It was 10 years ago already when I did the water tasting with him for gq. How expensive is that? Shit.

[Host]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And we opened a bottle for $100,000. A bottle of water.

[Host]

What?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Why was it so expensive? Because there were diamonds and white gold on the bottle. The water itself was very good water for two dollars. Inside it was two dollars. Beverly Hills nine way H2. Yeah. It was a two dollar water. What you could buy in a pet as well. But they have this super luxury edition and a lot of water companies doing this. Evr, for example, is a great example. They're coming out every year with their special Edition. What is way more expensive than their regular Evo. The water is exactly the same, just as a collectible. Yeah, it's a collectible issue. And that was the same with Beverly's 900 H2O. Just 10 of these bottles were made. The diamonds were like, I think 40 carats of diamonds on that bottle. Like it was insane. But we used that water kind of like as a clickbait because I did a water tasting.

[Host]

Smart.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And then we called it the $100,000 water. But we actually tasted all different waters as well.

[Host]

Got it.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

That was the idea for me why I'm doing this. Sometimes and we all know how social media is, you need a little clickbait sometimes. People actually paying attention to get your message through. So that was the idea behind the hundred thousand dollar bottle of water.

[Host]

That makes sense.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah.

[Host]

Wow. Yeah. That was a very unique water though. Three base.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

I want great water. No awesome water. And I can organize this for you when you need this in Vegas. I for sure I can somehow organize this. Olaf is a close friend of mine who owns this water brand, family owned, very small company. His, his wife and he pretty much run the company.

[Host]

Wow.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

They're pumping out very small amounts of waters around the planet these years. So it's like that's the reason sometimes water can be a little bit more pricey than your regular Arrowhead, for example, or Poland Spring. What I consider actually both great waters for a great price point. But obviously three bays when it costs three or four dollars. Yeah, sure. Why they need to be expensive. It's a glass. It's a very small company. And we all know when you mass produce a product, it gets cheaper.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

But these small companies, they don't mass produce anything.

[Host]

They're mom and pop shop.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

They're mom and pop shops. And I have no clue how many bottles they're pumping out. Maybe 50,000 per year. That's nothing.

[Host]

That's nothing.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Well, maybe 100,000. It's still nothing.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Water companies pumping out sometimes a million bottles per day. Huh? The big boys.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

No wonder they have different price points.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

So don't freak out when a water costs a little bit more. Okay. We're doing a little sparkling test now. I brought three different sparklings. Let's start with Gerold Steiner. And we're going higher in TDS. 2500 TDS. Gerald Stein is a very cool story. So it's a natural carbonated water. They don't artificially add in the carbonation to it. This comes out of the spring source. Like that what that happens when you have old volcanic reactions into the grounds. So CO2 is nestled into the grounds as well. Rainwater comes down as regular normal water. Now the PH actually gets interesting because every sparkling water is low in ph in acidic water. It's totally fine to consume this guys. Don't worry about it. We're doing this since 200 years in Germany. Nobody got killed by, by, by drinking bottled water. Don't worry about it. You can drown in water, but you cannot kill yourself by drinking bottled water. Besides, you drinking way too much water in a very short time of period. Happened here in America as well. It's called water poison.

[Host]

I saw that.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

But that's not a fun thing. And that's very unusual to actually have that. You have to like pretty much don't drink and eat anything the whole day and then dumping your like 12 bottles of Gerold Steiner into your body and then you might be have a huge problem. So it's not that normal to kill yourself on water poisoning. Let's say it like that. No. But Gerald said a number one consumed sparkling water out of Germany.

[Host]

Thank you.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And now the PH is low. And this happens already in the grounds. And that's reason it has more dissolving power, the acidic water. And therefore the TDS is super high. So that's a benefit of acidic water that it leaks out even more minerals. Again, the carbonation is pretty intense. I think it's not a medium carbonation water because Saratoga, for example, Mountain Valley are like considered medium carbonated waters when they're using artificially bubbles in it. This one is natural but still has more carbonation behind it. But it's not too aggressive. I like Gerolsteida.

[Host]

Yeah, I've had this one. They sell this one at Whole Foods, I believe.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Correct. And the price point is actually not that crazy expensive. It's totally fine to have this in a, in a glass bottle. I like this. And 2500 T is pretty high. This has the same amount of calcium than a glass of milk.

[Host]

Wow.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

That's crazy. For people who are lactose intolerant. Here we go. Gerald Steiner.

[Host]

Wow.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

That's your lactose intolerant grade water when you want more calcium.

[Host]

That's impressive.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Would never think about this.

[Host]

Yeah, I would have never thought about.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And that's the crazy thing a little bit here in America, when I came from Europe, they are buying their purified waters and then they're going to GNC and buying their supplements. They think why not just drinking real spring waters where the supplements are Already dissolved by nature. What for sure is healthier than the supplements? Because they have to make them stable somehow in little pills. I don't want to know what they're adding into it to make it magnesium like a pill, who knows. But here it's dissolved already or calcium is already dissolved in Gerald Steiner that's it's called bio available. So it's already there from nature and it's way healthier obviously for your body because not it's not created in a lab.

[Host]

Yeah, I would have never thought in America to get my minerals from water. Honestly they don't really teach that way of thinking here.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

You know, you're absolutely right and that's a big difference because I had a question yesterday. I did a virtual water tasting yesterday morning with the east coast for 60 people. And one of the question was Martin, why is it that when you're going to Europe, especially Germany and when you're asking for a bottle of water they will give you a sparkling water versus in America they give you a still water. So what is the addiction with Germans and sparkling? And that comes due to the minerals. So back in the days, and I have the proof here, back in the days for two or three hundred years ago we had bath and spa towns. We still have them actually in Germany and all over Europe where people are going to treat themselves on the healing powers of the waters. We have over 60 water brands out of Germany who are falling under the medication law. It's nothing else than bottled water, untreated bottled water from nature. But they have a medication number on it. They even sometimes saying do not drink when you're under 12 years because that's actually medication, state approved medication. And we're not talking about some crazy holistic TikTok doctors who thinking they can make a little money on the side. We're talking about state approved bottled water as medicine. So in Europe the idea about drinking water was always not just for hydration. We knew the benefits of minerals from the spa towns. What I already told you, in a regular base, the very high mineral content waters are always sparkling due to the fact that the carbonation because the water becomes acidic in the grounds will leach out more minerals. That's the reason the TDS is higher by mother nature. Because back in the days they could not create that. For 200 years ago we didn't have a lab to create this. So the original of bottled water actually started as medicine. And this is here the proof. So this is 160 year old water bottle out of Germany.

[Host]

Wow.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

And this is what water used to look like. It's a clay bottle. And they pretty much recycled these already. Not in the way of recycling what we doing these days. But they used the sp, they shipped it over when the people were too sick to go to the spa towns as medicine. They were drinking this as medicine. And then they destroyed the spot and build the streets foundations with us. So we're digging up all the time now old wine or water bottles when we are digging up our streets. The interesting part is you for sure, you know the concept of Seltzer Swarter or Seltzer.

[Host]

Seltzer.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Seltzer, yeah. It's actually a German brand name. Look at this bottle. It's called Zeltas. This is the brand name and it's still in existence actually out of Germany from Nieder Seltus. So what you guys calling it? Seltzer water is actually a brand name out of Germany from a spartan with a high mineral content water. Wow, that's pretty cool.

[Host]

They used a cork.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

They lose to cork it.

[Host]

Yeah. This is fascinating. Yeah, I love looking at that historic stuff.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

So that is our original traditional water bottle of Germany. Okay, next one in our little tasting. Let's do Vishy Carolan out of Spain. TDS3052. So we're getting higher and higher.

[Host]

Is that natural or artificial or. Natural, really.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

All natural. All waters what I brought are all natural. Wow. I do not drink any purified waters. That's for me. I. Why it doesn't interest me. Yeah, it just doesn't interest me.

[Commercial Announcer]

Wow.

[Host]

3500. This is the most I've ever drank.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Tons of sodium. Over thousand milligrams of sodium is dissolved in this water. So it's very high in sodium. And you will taste this immediately.

[Host]

Who needs electrolytes?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

It has the double of the electrolyte than a Gatorade.

[Host]

That's crazy.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

That's a sports drink. Now we're talking about sports drinks.

[Host]

Yeah. That's nuts.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Cheers. Cheers.

[Host]

Yeah, immediately. As soon as it hit my tongue.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah.

[Host]

Holy crap.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

It's super salty.

[Host]

Yeah, very salty.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

But it's fun. But this to barbecue. Awesome. Because think about it. Your burgers, your steaks, super high in sodium as well. And they're very strong in the umami flavors, in this very like meaty flavors. And then you have the fattiness of the burgers. The carbonation will clean down a little bit, the fattiness out of your palate. And this water can actually hold up to your barbecue. And it's very healthy because this very high mineral content. Waters back in the days used to be in this biotone especially for your digesting system. So this is actually great stuff when you're eating a very rich diet. Yeah, let's say it like that. This is healthy stuff.

[Host]

Wow, Martin, that was really fun. Really interesting. You've definitely shifted my perspective on water.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

One more.

[Host]

Oh, we got one more.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

One more. Bonjour me.

[Host]

Is this sparkling?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah. 5,000 tds.

[Host]

What?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Don't think, like, I'm not here to kill around, huh?

[Host]

Oh my God.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

I'm German and we're not playing.

[Host]

I could barely handle that last one.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

5,000. 5,000. This is like, this is intense. And this is a water. This is not for daily hydration now.

[Host]

Yeah, yeah.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Like, this is something I would. I would do. Like, it's kind of like a fine whiskey with me. Or like when I have like a very bad hangover. Especially here in Vegas, that can happen, you know. This. Drink this before you go into bed. Next morning, you're ready and you're the first one who wants a bloody Mary.

[Host]

Really?

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

It works. It's the anti hangover water hangover. It's great. It's. It tastes like. And it smells like an Alka Seltzer.

[Host]

I was going to say it does have a smell to it.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah, it has a slightly irony. Irony smell as well to it.

[Host]

Wow. I can't believe that's water.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Crazy, huh? Yeah, very metallic. There's a lot of magnesium in there as well. But I think 2,000 milligrams of sodium. It's intense. Wow. But great. Like this is for me. And again, like, water doesn't need to be always just for hydration. It can be more than just hydration. And that is for me the fun part. As a water sommelier, I don't want to be pretentious and to create water menus in Michelin lost the restaurants, but I do. And Gwen restaurant, for example, Los Angeles currently from Curtis Stone has a beautiful water menu created for me and very successful. It's so successful that people stealing the water menu all the time. So it's kind of funny and hilarious that they're doing this. But you will the brands, what I have here, you can all find them at the water menu at Gwen as well.

[Host]

Nice.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

But the idea is I want to bring attention to water because millions of people don't have access to clean, safe drinking water. That's my second passion as a water sommelier. I was just in France for UNESCO to talk about the importance of water on this planet. So I want to bring awareness and value back to water and I'm doing this through your palette.

[Host]

Thanks for doing that, man. That was such a fun episode.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Cheers.

[Host]

I won't forget.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

I need them all here for you so you can take them all. Huh?

[Host]

Check them out, guys. I hope you bring some water menus to Vegas if you haven't already.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Yeah, we should. It's kind of crazy in Vegas. You need to drink water on a daily basis and there's not even one water menu yet in place. So I'm happy to help the big hotels or maybe the small mom and pop shops. My favorite restaurant is actually Lotus of Siam. So good. So that's for me, like because they have the wine menu and like German off dry Rieslings with their spicy food is just like, yeah, we are over 18 here. It's just an orgasm in my, let's be honest, it's just like unbelievable good. And then I love the spirit of them that they're saying, no, we don't want to be in a big hotel, we don't want to sell out to a big chain. We, we are mom and pop shop. We have I think one or two restaurants right now. I've been to, I think to two. I've been to both. The original one way better. What? I think so too. And the sham is just way better. Yeah, I love this idea of the up ceilings and everything. What they had in their restaurant, I love that. And the newer one, yes, sure, it's a little bit more fancier. The food is still great. But the wine menu and the other one is just better.

[Host]

100% shout out to Lotus. Well, thanks for coming on, man.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Always here for you.

[Host]

Check them out, guys. Cheers.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Peace. Water's not just water.

[Host]

I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm. Thank you.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a.

[Host]

Very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. And Mint is still premium unlimited wireless.

[Host]

For a great price.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

So that means half day.

[Host]

Give it a try at mintmobile.

[Martin (Water Sommelier)]

Com. Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow. 135 gigabytes of network busy. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint. Mobile. Com.