How Try-day Friday Started

Early in 2020, a few months after the pandemic had started, when restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues were closed, we were looking for a way to make Friday night feel special again. Kristen works in healthcare and was still leaving the house everyday for work. Josh was now working from home full-time and rarely left the house. Binge-watching streamed shows was the way to connect with people. While watching the episode "France" from "Down to Earth with Zac Efron," we learned about Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) ratings of water. 

TDS is a measure of the concentration of minerals and metals dissolved into water. Minerals like magnesium, sodium, potassium, calcium, and silica. Metals like iron, zinc, or even lead (eep!) We could get deep into the chemistry weeds on this, but suffice is to say that a lot of things can dissolve into water. The only way our human bodies can detect these solutes (aka things dissolved into water) is through taste.

Back to "France." We meet a water sommelier who practices his craft in LA. He uses stemware reminiscent of fine white wine glasses to serve Zac and friend, Anna Kendrick, a variety of waters. The waters range from low TDS to high TDS. Watching their reactions to these waters was entertaining. It also made us want to try a variety of waters!

A trip to the water aisle at our local Whole Paycheck store revealed that TDS is listed on all the water labels. Most even have a breakdown of what those dissolved minerals/metals are (huzzah!) We bought five different waters for the tasting. 

Armed with literal liters of H2O, we realized we needed a third palate to make this taste test more rigorous (and fun.) Our friend Kevin was taking classes on-line and rarely left his apartment. He was safe to be in our COVID friend-bubble (phew!)

Friday evening worked best for all of our schedules to try this cornucopia of water. And try-day Friday was born.