In a water cure, you're supposed to lose most of the taste, but it will be a smoother less harsher smoker. I would think it would be easier to get rid of chlorophyl from a dried dead bud than a live chopped bud. And yes, if you aren't careful, you will lose ALOT of trichromes. Like that guy said he put a glass plate to hold them down..every trichrome that came in contact with the plate and the bottom of the cooler was probably broken off and either stuck to the plate or bottom of the cooler. I'd say if your going to water cure, you are going to want to use a tumbler to scrape off all the trichs to make keif. Unless you say, tie a string to a rock and to the stem, and let the bud sit there suspended if it floats. you also don't want the buds to be bumping into each other in the water, this is enough to break open/off trichromes. And you don't want to add ice to the water, you want to refrigerate it, because ice cold contact with buds can cause water inside to form crystals with sharp points, causing damage to the buds. It saddens me that most people probably lose 50% of quality just from incorrect handling/storage of buds..and they don't even realize it.