Yes, an entire article about water in Europe

Just another article to inflame passions here among the super posters. Whatever happened to exchanging good old fashioned advice like this forum used to be populated with? (Yes I read it and it boggles the imagination what people do to get attention)

Well, Veteran Traveler, when you have been on this forum for 15 years, you too will be a super poster. They just add up over the years.
People post stuff to discuss, now that everyone dresses the same and wears the same shoes. No more need to talk about jeans, shorts and white tennis shoes.

Is it me? Seems that the most obvious reason for the non-availability of tap water is that there is no profit from it for the establishment. I wonder how all the French restaurants, where by law they are required to provided a carafe of water as requested, can stay in business

Miss Jo…. Ya’ caught me but I did have more posts under another alias and had the “authorities” delete me and all previous posts and step away from the forum. Tried again and well it’s still not the same…..used to be advice and ideas but not so much anymore. You however have been all there is to know about FRA since when I lived out in the Taunus for more than a decade.

In many European countries the meals served in restaurants are a loss leader, and the drinks is where they make their profit. So if someone just wants water with their meal it is no surprise that the establishment will charge them for it. But generally they will not charge you for water if you also order a bottle of wine for example. This was even made explicit to us on a recent restaurant visit. We ordered a round of Prosecco as an aperitif, and got offered water free of charge. We just had to tell them if we wanted plain or sparkling. It was tap water (the tap water is spring water around here after all), and it came free of charge...

I think a big difference is also due to different attitudes in Europe versus alcohol consumption. When I was 18 I spend a year in Australia, and was quite puzzled at first that there were adults who would voluntarily not drink alcohol. I grew up in a time and place where adults drank beer or wine, and only kids drank soft drinks. I had my last cola when I was twelve. After my confirmation I was an adult, and drank beer and wine, just like the adults. My dad wouldn't dream of having anything but a beer with his lunch.

Lastly, maybe you Americans just do need more water. You spend more time in air conditioned spaces, and those do dehydrate you. One of the many reasons why I don't really like AC.

Lousy title to that article. The use of the word outraged is ridiculous. Surprised may be more apropo.
Every article about Americans and Europeans always makes the Americans sound like that. Outraged loud buffoons plodding around in shorts, knee socks and white seamers, climbing on monuments.
It’s offensive.

No I wasn't try to start a flame war, that's not a game I have ever played. And if I did, I wouldn't have shared a link to an article I would have written a "saga" about my "amazing" Euro water experience.

It's just the sharing of travel information, which is kinda what this forum is all about.

When I’m at home in England I only order tap water. In most of Europe it’s just standard to be served bottled water. I ask for water and I know that’s what I’m going to get. It’s no big deal. The cost is minimal.

But at home I would never ONLY drink tap water with a meal if I was anywhere nice. That to me is really quite bad manners in a restaurant. There’s an unspoken rule that you have to buy a drink.

Because you nearly always have water alongside another drink in Europe it is served in small glasses. It’s a sort of a side drink. The table would look really inelegant with huge pint glasses on it.

What I really like about Europe specifically in Germany/Austria is that many cafes give you a glass of water with your coffee. Yes it's small but it's free.

And no one is outraged. CNN being CNN again.

The use of the word outraged is ridiculous.

Oh, I dunno. Outrage seems to me to be the currency du jour. It's a bit exhausting, honestly. I mean, people seem to be outraged over Spaniards shooting squirt guns at tourists. Thicker skins are warranted IMO.

Tip: in Germany and some other countries travelers can find free refill options.

A lot of towns and cities also provide free drinking fountains (example Berlin).

I'm never too concerned about getting water with meals in Italy and other countries and never ask for tap water. I always carry a bottle of water when I'm out touring, but it's often getting low by suppertime. Buying bottled water is such a miniscule expense in the overall holiday budget, so I just order a 1 litre bottle of Acqua Naturale with dinner. It's just about always well chilled so no ice needed. If I have any left over, I use it to refill my touring bottle. I don't consider lack of tap water as a reason to be "outraged".

I've been in Vienna for several days. Tap water is often, if not always, listed on the menu at a modest charge. If you order it, the server usually points out that there will be a charge, because it would be easy to overlook the menu listing. I like this approach--it defrays the restaurant's cost of serving the water and washing the glasses without adding to the country's recycling burden. I hate having to order bottled water in places where the tap water is drinkable.

I don't care about the water, but I am OUTRAGED, that they charge for every cup of coffee. Very backwards.

Why would they not charge you for every cup of coffee? Each time you order a cup of coffee someone has to prepare you one.

Why would they not charge you for every cup of coffee? Each time you order a cup of coffee someone has to prepare you one.

In the US we brew coffee by the pot (and sometimes quite a large pot), and so it's just a matter of pouring another cup. Coffee in Europe is an entirely different phenomenon from in the US, unless one is visiting a coffee shop like Starbucks. Coffee is one of the few food and beverage items that is costlier in Europe.

jphbucks, you nailed it on the coffee. Water too by the way. They will fill that free glass of tap water 100 times for you in the US.

Here is a fun site for this sort of thing. The accuracy probably isnt exceptional, but it will give you an idea.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=United+Kingdom&city1=San+Antonio%2C+TX&city2=London&tracking=getDispatchComparison

While the article does at some point offer information about how drinking water works when you travel in some countries in Europe, the rest of it does not paint a great picture of Americans whilst abroad. If you just replace the word “water” with “electrical outlets”, you see how silly these people sound. Yeah, things are just a little bit different and we should be informed of that (I was also taken aback with the lack of drinking water in Germany in restaurants), but the way the article is written is purely for click bait reasons. This little cultural difference is the reason my kids discovered Spezi, and they loved it and tried to recreate the recipe upon returning. It’s also a nice Christmas stocking stuffer idea for me now.

It's a lot more fun to point out how strange other countries' customs are, than to point out how foolish we are to assume that we Americans always know best.

We dont "always" know best. Just most of the time. But seriously, we tend to be self critical for making note of the differences and then making comparisons. Where I come from that just a learning exercise. Nothing to be critical about. The only flaw is that we forget the big picture and the cultural context. To begin to learn you have to step back and ask why. Sometimes there is a logical explination. The coffee has a logical explination as its a totally different product than US coffee and just cant be served the same way. It is labor intensive where ours is not. The water is maybe a much deeper and complicated issue of supply, history of safety (history, not current) and culture. Health care is another very complicated difference that everyone tends to get wrong because they overly simplify it.

But if you dont recognize the differences and if you dont ask, you dont learn. The more we learn the more we can find things that might work better in the US .... or not.

In the US we brew coffee by the pot (and sometimes quite a large pot),
and so it's just a matter of pouring another cup.

And in most of Europe that is not considered a kind of coffee that a restaurant or cafe would dare to inflict upon its customers.

Each cup is brewed individually, and yes, that is why you are also expected to pay for each cup.

I don't like the practice of being given big glasses of water with my meal in the US and usually accompanied with a straw! Why do I need a straw? I'm not a child. When I'm seated for a meal I'm invariably not in need of quenching my thirst, a glass of wine is usually what I want to accompany my meal and perhaps a small glass of water to clear the palate.

WengenK cultural tolerance should flow like coffee in both directions. And Americns always think they know best?

I. am all in favour of cultural tolerance. I am nevertheless happy restaurants and cafes server proper coffee.

And in most of Europe that is not considered a kind of coffee that a restaurant or cafe would dare to inflict upon its customers.

I'm sorry, but Dunkin Donuts coffee in the US is superior to most coffee one gets in Europe (can you hear me, Costa? Why does anyone patronize you?). And believe it or not, Waffle House coffee is pretty good. The most excellent coffee in Europe IME would be France, where I've never been served a bad cup of coffee. Italian coffee is also exceptional. Danish, German, Spanish coffee? Meh, as a general rule.

By the way, I've never been refused tap water as an accompaniment to a meal in all my many trips to Europe. As for straws, just pretend they're meant for the imaginary child at your table. No one will punish you if you don't use it.

What a goofball article. Full of disputatious nonsense.

I'm sorry, but Dunkin Donuts coffee in the US is superior to most coffee one gets in Europe (can you hear me, Costa? Why does anyone patronize you?). And believe it or not, Waffle House coffee is pretty good.

I've never been to a Dunkin Donuts or Waffle House but if they serve filter coffee then it's never going to be as good as coffee made from a proper espresso machine.

cultural tolerance should flow like coffee in both directions

As all fluids also coffee flows simply downwards. I hope tolerance might not follow any inclination of a surface.

The main parallel I see that taste and cultural experience depends very much on what eberybody is used too. Since water is the base of coffee the taste of water significantly influence the taste of coffee (and tea).

It seems from insights of EWG tap's water database that some areas' drinking water in the USA "is like pouring a cocktail of chemicals".

Personally I really do not like the taste of Costa coffees. Trying to avoid whereever I can.

I've never been to a Dunkin Donuts or Waffle House but if they serve filter coffee then it's never going to be as good as coffee made from a proper espresso machine.

That's one opinion. Another one is that espresso diluted with hot water will never be as good as full-strength drip ("filter") coffee made using optimum-temperature water. The latter is more to my taste, in general, though the French and Italians seem to have figured out how to do the former very well. Bottom line: you need excellent water, excellent beans and excellent roasting, brewed at optimum temperature, to make excellent coffee.

One advantage coffee drinkers have in the US is availability of a wide range of beans and roasts that I've not seen in Europe. Someone who prefers a smoky, bitter Italian style roast sometimes and a lighter, tangy roast at others can find beans to make both styles in the US; not so much in Europe.

What we are reading here is Americans comparing American stuff to European stuff and pronouncing America is better. Just the sort of thing that Americans get critizised for. OH WAIT, I'm sorry ......... what we have here is Europeans comparing European stuff to American stuff and pronouncing Europe is better. For the coffee, neither is better, one or the other is more to the liking of the person drinking. Now if I can get the waitress to warm my cup. ......

what we have here is Europeans comparing European stuff to American stuff and pronouncing Europe is better.

Not at all, you an have decent espresso coffee in the US, it's not confined to Europe. I just find filter coffee, especially that in the big jugs that sit on the hotplate for however long to be horrible stuff. You can find filter coffee in Europe it just tends to be confined to home use.

Filter coffee is fine if you value quantity over quality. At my last job it was part of my routine to get a big, cheap cup of filter coffee to go on the walk to work. Sometimes I'd still be drinking it half way through my morning meeting. Serves a purpose.

JC, it’s okay. Personally I think comparisons are a way of learning. Those who are overtly negative aren’t showing any signs of education or tolerance. “Hey lady, your French coffee tastes like Sh&%. We do coffee right in America.” Or anything that approaches that, does not shine a good light on the one talking. Means they dont get, or could even begin to understand, the cultural differences that are a part of the coffee culture in one country vs another. But that fine. Not like wanting to understandi the world is gong to change their sucess at work.

Pro tip for the Europeans here: the fact you drip-brew coffee doesn't obligate you to keep it on a hot plate. Good places usually brew it straight into an insulated carafe.

There's a big difference in the quality of tap water where I am currently in London and where I grew up in Scotland. In London the tap water is really chalky, just as a product of the geology. In Scotland the bedrock stone is generally much less permeable so less of it ends up in the water.

It's an absolute nightmare trying to keep an electric kettle clean in London. Leave it without cleaning for a week and the limescale is already starting to build up. If you leave water to dry on glass or chrome in the bathroom you get really obvious water marks from the limescale.

In any given country, there are hundreds if not thousands of water systems all using different sources, and to generalize about a whole country's tap water or infrastructure is not very useful. Yes the EU and US have pretty much the same standards, but standards don't always get met - ask the people in Flint Michigan and Jackson Mississippi.

You can find filter coffee in Europe it just tends to be confined to
home use.

We used to have filter coffee at home. We would indeed just brew it directly in a thermos. But nowadays most people make their coffee at home using either Nespresso, or one of its clones, or a "bean to coffee" machine.

Jura is a popular brand here in Switzerland. It is what I have, and it makes good coffee. I had a bit of a giggle watching "For All Mankind" on apple TV and seeing that Mars has Jura coffee machines as well :-)