Why Americans are OBSESSED with Sparkling Water 

The best part about La Croix is that the founders started it because they wanted sparkling water, but found Perrier to be obnoxious and expensive. It has now become the monster it sought to slay.

As a European it is kind of fascinating for me that fizzy watter is just catching up in the US. I've been drinking it all my life and has literally replaced soft drinks for me around 6 years ago

Once upon a time, a co-worker left me their plant despite my saying it's a bad idea. At the time, drinks were free at work and I switch from pop to bubbly water. Lost 30lbs. But not the point. I'd often leave partial full cans on my desk. I gave that to the plant. The thing thrived. It even blossomed and we didn't know it could do that.

The reason why the gluten-free label is important is that a lot of canned and bottled beverages are produced in the same factories or even using the same machinery as beer, which can result in traces of wheat proteins in the mix from cross-contamination. Not an issue if you're merely mildly gluten intolerant, but a huge deal if you're severely responsive or outright allergic, as some people are. The gluten-free label ensures the beverage was not produced in conditions that could result in cross-contamination.

I grew up in Latin America way back when the water out of the tap wasn’t entirely potable. So for us, seltzer was actually consumed for “safety” reasons. We would order crates of glass seltzer bottles that we knew were properly sterilized and filtered. Once a week, we would exchange our spent bottles with fresh ones, sort of how milk used to be delivered in the 50’s. This service actually still exists in some countries. Anyway, for years I struggled to drink plain flat water after moving to a tap-water safe country. Now I live in Europe where I’ve opted to invest in a water carbonator, and it’s the best thing ever. I can even get the aromatic water flavoring drops to mimic “La Croix” type flavors, which is rad.

I used to drink Bubly, but made a hard switch ever since pepsi took advantage of the craze by reducing the number of cans per case down to 8 while keeping the price relatively the same, which seems to have now become a trend among most brands... However, in a hilariously LaCroix move, the company has recently started selling 15-packs as if to give yet another middle finger to the industry.

Remember that "natural flavouring" does not necessarily come from the the fruit (or whatever) that it describes. It is defined by the FDA as "a substance extracted, distilled, or similarly derived from natural sources like plants (fruits, herbs, veggies, barks, roots, etc.) or animals (meat, dairy products, eggs, etc.) via a method of heating, with its primary function in food being flavoring not nutritional."

*tonic water* has a trace of quinine and lots of sugar, to give its signature bitter and sweet taste. It is a softdrink/coke/soda all of it's own, not a plain sparkling or seltzer water and mostly used as a mixer with gin to make a G&T.

Sparkling water has always been huge in Europe, especially France Italy Spain. My entire in-law family (French) has been drinking sparkling water on a daily basis for generations.

I’ve mentioned it before, Bulgaria (where we adopted our daughter from) has so much natural mineral water sources that you can just fill up for free from public taps. Some sources are actually naturally carbonated as well.

..born and raised in Germany. Sparkling water at home is normal here since the 70s.

Casually watching this while drinking a blood orange tangerine (best flavor) Spindrift hoping you'd mention them. As usual, you did not disappoint. The few calories in a can are worth having literally no "natural flavors" added and the juice adds just the right amount of sweetness. Honestly it's the last carbonated NA beverage I'll ever need.

when I was 16 I visited Austria and my friends and I were at the grocery store looking for bottled water, and could only find sparkling water. I remember thinking it was so disgusting, we ended up finding a natural spring in town and dumping out our purchased water and filling up at the tap. Now I can't get enough of the stuff.

Limoncello La Croix is my personal fave. It's not as harsh as their normal lemon. And honestly I don't think we've 'just drunk water' for centuries,. There's a reason things like small beer, grog, and rum have existed for millennia. I only drink pure water when I feel dehydrated. Then and only then does my brain go "Oh yeah...that's the good stuff."

I thought flavoured fizzy water had “always” been around. As a kid in 70s/80s Australia, a glass of sparkling ’mineral water’ infused with fruit flavours (mostly orange/ mango and lemon or lemon/lime and not loaded with sugar) was the ‘kids’ drink when the adults were guzzling wine…

My husband calls it "glitter water." And because he's Mr. All or Nothing, he was drinking up to 5 cans a day at one point. But it got to be pretty cost prohibitive, as well as physically uncomfortable (because gas). So now we have about a case just sitting in our fridge, and after reading these comments, I will now use it to water my plants. LOL.

Its definitely not an American thing. Matter of fact, Americans drink very small amounts of Sparkling water compared to, for example Russians. Sparkling water is like an essential household item like bread and potatoes in EVERY household in Europe. If you're going to the store, and someone asks you to buy water, its always presumed that its sparkling water... Because regular water runs from your sink.

Not sure if anyone else has pointed this out, but the sparkling = natural comment is incorrect. Perrier (and many like it) are not naturally carbonated - they add the carbonation in. Tip 1: You can tell by the order of the words on the bottle: 'Sparkling Natural Water' = the water is natural, we added the sparkle. 'Natural Sparkling Water' = the water is naturally sparkling. There are very few brands that have natural carbonation, Pedras from Portugal is one of them. Tip 2: the bubbles are usually much smaller in natural than added carbonation.

As someone from Italy where we drink sparkling water almost every other day and don't have the association with it being "fancy"... it's just carbonated water. You can literally get it from public water dispensers for free. Why must Americans always be like this.

We’re a spindrift family! I feel better drinking it because it’s just real fruit juice being added. Maybe a video on what natural flavors are? Because what are they?

In Italy when you order water at a restaurant or a store, you'll always be asked if you want it still or sparkling. Even water fountains often have the still/sparkling option. It's just as normal as still water. Not with flavours though.

This little differences between the US and the EU are always baffling to me! In Italy and other European countries there are two kinds of water, normal and sparkling (there is a third version that is something in between the two but to me tastes like a bottle of sparkling water left open for a week). So at the restaurant or supermarket you always find two options, and they are in plastic or glass bottles, not in cans like beer and coke 😂

I'm glad the Americans are catching on. It's so common here in Europe, that virtually every household has sparkling. Flavoured ones are not as commonly bought as the plain sparkling though, but I think it's catching on. Edit: Oh that's how you pronounce _La Croix_ lol

There's something about topo chico specifically that makes me love it. I think it's the trace minerals and high carbonation. I think it has a little higher sodium content too giving it a very slight saltiness.

I thought sparkling water was just sparkling water without any flavor but maybe that's just me

I used to drink this carbonated water everyday cause it was free at work. It made me bloated and gassy. It would cause random feelings of as if someone poked me inside and felt like a mini quick blip of heart burn. I stop drinking it and all of those issues magically went away.

Finally a Future Proof that specifically calls me out! I drink less of it these days and more just straight water because I'm lucky enough to have good quality well-water but I love sparkling water every now and then. As a kid who grew up in the 90s drinking soda like most of us, eventually I learned that stuff was horrible and my tastebuds grew up. I still crave the carbonation though and sparkling water/seltzer satisfies that craving. As a side note, I have Spindrift where I am and while I think it tastes fine, it is generally $2-3 USD more than any other brand on the shelf in my local grocery stores, generally having less cans in the pack than other brands as well. I guess that's the price you pay for that "squeezed fruit" benefit!

This is old hat to a survivor of the disco era of c.1974-1983. That's when I learned to appreciate Perrier, club soda, and seltzer. Could have started there.

My wife and I are those weird people that will drink plain club soda (we even buy the low sodium version 😅). We initially bought it as mix for gin and sodas and then just started drinking it because it was around and never stopped. We also buy flavoured soda waters because they can be a nice change of pace when you want something fun and refreshing in the evening but don't want pop or alcohol. We're also people that just drink a lot of tap water. It's just nice to have a bit of a texture change between bottles of tap water.

I was a shelf stocker in a grocery store in 1979 when sparkling water became a thing. Perrier had always been available, but it had a very very small market. If memory serves LaCroix came along and made the change in the market, but that might just be in my area. At any rate I was very resentful at the increase in my work load. Hauling soda pop around in the summer was bad enough, but now all of a sudden I'm doing sparkling water too. Bah.

As someone who almost entirely drinks water, aside from a glass lemonade from time to time, I always find these drink episodes funny especially when it comes down to some form of "why don't people just drink water?". Granted, I'm Canadian and the water that comes out of my tap is very drinkable, and also covered by my rent. So how much water I consume does not impact my spending, whereas virtually every other option comes with a cost, of course. I don't really care for sodapop whatsoever anymore, I do some juices, but eh, I get what I need from water, and the odd glass of something else is just for the odd time when I want a flavourful kick. My true weakness, my kryptonite is the original Monster flavour in the black and green can. That stuff, to me, is my addiction. I was drinking 4-8 a day of them for some fifteen years. I have recently cut them out completely. If it's the sort of day where I need caffeine, I just skip the drinks and now buy bottles of caffeine pills from Walmart and just take one. I find it smoother on the up and the down, with no crash that comes along with any caffeinated beverage.

Sparkling water helped me stop drinking alcohol all together. My drinks of choice were very light, zero sugar seltzers. So the transition to seltzer water from alcoholic seltzers was pretty easy. My favorite so far is AHA peach honey, it’s so good.

The ending 😂 Everyone I know and their mom, literally, loves sparkling water here in California and during my work events, that’s all my boss serves. I still can’t get behind it and prefer regular water or soda. Too tart for me and I hate burping like a demon 😂

Carbonated (the artificial way) water is extremely common here in Italy. There are even gradients: lightly carbonated, carbonated, heavily carbonated. It is very common. Many people have been switching to Sodastream-like devices, though. Tap water is in average decent and people tire of having to carry litres after litres of bottles. Sodastream and the likes are obvious solutions to this problem. As for flavourings, they are beginning to pop up right now. Most are sold as external tablets that need to be added to the water. I've tried them, they're not bad, but you need to pay attention to the ingredients.

I was not a fan at first but I drank soo much soda so I had to cut it off and my health improved alot. I started drinking sparkling water and to get that feel and it’s been a very healthy medium. Personally I drink liquid death because I like that they are in cans. Also I’m not a fan of the flavors a lot have been adding

Looking at the American flavoured sparkling water thing from Europe that’s the thing that’s always confused me most: it’s just soda. Like, I like mineral water, but when you put all these flavours in, that’s not water. That’s pop. Which is fine, but it’s not that new

They taste pretty bad personally but if you ever need to get a demon burp out they do the trick

I don’t know why you referred to sparkling water as “bourgeois”. I grew up in lowly Brooklyn NY in the 50’s and we had the Seltzer man delivering those old school glass refillable seltzer squirt bottles for .15 cents. Great for a seltzer fight. And we flavored it with chocolate or cherry syrup.

When Europeans give you The Look. I grew up on sparkling water, drinking cola or lemonade was something special, a treat. But I also noticed by travelling to Japan many years that they also much more recently started drink it more and get the flavors, it made me very happy. I still prefer mine plain. (note: san pellegrino, Perrier and Bru are still fancy brands uwu)

It's probably a matter of "Pepsi/Coke available everywhere" and drinkable tap water - starting from early on. In our Kindergardens and up to certain classes in school, water is the only allowed drink. So our kids are pretty much used to drink tap water. And so are the adults. And our grandparents, and our grandgrandparents. Our 16yo usually still drinks mostly tap water, even in restaurants, very rarely any type of soft drink. I think that's valid for pretty much of Europe. Plus a health benefit: less Diabetes, less obesity.

My biggest problem with carbonated water is the environmental impact. It’s not really much different than soda in this regard, but the amount of cans and bottles we throw away is astronomical, all for some carbonation. Maybe I have a different viewpoint, coming from working in retail and seeing the pallets upon pallets of this stuff.

I saw that thumbnail and I laughed. That is the exact brand I drink in several different flavors lol. I am on a carnivore diet, given up sugar, and it's the one little treat I give myself. Myself. And that brand is awesome. Even my parakeet likes it. He jumped in my glass and had a bath in the coconut flavor. No sugar so he wasn't sticky!

Hi, Levi! Club soda and plain seltzer are different. Also, the Perrier fiends were around in the 70s. Wine and coca leaf extract were mixed before seltzer, syrup, cola and coca leaf extract. I'd love to see a video on sparkling wine vs. champagne. Climate change is supposed to upend the wine industry soon. Let's have your take on it. Thanks.

I’m from Wisconsin and Illinois so my family and grandma was drinking La Croix back in the 90’s, I remember my grandmother, before her passing in 2009, drinking it ALL the time.

I first came to the US in the early 1990s, and it was quite curious that there were very few sparkling/mineral waters on the market. Practically no "real" heavily-mineralized waters that I was used to (1% salt content or more). Strangely, it seemed that the market just did not exist.

Sparkling water is disgusting. I almost vomited when someone referred to normal water as "flat water" and sparkling water as "water", as if it was the standard. There are few things I detest as much or with as much pure vitriol as sparkling water. If you want fizz, drink soda. If you want water, drink water. Why would you drink something that tastes worse than both of the alternatives??? I COULD SCREAM ABOUT THIS ALL DAY. But also, great video Levi.

I think it’s gross.

Dude, I‘m from a country where people have been drinking sparkling water ever since I can remember. We didn’t differentiate. My grandma spoke of „Seltzerwasser“, because that’s what she grew up with, we spoke of „mineral water“ and „carbonic acid“, but the main differentiator of importance for us was „classic“ (for very fizzy water), „medium“ (for a balanced amount of fizz) and „still“ (for no fizziness aka plain old water). Recently they introduced a new category between still and medium, but those three where the ones I grew up with. So yeah, people don’t really care how their water gets sparkly, what counts is HOW SPARKLY it is. I personally prefer medium. And I own a SodaStream because yes, I am a proud sparkling water addict. FYI about the thirst receptors: I have grown up with sparkling water, and I drink about 1 1/2 to 2 litres of water a day. Sometimes even 3. But I feel like it’s more satisfying than plain non-sparkling water. And I don’t care about flavour in my water, I truly prefer it non-flavoured.

On the gluten free point: Some flavored beverages actually can contain gluten in their caramel colorant or their malt flavoring. So it's not as absurd to label a drink gluten free as you'd think.

In Germany, most sparkling water is natural spring water. It definetely tastes better than tab water and has way higher standarts than "normal" water. So when I buy "Sprudel" it's not just tab water with carbondioxide but fresh clean water from a natural filtered spring that contains natural minerals. #prost 🥂

My parents drank no name club soda when I was a kid in the early 90s which was always cheap and sold as a mixer or something and I feel like now it’s so expensive for no need at all

In the UK, they used to sell apple flavoured Perrier. I guess not enough people bought it - I haven't been able to get my hands on it for years now. I miss it.

Wait, when an American talks about Sparkling Water, they mean Sweetened Sparkling Water!?

it doesnt help with constipation. lots of people are dehydrated and that contributes to constipation. so drinking any kind of water is obviously going to help. also if youre getting thirsty multiple times per day, it means youre not drinking nearly enough water as you should. carbonated or not, more water is better than none

I love this show

Talking Rain was great in the 2000's but my local stores stopped carrying it. I wonder if they rebranded to become LaCroix.

for me, nothing compares to regular water

Lemon La Croix is god tier. Their cafe cola is also a favorite of mine. If you haven’t had it yet, I suggest trying it. You’ll love it or you’ll hate it but if you love it, you’ll want more

People in the the midwest look at me like a demon for preferring unflavored sparkling water of lacroix Edit: made it further into the video and it seems you agree with them 😢

I don't drink it very much now, but I started drinking seltzer water(La Croix and bubly) around the time I was first going on a low-carb diet. I've always drunk a lot of regular water, but I also drank a lot of sodas as well, and a large part of it was the mouth feel. So I kept the regular water, and replaced my sodas with flavored seltzer water, and it helped a lot at keeping my soda urges to a minimum. I found that I hate the citrus flavors, though - the first can or 2 would taste like orange or lemon, but by the 3rd can it just started tasting like alka-seltzer, which is pretty gross. I liked flavors like apple and strawberry the best. Now I drink mostly regular water with the occasional tea, coffee, milk, or almond milk in there. But mostly just water. I just don't crave the fizz like I used to.

The only way for me to drink water straight up is if it is completely filtered, remineralized, and gone through reverse osmosis not because I'm fancy but because there's crap in the water as is that isn't good for you and most of the water selections out there are not filtered to this degree and if they are it's overpriced. I personally pay mid-tier system at home and that has made it that much easier to consume it as I drink a ton for working out, like by the gallon.

My grandma's favourite drink was always room temperature club soda. Never knew how she did it.

Been loving seltzer water/carbonated water/club soda since the 90’s. Talking rain was so good back then.

FYI the cans don't have aluminum-on-water contact, there is a plastic liner that leeches BPA into the water.

It keeps me from wanting drinks with absurd amounts of sugar, so I love it. I usually just drink it when I'm at home when I want something a little more interesting than regular water.

hey, sparkling water helped me with my highly addictive soda habit, mostly highly caffeinated sodas like Pepsi Max with 120mg of caffeine per 20 oz. bottle i drank 3 to 4 a day at one point. now i'm highly hydrated rather then highly strung out

I don’t drink soda, but I love the “scrubbing bubbles” sensation of sparkling mineral water. Topo chico is my favorite, and I go through about 1 flat of Kirkland sparkling water / month. For flavours, Spindrift is delightful, but I don’t find my favorite flavours much. So Sanpellegeino’s aranciata rosssa (blood orange) or limonata is my go-to if it’s around.

Truly I do not understand how this channel doesn't have millions of subscribers. Fantastic work as always!

I work in a distribution warehouse. Sparkling water is something we sell. We have Perrier, La Croix, Adirondack (or something) and some others I can't remember. I have tried probably every flavor of sparkling water made by La Croix and Adirondack. They're absolutely abysmal (so is Perrier, BTW). The only time we get to try these things is when somebody drops a case, and it can't be sold anymore (happens more frequently than you might think). It's no lie to say sparkling water, along with diet sodas, take weeks to disappear when they're in the fridges. Meanwhile, any non-diet soda or juice is gone in a day or two.

I went to Europe for a few weeks summer of 2005, and when you asked for bottled water the question was always 'still or sparkling'. First day I noticed that a girl asked for sparkling with a smile, and the vendor just GAVE it to her. Being on a budget, I figured I could play that game! I started drinking sparkling water, and most of the time paid for it, but not always! Came back with a nostalgic taste for the stuff, and started seeking it out here in the US when I got home. First I bought it in 1.5 Liter bottles in the 'world market' section of the grocery. But now it's everywhere, and my guilty pleasure. I try and keep it down to two cans a day, though.

I like the idea of making the iconic design, making it a pop culture staple. Similar to what Solo did with the Jazz cup and Arizona Tea did with their tea cans.

Sparkling water has been available as long as I can remember here in the UK. All of the supermarkets carry their own brands of flavoured sparkling waters, but most do contain sweeteners and artificial flavours. The push for more natural flavoured sparkling water came to the UK much later than the US, but a few brands have popped up. I would be happy, but unlike La Croix, brands here in the UK, such as Dash, for example, are marketed as lifestyle brands and carry a premium. Dash do some good stuff. They are a certified B Corp. They use a lot of “wonky” fruit that would otherwise go unsold. But does all of that justify the price tag? I have spent enough time in the US and Canada to fall in love with La Croix. It’s delicious, cheap and readily available. I wish it was the same here in the UK. I actually went on a bit of a (the artist formerly known as) Twitter rant a few months back comparing US pricing to UK pricing. The difference between the two is utterly insane.

Life hack: you can build a soda stream (setzer charger) out of a 5/10/20 lb co2 gas bottle (purchase at a local welding supply), recycle any bottle to carbonate anything you want at any pressure you want. A co2 bottle is a very useful tool as well holding a constant pressure of 1200 psi it can be used for a variety of things from running air tools, to filling tires, many people use them for offroad racing. ❤

I mostly drink water, I find that anything flavoured just doesnt quench my thirst, or even makes me even more thirsty, specially bitter drinks like beer make me crave water immediately afterwards.

I have never heard of La croix before. When we refer to carbonated water in the Netherlands, most people tend to say 'Spa red, please' (after the brand Spa, and red referring to the red colour of the bottle). Or just 'water with bubbles'

Evian was very trendy (and expensive) in the late 70s and before. (And Perrier, as you mentioned.) IMO the bottled water thing started to really take off as an alternative to diet soda. Before your touting of sparkling water there was designer water like Poland Spring. Water that tastes like baking soda aka sparking or mineral water has been a big deal in Europe for a long time.

In brasil we can't drink tap water so everyone has to buy bottled water and sparkling is the same price so we choose based on preference

I have never seen LA Croix until recently on you tube. I don't think they were in NYC until recently.

Europeans have loved mineral and sparkling water for at least a couple centuries for it's health benefits, there are always old sanatoriums near springs

I've been drinking seltzer for nearly 40 years at this point. The best thing about the increase in popularity is obviously the expanded ease in finding the stuff, and variety of flavors. Being a native Floridian, the choices were definitely far more slim in the 80s, and I always envied those in the northeast and out west, typically ahead of the south when it comes to hipper, healthier stuff. The biggest brands all have some flavors I like, but the regional producers are often the best way to go, overall. Syfo, out of south FL is great, and probably one of the most natural. They'll probably never spread nationally, which may be for the best. Polar, which I think originated in the northeast has spread pretty wide, and I think is one of the better choices. Waterloo pretty much rules the southwest, in my book, and I try to stock up a bit when a big regional grocery chain does the BOGO thing fairly regularly. One brand that I see LESS frequently all the time, but I think deserved a HUGE nod in this video, is Canada Dry. I feel like back in the mid to late 20th century, it was one of the few available, on a fairly widespread basis. Actual store brands are hit and miss, mostly miss. Club soda and tonic water - you can keep that rat piss, both mostly serving as mixers. Club soda has the added salts, and tonic has gross quinine, again both geared toward tossing booze in with the stuff.

I honestly think sparking water has saved my life. Instead of drinking beer or soda I drink sparkling water.

I keep a few bottles of seltzer in my fridge for when Im craving soda, its helped me cut back and if I do want some sweetener I just use a little torani syrup to give whatever flavor I want

We use to be a big pop drinking family (when a local store sold 2L bottles for 87 cents on weekends, of course, we would be). However, after getting a can of A-Ha in a food bank bundle once, we basically switched to those. I've had a sodastream machine for a while, but always hated replacing the tanks, plus the lack of flavours to use. My only gripe about the aprkling waters in cans is the cost. Even on sale, a case of 12 is $5 plus 15% HST plus $1.20 deposit (of which we only get 60 cents back)

I have a water bill. So I won't buy bottled water as long as I have an already existing water route to my house. My friends think I'm gross for drinking my tap water but they never realize they shower in it. They brush their teeth with it and they don't buy bottled water for their pets. I own a Berkey. My pets get filtered water with me and we use a carbon filtered shower head. I took my brother a gallon of filtered water (who only drinks bottled) and he wouldn't drink it, calling it the most tasteless water he has ever had. I only give my plants unfiltered water. Most bottled water is only tap water so I will never understand buying bottles to fill up my garbage with. I guess folks just like additives.

never really understood people who drink it like it's a regular soda. in portugal these drinks are considered borderline medicinal. if you're feeling indisposed, had a really big meal and are feeling super full, you drink one. my mom would drink them after big heavy meals to make herself burp so she'd feel less full. i never really cared for the taste, but maybe the ones we have here are different from the ones in america

I live in Germany, one of the largest consumers of sparkling water, but the concept of Seltzers with taste, but no sugar, was new to me. I think they're amazing and I wish we had more of these options here.

I find soda water easier to drink than flat water. I used to get just plain whenever I could and once flavors started showing up without sugar that was the best. I still buy unflavored (la croix is usually the best deal here cause you can buy it in larger packs) from time to time but I circulate depending on sales and where I'm getting my groceries.

In Argentina its being very popular since the 50s. We had big jugs of soda, and even a sort of milkman called Sodero

I was obsessed with seltzer before it was cool, thank you very much. Unflavored is my favorite, and sometimes I add fresh squeezed lemon juice 😊

Being from New England, the go to seltzer brand around here is Polar. Their seltzer I think is better than these other brands. The carbonation is perfect, there are a ton of flavors, and of course they're local (Worcester, MA). Their soda is solid too.

Clearly Canadian wasn't for Canada only and it was more like a soda because it was FULL of sugar. It was delicious as hell but it was essentially a clear soda, along with New York Seltzer.

Drinking plum La Croix as I’m watching this. “Like an 80’s workout outfit on a can” I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it.

Back in the 90s I worked for a strange grocery store and we sold some weird giant liter glass bottle of Le Kwaw (no one know how to say it in south Texas). We thought it was pretty schmancy though.

Tonic water also has quinine in it, which while technically derived from medicinal bark, is only in the drink enough to give it that bitter taste. It's also why artificial purple dye exists

I often drank club soda as a kid in the 1960s. It’s not new to me. Tonic water is not sweetened carbonated water. It’s carbonated water with quinine in it. It’s bitter as heck. Like club soda (a bit of salt added) or seltzer, it was a drink mixer but some of us drank many of these waters without alcohol.

Tonic Water with a good Gin like Hendricks is a wonderful mixed drink. And Tonic Water is not just sweetened carbonated water. It specifically has Quinine in it.

Sparkling water doesn't seem to really satiate my thirst. I went to Germany when i was a teenager, and accidentally nearly hospitalized myself because they only had sparkling water everywhere and I just didn't drink enough. I was so dehydrated I was trying not to pass out. When my host family figured out what was wrong, they bought me these 6 liter bottles of flat water from the store and I drank an entire 6 liters all at once lol xD

To me as a German this is amusing, because here it kind of is the other way around. In Germany traditionally everyone is drinking sparkling water. During my childhood in the 80s and my teen years in the 90s, the culture was basically that regular water is for animals and humans drink sparkling water. Only in the last 10 to 15 years or so regular, non-carbonated water (which is called "quiet water" in German, signifying that it isn't the default) has become more of a thing. It isn't the only such phenomenon. It is the same with cars. In the same period in which compact cars have become more common on US roads, gas guzzling pickup trucks and large SUVs have become common in Germany.

Honestly, I started drinking sparkling water after I quit drinking alcohol. It helped.

Aquafina (it might’ve been arrowhead) sells branded unflavored sparkling water. I was thirsty in Peru and we stopped by a convenience store in the middle of nowhere and bought it thinking it was normal water. I didn’t find out until we were already a ways away.