This is distinctively different than white people and how they like bottled water. Asians do not value water as much as buying expensive, supposedly higher quality water. Though Asians do agree on the contents of regular tap water, and that it’s way too dangerous to drink. So how do they make ends meet? Asians went to Costco and discovered the Kirkland brand bottled water.
For about 5 dollars, an Asian can enjoy 36 (it could be 24) bottles of clean non-tap water goodness. Every so often, you can check an Asian woman’s purse, or an Asian male’s backpack and see that there is a bottle of Kirkland water nested in there. Don’t ever try to get an Asian to purchase any other brand, as any other brand would be overpaying for water. And rarely would you see Asians carrying around the metal or plastic reusable containers. Asians aren’t necessarily known for needing to drink that much water as opposed to certain non-Asians.
So overall I’m not saying Asians stand against paying for water, they are just only willing to pay for the Kirkland brand. It is even more likely when going to an Asian’s house or apartment, that you will find this gigantic kirkland case, probably still partially wrapped in it’s plastic seal but of course with the ripped-in hole for access to the bottles. Or if you’re even more curious, look in the recycling bins of Asians, and voila! - empty kirkland bottles galore.
On the other hand, Asians are also known for having a water filter, usually by Brita. It is more economically and environmentally beneficial for Asians to “make” their own pure and clean water; by taking away the supposedly “bad stuff” in tap water with their awesome water filters. It is guaranteed that if an Asian household doesn’t invest in Kirkland brand water bottles, most likely there are 1 or 2 (the record I’ve seen was in an Asian college household, which was 4) water filters laying around in the fridge or counter top. So I suppose Asians are a bit more gutsy in terms of tackling drinking tap water with the help of a water filter. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen non-Asians who commonly own water filters…mostly because of lack of trust in them to take away the impurities.
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31 responses so far ↓
1 YvesPaul // Oct 19, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Did you forget about boiling tap water? My whole family and extended family grew up on that and my friends do that too. Me, being lazy, I just Brita it.
2 Kvietgrl // Oct 19, 2008 at 11:12 pm
save for future post =) thanks for the reminder!
3 Derek // Oct 20, 2008 at 9:33 am
Non-asian here, and I definitely have a water filter. I think it’s PuR brand, though. Distilling(boiling) is too time-consuming, and while it kills bacteria and stuff, I’m more concerned about heavy metals like lead and mercury. But yeah, I love my filter. It even makes the water taste better.
4 Peter // Oct 20, 2008 at 10:21 am
I just bought a Brita UltraMax. It holds like 18 cups of water!
=)
Peter.
5 YASPy Chick // Oct 20, 2008 at 12:58 pm
In my experience, immigrant Asians, especially those over 60, boil the water, while younger Asians and white people use a Brita (or other filter). I actually don’t know too many people who drink straight from the tap anymore.
6 tiff // Oct 22, 2008 at 10:57 am
Ahhhh, how’d you know? We have a plethora of Kirkland bottles stored in our garage.pin
7 blissfulting // Oct 23, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Believe it or not, we get 32 bottles of Aquafina water at Sam’s Club for about 4 bucks. Maybe it’s different in various parts of the country. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Kirkland…haha.
8 Agiel7 // Oct 25, 2008 at 1:56 pm
My folks take it a step further: They boil their water first and then pour it into the Brita water filter.
9 casey // Oct 27, 2008 at 12:32 pm
pur water pitcher and my refridgerator has inbuilt filteration
kirkland water i guess everyone buys who shop at costco mostly whites, asians are more frequent at sams club
neverthless makes for a hilarious reading and time pass if nothing else
10 Miss Ma // Dec 7, 2008 at 12:06 am
actually i’m asian and my mom has never bought kirkland water. She buys arrowhead, crystal geyser, alhambra, aquafina, but never kirkland. =P
11 Gillian // Dec 13, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Dude. i googled “asian people are obsessed with clean water” and it’s true. ‘
My family has a reverse osmosis machine. We purify it with reverse osmosis, and then we boil it, and then we have 2 pitchers for keeping room temperature water, no drinking cold water because that is bad according 5000 years of chinese history.
My dad has told me repeatedly that brita doesn’t cut it because it’s only a carbon filter, and that even after reverse osmosis, you should boil it anyway just to be super safe. He scoffs at people who buy bottled water, because they do reverse osmosis but they don’t subsequently boil.
I’ve been instilled with the paranoia, and now I refuse to drink water at restaurants, other peoples houses, etc. because i’m paranoid too. Luckily Nalgenes and Sigg bottles are now trendy.
12 Zillan // Jan 3, 2009 at 1:28 pm
I drint always boiled+brita-ed water…
and on winter i warm it to 30*C
13 Anna // Jan 9, 2009 at 2:08 pm
What are you talking about? Poland Spring all the way.
14 nick h // Feb 4, 2009 at 8:21 pm
WOW. I have the exact same filter AND the exact same water bottle as in those pictures
LOL EPIC WIN
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16 M // Feb 19, 2009 at 10:29 pm
I drink Nestle brand water, guess I’m not a real Asian. I do own a Brita, though. I don’t think Brita’s a very Asian, however, seeing as they are an American brand and stocked in all the stores.
17 Anonymous // Mar 21, 2009 at 9:17 pm
lol…I’m white but by parents are cheap as hell, yet still hate tap water, and damn do they love that Kirkland bottled water. (Actually, Kirkland just about anything. Kirkland clothes, 50-pound bags of bulk dry foods, etc.)
18 yao // May 12, 2009 at 8:13 am
FWIW, tap water in the US is perfectly safe to drink (and subject to higher quality standards and is also healthier than bottled water) though it might not taste as good.
boiling is not distilling.
19 Anonymous Asian Dude // Jun 26, 2009 at 5:32 am
Uh, I hope you realize Kirkland water is not the same as it used to be. It used to be “Spring Water” from various sources (in California, it was from an artesian well; in Texas, it was from Tennessee). Recently, Kirkland water is now “Drinking Water” which is filtered tap water from Ontario, California. Knowing that California has really junk water (in fact in Orange County it’s toilet water), you’re better off paying more and buying real “Spring Water” from Crystal Geyser, Arrowhead, etc.
20 Freddie // Jun 26, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I have to agree with the poster above that California has junk water. Don’t let Orange County’s “toilet to tap” program fool you. It sounds good, but I live here and have experience with it. Since they started in late 2007, I noticed the following:
1. Whenever I heat the water or use it for cooking, I can smell bodily waste in the water. They can’t filter out the smell. If you live in Orange County, and haven’t done so already, I suggest you try it.
2. I have a whole home filtration system with a white cotton filter. After just running a few hundred gallons, the filter is already dark brown with some specks. The filter smells awful too. Hey wait a minute, I thought they said this water was supposed to be clean?! As far as I know, I had this home and filter since 1999 and only since the end of 2007 did this happen.
3. They claim their water is injected under ground and is further filtered for 6 months before reaching you. Hmm.. this claim seems flawed for 2 reasons. First, they began to use this filter in late 2007 and I have already started receiving the water at that time. Don’t you think if it was sitting underground for 6 months, I wouldn’t get it until mid 2008? Second, the water is very greasy and oily during peak hours from 3 PM to 10 PM. If the water was truly injected under the ground to sit for 6 months, then why is it that the water is so greasy during peak hours? Looks to me that the water just gets partially filtered and delivered to you right away. I don’t think it had it’s underground filtering.
4. My plants grow very well (I have dark green grass, jumbo sized tree leaves, etc.) without fertilizer or anything, just by simply watering it. Hmm.. fishy.. looks like some “fertilizer” is still in the water. This didn’t happen until late 2007.
5. Watch for OCWD’s play on words. For example, they say their water “exceeds bottled water standards”, but when you think about it, this doesn’t mean their water is necessarily better than bottled water. The standard is probably set very low, and OCWD’s water probably only exceeds it by a little, but I’m sure most bottled water companies will exceed this standard by a lot because they depend on you to buy their water (if they give you junk water, you won’t buy it).
As far as I can tell, I would stay away from cities that adopt the “toilet to tap” policy. It’s not as good as they say it is.
21 Asian ABC // Jun 26, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Hey anonymous asian dude, that’s true. I live in Texas and the Kirkland water used to come from Tennessee but is now coming from California after California started having a water shortage problem. If California has such a water shortage problem, then why are they selling the water to other states? Fishy.
22 Vic // Aug 31, 2009 at 5:57 pm
My parents cook their water.
We never drink from tap, or waste money on bottled spring.
23 Gotta Have Water // Sep 9, 2009 at 12:04 am
my house has a water filter and we also buy a bunch of bottled water. doesn’t matter what brand, as long as it’s on sale. my grandparents just boil tap water and pour it into containers to be put in the fridge. it tastes great because it’s so cold but sometimes takes a while to get used to.
24 Water Filter Review // Oct 13, 2009 at 10:15 am
Personally, I use Aqualux Brita pitcher (my wife used to work for Clorox) and occasionally I buy bottled water like Alhambra. Essentia or Evamor bottled water is suppose to be good because it has high alkalinity.
25 the answer is obvious // Nov 6, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I am asian and I drink tap water straight out of the faucet and down my throat! And I stay healthier than all my bottled-water friends around me. So HAHAHA!
26 Anonymous // Jun 29, 2010 at 11:30 am
I laughed as soon as I saw the title for this because there is currently both a Brita filter AND a giant case of Kirkland water in my house.
27 Anonymous // Nov 4, 2010 at 3:12 pm
The accuracy of this post is confirmed for another Asian family!
I found both a brita water container and tons of kirkland bottled water in my mom’s house.
ROFL
28 wood pellets // Feb 22, 2011 at 6:35 pm
I use Aqualux Brita pitcher (my wife used to work for Clorox) and occasionally I buy bottled water like Alhambra. Essentia or Evamor bottled water
29 cguy // Mar 13, 2011 at 2:08 am
im asian and i prefer spring water. kirkland water tastes artificial and too sweet.
30 Richard16378 // Apr 5, 2012 at 10:54 am
My ex-girlfriend had 2 identical kettles, & used them to boil tap water to drink.
She had 2 so one would be cooling whilst the other was boiling.
Getting used to drinking warmish water was one thing I learnt to do.
31 ilovehorseyrides // Jun 9, 2015 at 7:03 pm
My family uses brand name water bottles and the “Pantry” brand and rarely Kirkland
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