Thames Water has ranked high on a ‘blind’ taste test comparing it with bottled water brands.

The taste of Thames Water’s tap water has come third – above more than 20 brands of bottled water – in a ‘blind’ taste test rated by experts.

A panel of ‘experts’, including a wine correspondent from The Independent newspaper and trained wine professionals from two of London’s top restaurants, judged the water brands, comparing 23 mineral water brands with Thames Water’s tap water.

Whilst Thames Water’s tap water costs less than a penny a litre, the most expensive bottled water in the test, 420 Volcanic at £50 a litre, only reached 18th place in the test.

Journalists from Decanter magazine, an international wine magazine, were also present on the judging panel. The magazine’s editor, Guy Woodward, commented on the results: “It’s bad enough that restaurants get away with charging largely ignorant consumers scandalous mark-ups on wine, but charging £5, £10 and £20 for a resource which is freely available is an outrage – particularly when even the most well-trained palates couldn’t tell these supposedly superior products apart from plain tap water when tasting a range of waters blind.

“In fact, most tasters preferred the tap water,” he added.

Thames Water is rated as first class and the company was recognized in 2006 for achieving 99.97% for its water quality. John Halsall, Thames Water’s Water Services Director, said: “The quality of our tap water is better than ever. It’s among the safest and cleanest in the country…”

Waiwera, at £9 a litre, and Vittel, 59p for 1.5 litres, were the two brands to beat Thames Water to the top of the league – a full ranking of which can be found in the February issue of Decanter magazine.