The Best Bottled Water to Buy at the Airport

Stay hydrated the right way.

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By now, you likely know that flying can dehydrate you while also wreaking all kinds of havoc on your body, from bloating to muscle aches to skin dryness. While you probably think you’re doing yourself a favor by picking up any old bottle of water at the airport before boarding, a water sommelier has a few tips for you on how to choose the best option available.

Martin Riese is a real-life Mineral Water Sommelier, certified by the German Mineral Water Trade Association. He’s also a social media megastar with more than 500,000 TikTok followers and another 45,000 on Instagram, where he shares his water-filled advice with viewers, including how to choose the best bottle of water at the airport before your next flight.

“Ever since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated with the idea that water has taste,” Riese shares with Food & Wine. “On vacation, I was just fascinated by how different the tap water tasted at every city we stopped in.”

The curiosity began for Riese in 2005, while he worked at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Berlin. A guest approached him and said, "Hey Martin, you have over a thousand different wines, but you're just serving one brand of water." At that moment, it all clicked.

"I looked at him and thought, he's absolutely right. We have a wine menu, a cocktail menu, and different beers on tap, but when it comes to water, our most essential beverage, we treat it with no respect."

Though his entire feed is filled with stellar educational videos that will teach you things you probably never knew about water, his video about the best airport bottled water is an excellent place to start.

In the video, Riese walks viewers through several choices found at common kiosks. However, as he notes, it's not really about which bottled water company you choose, but where the water comes from.

"It's not about the brand. It's more about the source," Riese adds. "I don't care if the brand is called Arrowhead, Crystal Geyser, or Smartwater. It's more about where the water is coming from."

In both the videos and in our call, Riese explains that it's key to look at the label to determine if it says "purified water," and if it does, perhaps keep moving until you find one that says "mineral water" instead.

"When you look at the labels, and it says purified water, that actually means it's processed tap water," he says. "They're filtering everything out. So it doesn't have any nutritious value." Explicitly, he's talking about naturally occurring total dissolved solids, which include calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium. "They are adding back a small amount, but just to make it kind of tasty."

Instead, Riese says, your bottled water should be coming from a natural source, like a spring or mineral water. Bonus points if it comes in a glass bottle.

“I love glass bottles. For me, this is the best container for water,” he says. “Water is a universal solvent and always looks for stuff to dissolve,” he shares, noting water will pull in the taste of everything around it, including chemicals like bisphenol A, phthalates, and even plastic particles. “When you have an open water bottle right next to an open bag of coffee, trust me, a day later, the water will smell like coffee.”

To be clear, Riese isn’t against purified water. In fact, he thinks it’s a great idea to bring along your own reusable bottle and fill it up at the free airport water stations. “I think it's great to have them, and I'm a huge advocate for them,” he says. “I'm just against purified water and charging $3 per cup.”

For Riese, this all goes much deeper than just choosing a bottle at checkout. Rather, it’s all about better appreciating the precious resource.

“I'm always saying ‘water is not just water,’ because one, millions don't have it, and we need to have it to survive. It's the most important beverage in our life. And secondly, why I'm always saying ‘water is not just water’ is because it's not just H20. There are always minerals dissolved in water, which has an impact on your health and on taste. So this whole idea of ‘water is not just water,’ is not just a catchphrase."

And if you simply must know his favorite bottle, Riese points toward Gerolsteiner, a German mineral water with a TDS reading of 2,527 mg per liter, giving it more electrolytes than many well-known sports drinks.

“We don't need all these processed beverages,” Riese says. “We can actually bring back our attention to water. Just honor water a little bit more, and appreciate that you have it.”