How to drink more water when you hate the taste of water

You don't have to learn to love plain water to drink enough of it. Fix what you dislike about it first (usually the taste of the tap, the temperature or the container), flavor it lightly without sugar, and lean on other drinks that count just as much: sparkling water, herbal tea, milk, and the water in fruit, vegetables and soup.

Most people who say they hate water hate a particular glass of it: lukewarm, faintly of chlorine, poured from a bottle that has been on the desk since Monday. Find which part bothers you and the fix is usually small.

Why does water taste bad to me?

Water is meant to taste of almost nothing, so small things stand out. The usual culprits:

• Chlorine. Many water suppliers add chlorine or a related compound to keep tap water safe to drink. Some people barely notice it. Others taste a swimming pool.
• Minerals. Hard water can taste chalky or faintly metallic. Very soft water can taste flat.
• The container. Plastic bottles, some metal bottles and anything not washed for a few days can add their own taste. A bottle that smells off makes the water in it taste off.
• The temperature. For many people, lukewarm water is the least appealing of all.
• Nothing at all. Some people simply find a drink with no flavor boring, and boring is easy to skip.

Work out which one it is for you, because the fix is different for each.

If your tap water suddenly tastes, smells or looks different from usual, don't just mask it. Contact your water supplier and ask.

How to make plain water taste better

Often the plain fix is enough, and it needs no sugar at all.

1. Chill it. Keep a jug of water in the fridge so a cold glass is always ready, or add ice. Cold dulls many flavors, which is exactly what you want if the tap has a taste.
2. Filter it. Most jug filters are designed to cut chlorine taste, and many people find they drink more once the water tastes clean. Change the cartridge as often as the maker says, since an old one stops helping.
3. Let it stand. If your supply uses plain chlorine, a jug left uncovered in the fridge for a few hours often tastes milder. It does less if your supplier uses chloramine, which lingers.
4. Change what you drink from. Glass and ceramic taste of nothing. If you use a bottle, wash it every day, lid and straw included, and let it dry.
5. Pour smaller servings. A small glass you finish while it is cold beats a big bottle that turns warm and flat by eleven.

Then try a different temperature

Cold water is the usual advice, but it isn't for everyone. Some people find very cold water hard to drink in quantity, especially in winter or in an air-conditioned office.

• Warm water with a slice of lemon or a few thin slices of fresh ginger feels more like a hot drink than a chore.
• Room temperature goes down more easily for some people, and is quicker to drink with a meal.
• Cold with ice is hard to beat on a hot day, or after a walk.

If cold water makes your teeth ache, mention it to a dentist. Sensitive teeth are common and usually worth a check.

What can you add to water to make it taste good?

A little flavor goes a long way, and none of these needs sugar.

• Citrus. A few slices of lemon, lime or orange in a jug. Squeeze one slice for a stronger taste.
• Cucumber and mint. The classic spa jug, and it really does make water taste fresher.
• Berries or frozen fruit. Drop a handful of frozen raspberries or grapes in as ice cubes. They flavor the water as they thaw.
• Ginger or a cinnamon stick. Good in warm water, and in a cold jug left overnight.
• A splash of juice. A small splash in a big glass of water tastes of something, with a fraction of the sugar of a glass of juice.

One thing to know about all the acid: if you sip lemon water or citrus drinks all day long, dentists often suggest plain water in between, because a steady supply of acid is hard on tooth enamel. Rinsing with plain water after a citrusy glass is an easy habit.

Skip the sweet routes as an everyday habit. Soft drinks, juice and sweetened drink mixes all count as fluid, but sipped all day the sugar adds up quickly.

What can you drink instead of plain water?

Plain water is ideal, but you are not cheating by drinking something else. The NHS counts water, lower fat milk and drinks without added sugar, tea and coffee included, toward your daily fluids.

• Sparkling water. Counts the same as still. Many people who find still water dull will happily drink a cold glass of sparkling. Plain is kindest to teeth; flavored kinds often contain added acid.
• Herbal tea. Peppermint, rooibos, chamomile, ginger, hibiscus: hot in the morning, iced from a jug in the afternoon. Most kinds have no caffeine. Does tea count as water covers the caffeinated kinds too.
• Milk. Counts toward fluids and brings protein and calcium with it.
• Tea and coffee. Both count, in sensible amounts, despite the caffeine.

Alcohol is the one that doesn't really help, because it makes you pee more.

Eat some of your water

Food supplies a fair share of most people's daily water without anyone counting it. If drinking is the hard part, lean on eating.

• Fruit. Watermelon (the clue is in the name), strawberries, oranges, grapes, melon, peaches.
• Vegetables. Cucumber, lettuce, celery, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers.
• Meals with water in them. Soup, stews, curries with plenty of sauce, porridge or oatmeal, yogurt, and rice or pasta cooked in water.

At the desk, a bowl of cucumber sticks, a few clementines or a container of grapes is both a snack and a drink. Soup for lunch counts twice: food, and a good mug of fluid.

Use the right cup, a straw, and the habits you already have

Small changes to how you drink can matter as much as what you drink.

• A cup you like. It sounds trivial, but a glass or bottle you enjoy holding gets used. A clear one shows you the level at a glance.
• A straw. Many people find they sip far more through a straw or a straw lid, almost without noticing. A lid is a good idea anyway if the glass lives next to your Mac.
• Pair it with something you already do. After each call ends, every time the kettle boils, whenever you sit back down: a few sips each time. Two anchors you keep beat five you forget. Making drinking water a habit at your desk goes into how to pick them.

Then check that it is working without counting anything. If you are rarely thirsty and your urine is pale yellow most of the day, you are drinking enough, whatever form it took.

A watermelon on your side

Even with the best jug in the fridge, a dull drink is easy to forget when the work is interesting. Notchpals, a Mac app that sends reminders through characters in the notch, gives water to three of them. For someone who doesn't care for the stuff, Melo is the natural pick: a watermelon, the fruit that is practically a glass of water already, complete with its own straw. It drops down once in the morning to suggest the day's first glass, turns up now and then through the day, and comes once more in the afternoon, when a lot of people reach for coffee instead.

MeloPsst. My straw says it's water time. My straw is never wrong.

Melo never sees what is in the glass. Notchpals doesn't log drinks or count liters, so iced hibiscus tea earns a Done the same as tap water. If Melo turns up mid-sentence, Later sends it off for 20 minutes before it asks one more time, which gives the jug in the fridge a little longer to chill.