My how times have changed. Bottled water is given failing marks these days because of the cost and impact on the environment. Good old tap water gets high marks, but this was making the news in 1991.
No
vember 11, 1991
: New York Times headline-It's Wet, Free and
Gets No Respect. "In the tea department of Fortnum & Mason, which has guided the palates of England for 300 years, a few rules must never be broken: drink only premium blends; keep air out of the canister, and
brew your beverage with the finest water available - New York City's if possible
.
It may surprise the people who live in the city, having turned to bottled water in numbers that mystify even those who are paid to sell it, but New York's tap water remains
a
s good as it gets. Just ask an
expert.
'Naturally, there are many fine reasons to visit New York,' said Eugene Hayes, director of the tea department at Fortnum & Mason in London, which among its dozens of specialty
offerings carries a dark Ceylon brand called New York Blend. 'But I would have to say one of the best is the water.'
For generations, New Yorkers rejoiced in the high quality of their drinking water, which runs swiftly and practically untouched to their faucets from the peaks of the Catskills 100 miles away. But that trust has disappeared during the last 10 years, eroded by an epidemic of nervousness that has left many people convinced that water with a label has to be better than water from a pipe."
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