Top 6 best mineral waters 2026

Which mineral water is best for an office?

SPA Reine, for three reasons. The water is very low in minerals: 38 mg of dry residue and 3 mg of sodium per litre, according to SPA's product page. It tastes of very little, which is exactly what you want from a water twenty people drink all day. The label states that it is suitable for preparing baby food and for a low-sodium diet. And it is the only water on this list that you can buy in 10-litre packs for a dispenser, the SPA Fountain.

Chaudfontaine comes second. It is also a Belgian source, near Liège, and according to the producer its water spends more than sixty years travelling through rock layers, down to a depth of 1,600 metres. With 385 mg of dry residue, 65 mg of calcium and 44 mg of sodium per litre, it tastes fuller. Bru follows as the sparkling water. Evian, Vittel and Contrex are good waters, but they come from France and have a more pronounced composition.

SPA Reine's weak spot: it is still. If people want bubbles, add Bru or SPA Intense.

What do dry residue and sodium mean on the label?

Dry residue is what remains when you evaporate a litre of water at 180 degrees: the dissolved minerals, in milligrams per litre. It is the quickest figure for comparing two waters.

European Directive 2009/54/EC links label statements to it. Up to 50 mg, a water may call itself very low in minerals; up to 500 mg, low in minerals; above 1,500 mg, rich in mineral salts. Below 20 mg of sodium per litre, the label may say suitable for a low-sodium diet. Above 150 mg of calcium, a water is called calcium-rich; above 200 mg of sulphate, it contains sulphate.

What ends up in the glass, per litre: SPA Reine 38 mg of dry residue and 3 mg of sodium. Bru 160 mg and 8 mg. Evian 345 mg and 6.5 mg. Chaudfontaine 385 mg and 44 mg. Vittel 1,084 mg and 5.2 mg. Contrex 2,078 mg and 9.4 mg. Sodium is therefore low in all six except Chaudfontaine, which sits above the 20 mg threshold. The big differences are in calcium and sulphate: a litre of Contrex contains 468 mg of calcium and 1,121 mg of sulphate, a litre of SPA Reine 5 mg of calcium and 4 mg of sulphate.

None of these values makes a water healthier. They set the taste and, for anyone on a diet, which water fits. Ask your GP about that, not a label.

How much does a litre of mineral water cost in the shop and at the office?

In the supermarket, not much. Test-Aankoop's water comparison tool gives as the average market price for a 1.5-litre bottle: €0.86 for Vittel, €0.88 for SPA Reine, €0.93 for Contrex, €0.95 for Evian and €1.00 for Chaudfontaine. Per litre, that is €0.57 to €0.67.

Back to the litre: ten employees who each drink a litre per working day, over 21 working days, get through 210 litres a month. With bottles from the supermarket, that costs €120 (Vittel) to €140 (Chaudfontaine) a month, €123 for SPA Reine. But then someone has to buy, carry and store 140 bottles of 1.5 litres a month, and get 140 empty bottles into the PMD bag.

Through a supplier for businesses, the price per litre is quite a bit higher, and that pays for the delivery. At Bruneau on 19 October 2026 we read, excluding VAT: €16.50 for six 1.5-litre bottles of SPA Reine (on promotion, €1.83 per litre) and €17.95 to €20.95 for a 10-litre SPA Reine pack (€1.80 to €2.10 per litre). With 21 packs a month and the rental of a SPA Fountain countertop model (€18.50 a month, excluding VAT), you reach €395 to €458 a month for ten people. That is the most expensive litre in this comparison. In return you get water chilled to 9 degrees, no loose bottles and delivery to the door.

Tap water costs the same office less than a euro a month. If the price per litre decides, you do not need to buy mineral water.

Is mineral water better than tap water?

No, it is something different. Tap water must meet strict standards and does: in Flanders, 99.56% of drinking water analyses complied in 2024, according to the Flemish Environment Agency. Tap water may be treated to make it safe; natural mineral water may not. It must come from a single recognised, protected source and have a stable composition, printed on the label.

That is the difference that counts in an office. Tap water follows your address and your internal pipes; in an old building with lead pipes, that is a reason to have it analysed first. Mineral water tastes the same in Ghent as in Hasselt. It is a choice for a fixed composition and for convenience, not a judgement on the water from the tap.

Is there PFAS in bottled water?

In Test-Aankoop's test of July 2025, covering thirty still waters from Belgian shops, none of the 44 PFAS examined was found, apart from a trace of PFBA in one sample. TFA, a small breakdown product that belongs to the PFAS family, was found in most samples; one water exceeded the future European limit of 500 nanograms per litre. The waters Test-Aankoop issued a warning about are not on this ranking. For tap water, a European standard of 100 nanograms per litre for the sum of twenty PFAS has applied since 12 January 2026.

Which water for low-sodium diets or for a baby bottle at the office?

Look at the label, not the brand. Test-Aankoop records the label statements per water: SPA Reine carries both suitable for preparing baby food and suitable for a low-sodium diet. Chaudfontaine and Evian state suitable for preparing baby food, but not low-sodium. Vittel and Contrex state neither. For a baby bottle, follow the advice of Kind en Gezin, the Flemish child and family agency, and for a diet, that of your doctor.

Which formats work in an office?

In the small print: the format, more than the brand, decides how an office drinks water. 50 cl bottles are handy in the meeting room and expensive per litre. 1.5-litre bottles are cheap but need storage and one person who places the orders. SPA Reine also comes in 5-litre and 10-litre packs; only the 10-litre one fits the SPA Fountain, which needs no mains connection, just a power socket. Chaudfontaine comes in glass and PET, but not in a pack for a dispenser. An office with a mains-fed water cooler drinks filtered tap water, and none of these six waters.