How much would you pay for the best water on earth?

Sarah Fuss, Shine Staff

I should have known by the way the waiter looked at me apologetically through his hip black glasses. By the way he told me there was a charge for filtered water, I should have known it would be a large charge. This was no case of being tricked into buying water. Still, how could I have known that I would pay seven dollars for a carafe of filtered tap water?

In case you haven't tried it, Los Angeles agua tastes like pool water so I didn't want to go the tap route for my first Thomas Keller meal, even if it was just lunch. I wasn't drinking anything else, so I knew I'd really notice it. It was a special occasion. I was taking myself out. A charge? That's fine, I said, thinking, it's not one of those slim glass bottles or anything. It's just filtered water. It was all good. I was even feeling a little posh as I sat reading my book and waiting for my quiche. However, I was not prepared for filtered water to turn my bill into a 42-dollar one-lady food festival.

I've tried not to dwell on it, but I have. It's made me wonder about the most expensive waters in the world, and I don't mean the ones with limited edition bottles or the ones that tack on a few Swarovski crystals to the container and $65 to the pricetag. As far as pure water goes, how crazy does it get out there? Here's a few I found...



Note: Not all products below are available in 750 ml size.Costs are approximate restaurant menu averages.




Cloud Juice
$11.36

Why so much? They say it's 9,750 drops of rain drops. Cheesy but could it be true? Either way, this rain water hasn't hit ground and the company claims that it is the cleanest rain water in the world, collected in King Island, Australia.












Berg
$11.67

Why so much? Ancient Canadian iceberg water. Canada, by the way, claims the second-best water in the world.









10 Thousand BC
$12.50

Why so much? Apparently it takes a glass-lined ocean barge three days to arrive at the source of this water along the Coastal Glacier Mountain Range 200 miles north of Vancouver.







Finé
$20

Why so much? Japan ranks as another top habitat for water. This bottle comes from an aquifer found by the family-owned company that they believe perfectly represents the healing mineral water of Japan.