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Soda water

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Soda water

Postby Binky » Thu Apr 13, 2017 4:49 pm

Now that I have discovered a gin & tonic has three times the calories of a vodka & soda, I shall take up drinking the latter. However, what is soda water exactly? Is it the same as a natural mineral water (such as Pellegrino) or is it manufactured from water and sodium bicarbonate?

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Re: Soda water

Postby jeral » Mon Apr 17, 2017 10:20 pm

Hi, not sure how many people will see this thread, hence people tend to post in the main food threads.

Anyway, I had a look on the Net and seemingly:

Vodka and Gin both have same calories if same ABV.

Tonic water has calories, but slimline or diet versions don't. (Soda water has no calories.)

Tonic and Soda water are sparkly due to carbon dioxide, which seems to include sodium.

Carbonation gas can be applied to any water so logically it'd only be mineral water if it says it is, otherwise probably just purified water, which tap water is of course, and these days spring water which is seemingly no better or purer than tap water.

I looked into it when I fancied buying a soda syphon recently, basically a bottle with a lever and CO2 cartridges, but decided it wasn't a good idea as not cheap nor are cartridges, but also a lot of reviews of unreliability, so I decided easier and cheaper just to buy whichever sparkly water off the shelf.

HTH

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Re: Soda water

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue Apr 18, 2017 9:57 am

Tonic and Soda water are sparkly due to carbon dioxide, which seems to include sodium.

Carbon dioxide is CO2, carbon and oxygen only

I've just looked at a bottle of soda water. Ingredients are listed as
Water
Carbon dioxide
Sodium hydrogen carbonate (= bicarbonate of soda = baking soda)

I find mixed drinks seem to work better with club soda than mineral water, I think because club soda seems to me to have more bubbles perhaps?

As jeral says all spirits have about the same calories, 55 per 10g unit of alcohol (25 ml of a standard 40% abv spirit)

I only drink vodka in bloody Mary, I like drinks to have a definite flavour, I should maybe look for another cocktail :D

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Re: Soda water

Postby jeral » Tue Apr 18, 2017 12:09 pm

Thanks re sodium info. I recall there's one brand of mineral water that describes itself as extra or ultra fizzy so I'm wondering how much sodium is in that one. If I can find it, I'll post again.

The extra calories in tonic or even fresh fruit juice wouldn't bother me as they're minimal in daily intake terms - unless I drank it by the bucketload ;)

Drinking any fizzy drink (even without alcohol or calories) by the bucketload is not good as it rots tooth enamel.

Incidentally re different cocktails, I tried a bottle of Smirnoff coffee flavour vodka, but won't again. The "coffee" seemed to coat the roof of my mouth leaving an unpleasant bitter taste for ages. A reviewer said it was strong, which I mistakenly thought meant the vodka, so I guess it's not just me.

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Re: Soda water

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue Apr 18, 2017 4:13 pm

Mineral water as opposed to club soda may be naturally fizzy or carbonated with added carbon dioxide, but usually no minerals such as bicarbonate are added so the sodium content varies a lot between sources

I wonder if perhaps you are thinking historically? Before we could get cylinders of compressed gases such as carbon dioxide artificial fizz came as a powder to add to water, often called Seltzer or Seidlitz powder. This contained bicarbonate of soda and an acid such as cream of tartar and sometimes other minerals as well. When added to water carbon dioxide was generated by a chemical reaction, similar to baking powder or Alka Seltzer. The fizzy drink produced would contain a lot of sodium, and often calcium and potassium too, depending on exactly what was in the powder mix.

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