Earlier this month, residents of various neighborhoods in Madrid noticed a change in the taste and even the smell of the water coming out of their taps: a situation attributed to “a procedure” carried out at a Canal de Isabel II water treatment plant. In the wake of the incident, an expert addressed questions on La Tarde de Cope regarding Madrid’s water, such as what makes it so distinctive… or why it isn’t always the best choice.
Carmen Garrobo, the expert consulted, is—among many other things—the founder of the Spanish School of Tasting and an expert in sensory analysis of agri-food products such as wines, cavas, beers, sherry, spirits, and, of course, water.
With that background , she is able to distinguish, in just a few seconds, tap water from mineral water—sometimes without even tasting it: just by smelling it.
In the case of Madrid’s water, Garrobo highlights its suitability for drinking due to its mild flavor, describing it as “among the best.” However, if we were to think of water as we do wine, it wouldn’t pair as well with meals: since it is soft water [low in minerals], the expert points out, “it doesn’t cleanse the palate, ” especially when it comes to fatty foods.
Is Madrid’s water as good as we Madrileños think it is?
Although it’s common for Madrileños and Madrileñas to staunchly defend tap water, there are experts who question whether its quality lives up to its reputation. One of them was Faustino Muñoz, one of the few sommeliers in Madrid, during a blind tap water tasting organized by El Comidista back in 2018.
There, she was asked to taste tap water from various Spanish cities and rate them: Seville, Mallorca, Valencia, Zaragoza, Bilbao, Málaga, Madrid, Murcia, Barcelona, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Her verdict on the capital’s water was scathing: “Here we have water with quite a few suspended particles and water that gives me that swimming pool smell again. Not exactly a swimming pool, more like a pond. Sometimes it even smells like a frog. Have you ever held a frog in your hand? But in your mouth, though… Pond. A zero.”
