Soft drink

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Soft drinks
Soft drinks

A soft drink is a drink that contains no (or very little) alcohol, as opposed to a hard drink, which does contain alcohol. In general, the term is used only for cold beverages. The term originally referred to carbonated drinks.

In North America, "soft drink" commonly refers to cold, non-alcoholic beverages. Carbonated beverages are regionally known in the Midwest and most of Canada as "pop". In Quebec they are called soft drinks. In the Northeast, parts of the South (near Florida) and Midwest (near St. Louis), and California, they are known as "soda". In Atlanta, Georgia and some other parts of the South, they are generically called "coke". (Atlanta is home to the Coca-Cola Corporation). The Pacific Northwest, being a melting pot of America, uses both "pop" and "soda", however, for most people, "pop" comes in a bottle, and "soda" comes from a fountain or can. Elsewhere they are called "soda pop". See The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy for maps and geographical trends.

Soft drinks are commonly sold in stores in bottles and cans. They are also sold in restaurants and bars as fountain drinks made from packaged syrup. In the U.S. and other countries, vending machine sales earn a significant amount of money for the producers and distributors. Most famous name-brand soft drinks are produced and bottled by local or regional independent bottling companies. These companies license the name and are usually sold the main ingredients (syrup) made by the main manufacturing plants of the trademark holders. For example, unless you live in Georgia or nearby, a can of Coke® will likely be from a facility near the point-of-purchase. In the past, most Cola and other soft drinks were sweetened with ordinary sugar (sucrose), but to save on production costs, most companies have turned to the more economical corn syrup as a sweetener in the United States. In some countries outside the United States, sugar is still used.

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Diet colas

In recent years, there has been a growing demand for alternatives to sugar-heavy soft drinks. "Regular" sodas, being largely processed sugar, have been blamed in recent years for contributing to the obesity in the US sn elsewhere. Sugars, like other carbohydrates stimulates the production of the hormone insulin, which causes the body to store fat, rather than burn it. "Diet" sodas are sweetened with chemicals, such as aspartame, and saccarine. ((saccharin?) that are perceived as sweet by most people, yet do not stimulate insulin production. Nor do they have any calories or nutritional value.

"Cola wars"

Competition in the industry among soft drink producers is widely referred to as the cola wars.

In German, soft drinks are known as Limo short for Limonade, the German word for lemonade, but in America lemonade is an uncarbonated beverage, generally not considered a soft drink.

In Swedish, soft drinks are called l�sk which comes from l�skande drycker (roughly - refreshing drinks) and denotes carbonated non-alcoholic soft drinks. The word lemonad has more or less the same use as the English word lemonade, but belongs to a slightly higher level of style than l�sk.

In Australia and New Zealand, "soft drink" almost always refers to carbonated beverages. "Lemonade" can refer to "lemon drink", but most of the time means clear soft drink (i.e. Sprite, 7-Up, etc.)

In the United Kingdom the term originally applied to carbonated drinks ("pop") and non-carbonated drinks made from concentrates ("squash"), although it now commonly refers to any drink that does not contain alcohol. To further confuse matters, alcopops are often called "alcoholic soft drinks".

In Scotland, soft drinks are commonly known as "ginger", presumably referring to an early "soft drink", ginger beer.

Some famous soft drinks (by country):

  • Russia
    • Kvass, a low-to-non alcoholic beverage made from fermented grains.
  • Spain
    • Kas (orange- [yellow], lemon- [greenish-yellow] or apple- flavoured soda)
    • Mirinda (soda with orange colour and flavour)
    • Tri-Naranjus (non-carbonated soft drink)
  • Sweden
    • Julmust (Traditional stout-like, very sweet seasonal soft drink)
    • Sockerdricka (Traditional sweet-sour soft drink)
    • Fruktsoda (Traditional lemon-lime soft drink)
    • Champis (Soft drink alternative to sparkling wine)
    • Pommac (Soft drink alternative to sparkling wine)
    • Cuba Cola (Cola)

External links


References

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