Dry Residue Reading
December 27th, 2008 | Posted by Paul |
Dry Residue Reading is the amount of minerals, (not solids), which is left in the bottom of the test container when the liquid is boiled off at 180 degrees. It is measured in mg/litres.
How useful is knowing the dry residue reading of a mineral water? Well, to a discernible pallet such as mine, it makes a difference when you can understand why the “mineral water” tastes chewy, or has a distinct flavour to it.
There can be a great misconception between distilled/pure water and mineral water. So, let’s be clear about this – a mineral water has, by it’s very description, got minerals in it. Distilled/pure water has gone through a distillation process to remove all the impurities from it.
Therefore, the Dry Residue Reading on a mineral water bottle can be quite helpful. Over at the European Federation of Bottled Water there’s a handy .PDF file which tells you all about the Labelling: Trade description and Sales description of bottled water -spring, mineral, sparkling etc. It does state:
A statement of analytical composition is mandatory only for Natural Mineral Waters. Bottled Drinking Waters and Spring Waters may not always have a stable enough composition to give a representative analysis, but often do. A re-mineralised bottled
drinking water will normally have a stable composition by design.
An example format appears below:Mineral Analysis/ mg/L
Calcium/ 30
Magnesium/ 2
Potassium/ 2
Sodium/ 2
Bicarbonate/ 95
Chloride/ 12
Sulphate 25
Nitrate/ (as NO3) 2
Dry residue at 180°C/ 156
pH (at source) 6.8
It really is a big thing. Over at Mineral Waters.org you can sort a list of 100′s of mineral waters by the Total Dissolved Solids, which is the same as the Dry Residue reading at 180 degrees.
I’m an Evian kind of guy – dry residue reading of around 357mg/litre. Now this may seem quite high compared to some others. But take Buxton Mineral Water – it’s as chewy as hell, but with a dry residue reading of only around 280mg/litre. But, as you can see from my previous blog – you can drive to Buxton and get it for FREE from the taps around the town!
So, now, when you next go into a supermarket to pick up your favourite mineral water – have a look at the label and check out the Dry Residue Reading.
Congratulations! You are now hooked! You will always look for the Dry Residue Reading on the back of a bottle of mineral water!
My work here is done…… 
Chewy water, lol? I’m drinking ASD’s Eden Falls mineral water and it has 80mg/L dry residue. I wanted to find out what it was and what acceptable levels were… i mean, it’s ASDA, there’s reason to doubt. I agree with the Buxton claim, i didn’t like it. As for your Evian also has higher pH and bicarbonate.
But all bottled water i’ve ever had, tasted & smelled better than this ass water we get from taps in London.
Natasha – hi.
Apologies for not getting back to you straight away – little old WordPress neglected to tell me that someone had “happened by” :O(
Anyway, here we are….
Yes – “ass water”…lol… couldn’t agree more! I always say to people who say they drink London tap water – “You realise that’s passed through seven people before you drink it?” ;O)
Yes – “Chewy Water”….;O) – what a great name for a band as well, don’t ya think?
Well, thanks for dropping by – and I may well try out some of this ASDA “wonder water” at 80mg/l?!? :O)
Paul
I’ve got the Dry Residue bug too, coincidentally after happening across and becoming quite fond of the ASDA EF carbonated water. It’s now the first thing I look at when selecting a water, but most have really high amounts.
One brand that is new on the market but available in a number of supermarkets (up in the Northwest at least) is Isklar, a Scandinavian water claiming to be made from pure glacier ice, which tips the scales at a measly 34 mg/l. It’s carbonated, it’s fresh and is compliments a single malt wonderfully.
I’m loving the thought of chewy water (high corn starch content perhaps), could you venture to a definition?
Martin – hi!
Ooh – Isklar! I’ve been digging around the net to find out more. Can’t buy bottles on eBay, but can on Amazon. I’ve seen their crappy little website with press release etc – it doesn’t really represent their company very well. (I also saw that you can get “still” bottles of Isklar as well).
And you’re right – most mineral waters really do have a high Dry Residue Reading. I actually got hooked on this many years ago when I was sitting at my desk…. saw the writing on the label of the bottle I was drinking….. phoned the company and spoke to a marketing guy there – and he didn’t have a clue what it meant?! ;O) So, it became my personal quest to find out more! :O)
Yes, “Chewy Water – for lovers of minerals – and water” – that’s the hook line; the product is called “Chewy Water”; and there’d be a TV ad and poster campaign – backed and buzzed by an appropriately over-the-top Social Media attack on all fronts – Twitter, Facebook etc! ;O)…. now… just got to find somewhere to get the water from and someone to bottle it!
What do you think Martin? A possible commercial enterprise? ;O)
Paul
Appreciate if you could clarify the following questions:
1) Is Dry Residue same as B.O.D.? An article written by Prof. YANG Wen-Yen from Chung-Hua Technical Institute that 300 as super hard water.
2) how to interpret the reading between Ph vs. Dry Residue? For example
PH Dry Residue
SPA 6 33
Chaufontaine 7,6 385
3) the Ph level in our blood is between 7,35 – 7,45, so normally the best water should have the similiar Ph level. Soft water is good but not soul water (Ph lower than 7), isn’t it?
4) What is the most suitable reading for Hydrogenocarbonate (HCO) in good water? the higher the better? Is there a standard medium value that we can take as a reference?
Much appreciate for your time and clarification in advance.
Mei Lan (Agnes) Hsiao / Belgium
Mei Lan – hello from Belgium :O)
Thank you for popping by. And you have some excellent questions there. To summarise:
1. I don’t know
2. I don’t know
3. I don’t know
4. I don’t know
:O) My blog article was based on satisfying myself about the “Dry Residue” reading which I saw on the back of mineral water bottles in the UK. Your questions are very detailed and it’s clear that you’ve given this some considerable thought. Are you studying this subject in university/work?
Apologies again for not being able to answer your queries. Perhaps someone else who reads this can answer them?
Paul
When we start to pay attention to the dry residue, then how about the pH level toward human health? If the water has low dry residue but pH is also very low, i.e. 5.86, what kind of benefits or impace that we can get. As a tea lover, of course, my question is related to after the water is being cooked. Much appreciate for receive more information.
Mei Lan – hello again!
I see the passage of time hasn’t waned your interest in tea, (info@chinese-tea-arts.com), or the PH levels/Dry Residue readings of water! :O)
An again your level of expertise surpasses my meagre daliance with this subject. So here is a link to an article about pH in water, (which I’m sure you know all about anyway?)…. http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-education/quality-water-ph.htm
I hope you find the answers you’re looking for Mei Lan and good luck with http://tea-antwerp.be/welcome.html
Best Regards
Paul