Probably unrelated, but I spent 2 weeks in US early December and had trouble finding a tasty sparkling water (most tasted awful) until I randomly found LaCroix and really liked it.

At home I’m using a soda stream machine to sparkle my water (mostly tap water), and I found in LaCroix the equivalent of what I drink mostly.

So I think if it exploded as you say, the taste is involved.

My 2 cents.