Meet Ganesh Iyer, India’s only accredited water sommelier who can determine pH levels with just a taste

Can you differentiate water from India from that in China, the US or Australia just by tasting it? Can you sniff and determine the mineral content or pH level of that water? Ganesh Iyer, India’s first and only accredited water sommelier can do all that.

Iyer is director - operations, India and Indian subcontinent, at Veen, a Finnish company that bottles natural mineral water from spring sources in Finnish Lapland and Bhutan. It entered India in 2013.

While wine sommeliers have been dominating fine dining with recommendations for the perfect wine pairings to go with food, water sommeliers are doing the same, except with natural mineral water sourced from deep arctic regions to mountain springs from Tasmania and Himalayan springs in Bhutan. But who exactly is a water sommelier? After an 18-day accreditation course at the Deomans Academy in Munich last year, Iyer learnt that a sommelier is someone who can detect, recognise and differentiate between various types of natural mineral waters. He emphasises on natural mineral water, adding it’s important to understand that natural mineral water is different from the packaged drinking water you get in the market. “Natural mineral water is bottled at the source from a natural spring or an artisanal well. It is not treated or processed in any way,” Iyer says, which means minerals are naturally present in it.




With wine, it’s easier, Iyer says. One can get hints of fruits and spices in the wine with a sniff. “Water is tedious. You have to figure how old the water is, its mineral content, pH Levels and taste. Say you get a chalky mouthfeel after a sip, you can determine that there is a good amount of calcium in the water.” The course is not all about swirling and sniffing water though. It takes you through all the facets of understanding water from a historical, political and geographical perspective, and how water tables form, how water moves, water as a commodity, et al.

Ray’s & Stark Bar, a restaurant at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, has a 44-page water menu designed by water sommelier Martin Riese. China is apparently embracing the trend, as is London. Is India ready for this? Not yet, Iyer says. They are still training hotel staff with basics like knowing the difference between waters.

Given how natural spring water is notoriously expensive, will it catch on? “Indians are well travelled now and have had a taste of the best of everything – from food and wine to now water. I believe, in the next three to four years, we will see water pairing in Indian restaurants, too,” says Iyer.