sparkling water

I've been pretty much addicted to soda for as long as i can remember. Growing up, my mom only bought caffeine free diet coke, but I was never able to develop a taste for artifical sweetener. So whenever I came across the real thing, I acted like a wild animal and consumed as much as i could as fast as i could. Every summer when we'd visit my grandma, the first thing my brother and I would do was run to the basement and binge on delicious sugar-full real soda that my grandma stocked by the pallet. Real pepsi, real 7-up, real orange crush. Definitely some of my fondest memories. We'd grab a six pack and walk to my uncle's garage (he was an aracade game repairman) and play whatever he had fixed up for us, taking breaks only to pee or when our parents yelled for us that it was dinnertime. But I'm getting a little tangential. Basically as I got on my own my fridge was stocked solely with sodas. I took a job once that stocked free sodas in the breakroom fridge, and that really kicked my consumption into overdrive. But 6 years ago I removed caffeine from my diet, which by and large made sprite my go-to soda. And just recently I gave up soda altogether, which has left me with water. I always have water with all of my meals now. But in October I had an epiphany, a revolution. I was traveling in Argentina and when asked what kind of water I wanted--agua con gas or agua sin gas, I said sin, but by mistake they brought me a bottle of villavicencio sparkling mineral water. it was the single greatest bottle of water of my life. i thought i had had sparkling water before in my life but it was nasty -- it might have been seltzer water. i dont know, but this shit was wonderful. crisp, pure, simple spring water heightened by bubbles. why had i not had this before? it was what was missing in my life. i realized it was the bubbles that i loved so much about soda - not the cumbersome flavors. during my stay i would just spend hours sitting in cafes drinking sparkling water, watching the passers-by, absorbing the sounds, sights, and smells of buenos aires. when i returned to the states, villavicencio was not available, so i tried pellegrino and perrier -- both wonderful. but expensive. i moved to arrowhead sparkling water, which for a buck a litre is pretty reasonable, but it's just slightly over-carbonated. and then i found my perfect sparking water: whole foods generic "italian sparkling mineral water" -- just like pellegrino but only a dollar per litre. i drink on average 2 litres a day. so my new habit is expensive at almost a thousand bucks a year, but three months in and i still am overwhelmed by each and every taste of this beverage, like reuniting with a part of yourself that has been missing forever. like finding out you had a twin brother that was separated at birth. and it settles my stomach like nothing else. and it's great for hangovers. and waking up thirsty in the middle of the night. and you can drink as much as you want with zero consequences. it's the perfect everyday beverage. i'll probably have to resort to cans of store brand club soda soon, or maybe invest in a carbonater. but in whatever form, i love sparking water.

sparkling water.

That was beautiful.

ok

I dont like aqua con gas, i even hate it.

But if you find the bubbles are not worth the price of the bottle, well, let me tell you my friend that machines that gasifies water actually do exist. I think every german family has one (german people love bubbles, probably because of the beer).

My parents also drink kefir (water + bacterias + sugar + fig + lemon). basically, the bacterias eat sugar then fart so as a consequence there are bubbles in kefir.

pretty cheap - about EUR50 here

I hate fizzy water with a passion. I was playing golf once and the tard in the pro shop sold me sparkling water. It was a roasting day and the only way I could drink it was by shaking the bottle and repeatedly opening and closing the cap until it went fairly flat. It was still horrible. But drinkable.

Good for you though. I knew there must be people out there somewhere who drunk it.

yeah. it's kinda salty

how are your onions spratters ?

  On 1/21/2011 at 10:36 PM, spratters said:

I hate fizzy water with a passion. I was playing golf once and the tard in the pro shop sold me sparkling water. It was a roasting day and the only way I could drink it was by shaking the bottle and repeatedly opening and closing the cap until it went fairly flat. It was still horrible. But drinkable.

 

Good for you though. I knew there must be people out there somewhere who drunk it.

Sparkling water is pretty good. I hated it until around 3 years ago but now I can drink the stuff for days. I should go pick some up now.

yeah i might have to get a carbonater. but i dont think my tap water is going to do it for me, so then i'd have to have jugs of mineral water delivered.

i also like to put a lime wedge on the rim of my glass, so i get a slight whiff of lime when i drink. but i dont put any lime juice actually in or anything. i dont want the flavor to corrupt the purity of the water.

elixir of the gods

i absolutely despise sparkling water, not many foods and drinks actually upset me but sparkling water is definetely one of them.

  On 1/21/2011 at 10:38 PM, Babar said:

yeah. it's kinda salty

what? that's weird. that's how i felt a long time ago when i first had it. maybe it has a phatom salty taste because you are expecting sweetness with the bubbles... but it shouldn't taste salty, why would it be salty?

  On 1/21/2011 at 10:42 PM, Fred McGriff said:

  On 1/21/2011 at 10:38 PM, Babar said:

yeah. it's kinda salty

 

what? that's weird. that's how i felt a long time ago when i first had it. maybe it has a phatom salty taste because you are expecting sweetness with the bubbles... but it shouldn't taste salty, why would it be salty?

i have a feeling that the CO2 is reacting with tiny trace elements of blah blah science bullshit.

this is a good question. I don't know. Maybe it's just the same thing as coffee : it's bitter only when you start your coffee drinker life.

I like sparkling water, but my budget keeps me confined to this stuff most of the time:

And, also, Crystal Geyser sounds like a porn actress of a certain niche.

Edit--should invest in a carbonator so the Earth doesn't get pissed off at me.

nah,

ice water with ice

  On 1/21/2011 at 10:47 PM, Babar said:

this is a good question. I don't know. Maybe it's just the same thing as coffee : it's bitter only when you start your coffee drinker life.

this could be it. i started my sparkling water drinker life on a day when i was really thirsty and had been missing bubbles for a while, and it was brought to me by accident. so i got a jump on whatever reservations there might have been on lack of flavor or phantom saltiness. it tastes like nothing to me now, in the best sense. just tangible refreshment. purity.

it is all my dad drinks when it comes to water. it is very strange, actually. but i grew up on he stuff. because i am poor right now i just stick to regular water, but i love the stuff. replace pop by adding juice to sparkling water. it is awesome.

i get high when i return from the grocery with sparkling water, or when i see that my cabinet is well-stocked with reserves. yeah baph that crystal geyser is probably just like the arrowhead shit i get for a buck a litre.

  On 1/21/2011 at 11:01 PM, essines said:

replace pop by adding juice to sparkling water.

Speaking of that, Orangina is absolutely fantastic. This thread is making me way too thirsty.

  On 1/21/2011 at 11:03 PM, Fred McGriff said:

i get high when i return from the grocery with sparkling water, or when i see that my cabinet is well-stocked with reserves. yeah baph that crystal geyser is probably just like the arrowhead shit i get for a buck a litre.

The bubbles always seem fucking huge regardless of temperature.

Speaking of bubbles:

Furthermore, my father never drinks it cold. I tend to like my water nice and chilled. But rarely have i had chilled sparkling water unless it is tangentially chilled by juice or ice.

I'm still kinda freaked out at how rarely my dad drinks regular water. Only if he doesn't have sparkling water and my parents tend to have heaps of that shit in stock. I just can't really picture him filling a glass with water from the tap or jug or what have you. I mean sparkling water is that much better but you'd think i'd recall a time or two when he had some flat old water going on.

that is what i want my unborn child saying about me many years from now. right now i very rarely drink water that isn't sparkling water. hopefully eventually i will have enough access to it that i can eliminate flat water altogether.

Maybe he has chronic colitis, or something, and the bubbles keep the shit from spewing, but he doesn't want to let his son down by talking about it.

  On 1/21/2011 at 11:01 PM, essines said:

replace pop by adding juice to sparkling water. it is awesome.

yes, half seltzer water and half grapefruit juice is awesome!

best post ever. i totally agree with you, as a former soda drinker. sparkling water is the best replacement. it's almost as if the bubbles clean the water, making it colder, better. it's like drinking liquid god.

  On 1/21/2011 at 11:11 PM, Fred McGriff said:

that is what i want my unborn child saying about me many years from now. right now i very rarely drink water that isn't sparkling water. hopefully eventually i will have enough access to it that i can eliminate flat water altogether.

when i was younger i would bring friends over and my dad would have a bottle of sparkling water on the counter. he gets the lemon lime scented types sometimes, for special occasions such as dinner. well my idiot friends would think it was soda, drink it and immediately spit it out. i think my dad did this on purpose. i think he liked to fuck with my little friends. it might be a large part of why he decided to give up regular water. to piss off my friends.