I bought it the first time because it was there. End of the shelf, just before the pricier section started. €5.95. Organic, apparently.
Green leaf on the back. I checked that.
Didn’t think much else about it.
Drank it that evening without paying much attention. It was fine. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing that made you stop either. The kind of bottle that goes without you noticing it properly. I think I was cooking at the same time. Or meant to be.
I forgot about it until I saw it again a few days later.
Same shelf. Not exactly the same spot, but close enough that it felt like it hadn’t really moved.
I picked it up without thinking about it too much. Looked at it properly this time. Same label, same wording. The organic symbol still there, small, slightly off to one side like it hadn’t been designed to stand out.
I turned it over again.
You notice different things the second time. Not the obvious parts. Smaller bits. Where it was bottled. The name of the producer. Things that don’t try very hard to be seen.
It went in the basket.
Again.
At home, it ended up in the same place as before. Near the window. That spot where bottles sit for a bit before they get opened. It stayed there longer this time. I kept walking past it, picking it up, putting it back down.
No reason.
Just didn’t open it.
The house has been warmer than usual lately. Not unbearable, just constant. The kind of heat that makes everything feel like it’s working slightly harder than it should. You notice small things. The fridge running longer. Air that doesn’t really move by late afternoon.
I’ve started paying attention to that more. Not deliberately. Just happens.
At some point I ended up looking into how people deal with it properly here, not the usual guessing, more how the houses are set up when it’s actually thought through, something like JaveaSolar. Not because I was going to do anything about it, just to get a sense of what’s going on behind it.
The bottle was still there the next morning.
Same place. Same light.
I picked it up, then put it back again.
I realised I didn’t really trust it.
Not the certification. That part was clear enough. It had the leaf. It passed whatever it needed to pass.
It was everything else.
The price, maybe. Or the way it sat there trying not to draw attention to itself. Cheap enough to ignore, but not quite cheap enough to dismiss.
Like it had been designed to land in that middle space.
I opened it that evening.
Poured a glass. Left it on the counter for a minute before trying it.
Same as before.
Nothing wrong with it.
I finished the glass, left the bottle where it was, and didn’t go back for another.
It was still there the next day. A bit lower than before, but not by much.