I couldn't fathom why everyone in Spain (well not quite everyone but a the vast majority) drink bottled water. The water here is classed as potable quality. When I tried to make a cup of tea with it and it was truly awful. It has almost a slimy quality and certainly makes odd tasting tea. I immediately bought a water filter and that made a little difference but not a lot.
So I look it up and apparently Spaniards buy water because in most areas they don't like the way their water tastes.
I've just tested the waters TDS (total dissolved solids) and it's currently at 376ppm so it's not a surprise the water has a 'flavour'
A brand new Brita filter doesn't even half it, it brought it down to 273ppm and theres still quite a film on the tea.
I don't want to buy bottled water, environmentally it bothers me and I'm not entirely convinced health wise drinking water stored in plastic bottles is good for you. So I'm thinking an upgrade to a Zero water filter might do even if they are rather pricey.
Can you drink straight from your tap or do you have to do something to make your water palatable?
I'd go with the better filtration. I drink filtered tap water here.
Our water supply in North Texas comes from reservoirs, so it is lake water. It is safe, but not particularly tasty. In the summer, it is worse, as the lake water is warmer, meaning more organic matter in it. Our water is very safe, just not pleasant in taste.
A good combination particulate and charcoal filter works great. My filtered water tastes as good as bottled water. The top level is to add a reverse-osmosis filter to that filter. I had that in my previous home, and that water had no flavor at all. That was overkill, for where I live.
BTW, make sure you make your ice cubes out of filtered water, or the ice cubes will ruin the taste of everything you add them too.
CD