Tap water in Madrid filters down from the snow topped mountains that ring the city, my host mom explained to me one day after my first lunch in her home. I had, with eyebrows raised in surprise, exclaimed how good the tap water was, so she told me why it was so.

“Agua de grifo”in Madrid tastes like Fiji water, something I happily, and regularly, pay top bottled-water prices for. It was spilling from the tap. There was glee in my heart.

Theeeeese Spanish, mountains to be exact

I don’t even know how to explain to you about how picky I am about water flavors. I am the least-picky eater I know, but when it comes to H2O I am soooooo discerning. It probably stems from frowing up in a city that had flouride in their tap water, and then going to school in the nearest city where the tap tastes like chlorine (that they do, indeed treat the tap water with).
Moving to the Spanish capital, I had prepared myself for The Worst city tap water. Something not fit for human consumption was more-or-less what I was anticipating. Then my host mom poured me a glass upon my arrival home, and I was whisked away in a swirl of joy. At first I asked where she got her water, and she looked soooooo befuddled, and then just said, very matter-of-factly (like she always was– probz why we got along so well) that it was from the tap. Actually, at first she just pointed to her kitchen sink, and then after processing my question for a few more moments told me it was tap, and the fact about the snow-melt. I had literally been in her home for maybe a few hours. It was a funny introduction.

(You don’t know what good water means to me, you don’t.)

After years of spending silly amounts of money on water, looking for the water that tasted just right, I found it pouring from a tap in a tiny kitchen in a lesser neighbourhood of Madrid. I was thrilled, and it just added to the growing feeling that I had found home, after having searched for that for some time, too.

It turns out, Europeans I met didn’t drink that much water, in general. Back in the States I had been slurping down 100ish ounces of water a day like my track-runner friends did. I can feel when I haven’t drank enough water in a day. It’s a thing, to be sure. Europeans drink far more wine than water (at least in the Southern EU), yet still never seem to be dehydrated, perhaps its their Mediterranean diet? Further research is needed.

So if you find yourself in the dreamscape that is Madrid, not only is the water safe, but it is expensive-bottled-water delicious.