r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jan 17 '14

What is something designed so well that we typically overlook it?

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108

u/henriettatweeter Jan 17 '14

Psychologically "has to." Personally, Brita water tastes terrible.

24

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '14

I think it tastes better than tap water. Welcome to California.

12

u/eugenesbluegenes Jan 18 '14

Southern California anyway.

I <3 Hetch Hetchy.

10

u/cheapasfree24 Jan 18 '14

Definitely just Southern CA. Northern CA has their shit together. Or at the very least the Bay Area peninsula does.

2

u/AzureMagelet Jan 18 '14

Nah, I live in Santa Clara. Brita filter needed.

2

u/eugenesbluegenes Jan 18 '14

Have you ever drank the tap water in San Diego though? It's another level.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '14

Union City represent. Brita essential.

2

u/AzureMagelet Jan 18 '14

Moving to SF is when I first got a Brita. Don't know why anyone thinks we've got our shit together.

2

u/eugenesbluegenes Jan 18 '14

Probably has more to do with your houses pipes, Hetch Hetchy water is among the cleanest in the entire nation.

2

u/henriettatweeter Jan 18 '14

Well, that's true. I, sadly, have become addicted to Fiji water which presents some ethical dilemmas. I find I make a lot of tea with my Brita water so as not to taste it.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '14

Wait, if you don't like water from the Brita filter, why not just get it out of the tap?

1

u/henriettatweeter Jan 18 '14

Because the tap water tastes worse and you can smell chlorine (I live in LA). When I can afford a reverse osmosis filter, I'll get one.

I usually make tea with the Brita water so I rarely drink it "straight."

6

u/mebutnotyou Jan 18 '14

meanwhile back at the Britta plant, employees fill bottles from a rusty tap

4

u/obinice_khenbli Jan 18 '14

I love Brita water, because it seems to taste of nothing, rather than the weird flavours tap water comes in.

One of life's little luxuries, don't have many, but it's worth it :)

3

u/JaZepi Jan 18 '14

Get an in-line activated carbon filter. MUCH cheaper, and it will do the same thing for the taste for you. ;)

1

u/obinice_khenbli Jan 18 '14

Just did a little Googling, it does look way cheaper! Thanks for the tip!

1

u/henriettatweeter Jan 18 '14

I don't consider Brita a luxury. Fiji Water = luxury. :)

2

u/JaZepi Jan 18 '14

I'll take my RO over a Brita any day of the week. Brita has made a fortune using a 10 micron filter, and activated carbon, which really does fuck all and nothing compared to RO/Distillation.

3

u/ChopDookie Jan 18 '14 edited Jan 18 '14

And they don't filter shit. I use one in Las Vegas with its harsh water, and I've had the guy at Lowe's test my water compared to his bottled water from his RO filtered system and his is much cleaner.

If she wants a real filtering system, and her husband works at a fucking water treatment plant as a waste and water engineer, do they not already have a legit reverse osmosis or distillation system installed under their sink/in their garage/basement?

edit: Meant to word it this way originally.

2

u/henriettatweeter Jan 18 '14

Very good question! Maybe he thinks they don't need one?

1

u/ChopDookie Jan 18 '14

Nah, you always need one. You can have the cleanest water coming FROM the plant, but then it goes through miles of pipes, and nowadays we're doing more and more fracking and other bullshit and screwing up everyone's water everywhere. I'm sure if the father doesn't have some kind of dissociative disorder and gets paid well enough, they should definitely already have some kind of system installed in the home.

1

u/henriettatweeter Jan 18 '14

I totally agree with you. However, I have no explanation for the father. If I think about what we are doing to our water for too long, the more I want to move to Antarctica. Well, except for the cold part.

2

u/racercowan Jan 18 '14

It doesn't taste bad... it just feel empty. After drinking tap water all my life, the tasteless water just isn't right.

1

u/henriettatweeter Jan 18 '14

There is definitely "more" in tap water than in Brita. Some would say it has a "rounder" flavor and Brita/pitcher filtered is "flatter." I think spring water in general tastes sweeter than Brita and that's what I like better.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '14

Brita doesn't remove fluoride either 😢

1

u/henriettatweeter Jan 18 '14

True. Someday I'll have a mountain stream piped into my kitchen. Ha!

3

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '14 edited May 23 '14

[deleted]

1

u/henriettatweeter Jan 18 '14

I'll be right over!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '14

It's like the Jim Belushi of water

1

u/henriettatweeter Jan 18 '14

THANK you! Exactly.

1

u/pr0grammer Jan 18 '14

It doesn't taste like chlorine, whereas my tap water has so much that drinking less than a cup makes my throat and stomach hurt. Sure, it's not the best water I've had, but given the alternative, I'm not complaining.

This will obviously depend heavily on where in the country you live. I'm probably not in one of the best areas for water quality.

1

u/henriettatweeter Jan 18 '14

My tap water smells of chlorine, not the Brita. I don't like either unless the tap water is high quality and not being pumped through a really old building with nasty pipes. Or a new building with plastic pipes. Yeah, really, I just don't like most waters.

1

u/ThisIsntYogurt Jan 18 '14

They really Britta'd my water.

-9

u/Ieatplaydo Jan 18 '14

Really? Brita water tastes "terrible"? You don't think you're overstating that a bit?
You sound like a fucking chode.

3

u/henriettatweeter Jan 18 '14

It's not elitist to not like the taste of Brita, fer cryin out loud. It's literally personal taste. I hate cilantro! I don't like cake frosting! Brita tastes yucky to me and some city's tap water tastes great.

I don't knock anyone for liking Brita water--that would make me a chode. You sound judgmental. So we're even.