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Why Do Restaurants Put Ice in Soda?
It’s not just to keep it cold
You go to a restaurant and order a soda.
After some time, the server sets a glass in front of you.
It is filled up nearly to the brim with ice packs.
The soda barely reaches halfway before the fizz settles.
Your first thought might be:
“Great… they’re trying to give me less drink.”
It’s one of the oldest complaints about restaurants. They think the ice exists just to cut down on the cost of purchasing a high-priced soda.
However, the surprising fact is:
While ice does reduce the amount of soda poured into the glass, that’s not the main reason restaurants use it.
In fact, there are several much more practical reasons — and most of them have nothing to do with cutting costs.
The primary one is temperature.
Carbonated soft drinks taste best when they’re cold.
That’s not just a matter of personal preference. Chemistry is involved.
The gas responsible for the bubbles (CO2) dissolves much more readily in the liquid at low temperatures. When a pop warms up, the gas escapes more rapidly, making the pop go flat.
