Why do Americans love ice water so much?
deseret.com
deseret.com
As a European I would be surprised and disappointed to receive a glass of lukewarm water or a room temperature bottle.
The only time I can forgive it is if I’m at a cafe with a self serve water station. But that is only because water usually cost money, and when an establishment is kind enough to offer it for free, then beggars can’t be choosers.
Water prices at restaurants can be surprisingly opaque. Like, you might get a glass of water free with a glass of wine, but not a glass of beer. And what about if you want a second glass of water with your glass of wine? Is that included in the wine price or is it full service charge?
It’s been a while since I’ve traveled Europe, but I’m pretty sure there are countries where water is always included.
Ps here in Barcelona 99% of the ice served comes in a big bag from a factory. You can tell because they're huge round cylinders with a hole in the middle.
Nobody makes their own ice here, neither at home nor restaurants and other hospitality locations. The only exception seems to be the fast food chains. I would assume that stuff is pretty clean as the factory specializes in it.
Is it not like that in America?
There are two types of ice, directionally frozen and outsize in freezing. Outside in causes an ice shell to form and then water in the middle must freeze but there is nowhere for it to expand. This produces ice that has a cloudy center due to internal stress and the ice crackles.
Directionally frozen ice is a single crystal that always remains clear with a smooth surface. The smooth surface doesn’t provide a site for CO2 bubbles form, thus much better at retaining carbonation.
A lot of people think fountain soda tastes different from bottled soda poured into a glass of ice. The real difference is that home ice (either moon or tray ice) offers a completely different experience from single crystal ice from a commercial ice maker. It is the ice that is different, not the soda.
Countertop pellet ice makers are available, and I’d absolutely love to get one but my wife has vetoed it - she jokes she’d have to leave me because of all the crunching.
I bought a countertop ice maker for my wife, because she is constantly running the fridge out, and she loves to chew ice. I made sure to get the type made for people who love to chew ice.
But it's upstairs, in the master bathroom. I won't have to listen to her chewing ice.
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It bugs the hell out of some of us, others couldn't care less.
Fingernails on blackboards have never bothered me. And ironically, I'm hypersensitive to sound.
I'm firmly in the "don't care" group, unless I'm very thirsty, then I prefer less-cold (10-20 degrees) because it's more comfortable for me to chug than ice-cold.
I'm very much in the "don't care" group, I'll drink cola gone flat that's been sitting in my car in a hot summer day..
Here in Mexico I have met many people who don’t like ice cold beverages, and I suspect the lack of ice culture stems from the lack of potable water lines in houses thus ice makers aren’t common. You just grow up drinking water from the lukewarm delivered water barrel.
Meanwhile I’m not sure I’ve met a single American who doesn’t like ice cold water (not to say you can’t find exceptional HNers). I think we’re just used to it.
I will acknowledge that this might be a personal preference, but only if you agree to the same and stop pushing your personal preferences on others.
As a European, what? This sounds like it’s written by an American who has never been to Europe or only been there once and ate at some roach motel restaurant. You always get water, sparkling or still, with ice in it.
There will often be ice in soda though, which is something I’ve never understood as it dilutes the drink.
It IS true, but only really occurs in a specific context: old buildings with large icemaking capacity and trough-style urinals that are only plumbed into the sewer (i.e. no water flush capability.)
It's basically optimization for a very specific local minima of "I have to run my icemaker anyway, which always has a surplus of ice at the beginning of the day, and it would cost $XXXXX to change my urinals because it would require me to bring the toilets up to code - and my customers are going to complain about losing the atmosphere..."'
Admittedly, I've also occasionally seen this in places trying to fake an "old roadhouse" vibe, but those places don't tend to last. Not because they're bankrupted by the cost of ice, but because of a deeper inherent wackness.
Do be prepared for the sticker shock, it comes in at "major appliance" prices because ... well it is.
If you live, say, anywhere north of the Alps, your summers are much milder than the vast majority of the US. It's essentially the same story with air conditioning.
So why doesn’t anyone get central air conditioning? Because nobody else has it.
I suspect it's the same reason I myself don't buy it: it's only useful a couple weeks a year typically where I live.
Recently however I’ve discovered that heat pump mini splits can be had for about the same price as a window unit and have installed 2 in my home in the past year.
The mini split is definitely the way to go, though; so much easier than ripping up your house to install ducts.
London is significantly warmer than say, Montreal, despite being further north.