The difference between Seltzer and Club Soda

Drinks on us

Drinks on us

A new addition at OHC HQ is the fizzie.  This started last year as a way to provide us fun drinks that are low cal and not alcoholic.  I don’t know about you, but as much as I love water by the end of the day sometimes my mouth wants something a little more exciting.  Wait. That is what I mean to say but not in that way.  Pervs.

Anyways! As much as I love wine (and a good dark beer), those drinks are not body-friendly when having them in excess.  So along came the OHC Fizzies.

When I first started looking into bubbly liquids to become part of the fizzie it actually took me a while to find the right ingredients.  All grocery stores I have come across have tonic no problem.  However, all the tonics I saw contain HFCS as a top ingredient.  Yuck.  We try to stay away from that as much as possible here at OHC.  The diet tonics had aspartame or some other fake chemical sweetener in it.  Double yuck!  We don’t do that either (nor do we do Splenda, but that’s a whole other article).  Moving along, I eventually stumbled on flavored seltzer waters and started using those with success. Which currently I can only find at ONE of the FIVE local grocery stores around me. And that just seems really odd to me.

One day as I was out at the store picking up more seltzer, I came across club soda and bought some of that as well.  Then it occurred to me, “I wonder what the difference is between the two?  They seem like basically the same thing.”

Google to the rescue!  Okay, actually it was Scott who found the answer for me via Google. So Super Scott to the rescue!  I found the answer fascinating and thought maybe you guys might be interested as well!

What he found said that seltzer water can be a naturally occurring fizzie or a man-made fizzie.  While club soda is strictly man-made.   However, club soda also has some type of sodium added to it while seltzer does not.  Naturally-occurring fizzie is water coming up from the ground that passes through layers of minerals that are interlaced or made up of some kind of carbonate. As the water passes through it may absorb some of the carbon dioxide given off by the carbonates, thus rendering it a carbonated water.  Man-made is when carbon dioxide under pressure is mixed with water, thus making it carbonated.

For a more detailed explanation check out Miss Cocktail’s answer on Yahoo. And the Wikipedia page on Club Soda.

OHC HQ will be sticking with seltzer because we don’t need to ingest more sodium.  However, I’m sure we’ll have club soda every once in a while.

And that’s the difference between seltzer and club soda. Now you know! :D

5 thoughts on “The difference between Seltzer and Club Soda

  1. oh man, ive always wondered about the different myself and actually have been meaning to google it!

    good to know! =]

    P.S. I LOVE a good dark beer

  2. Nancy says:

    Great! but which one stays fizzie the longest. I’ve tried to open one of each to see which one goes flat first, but by the time I remembered – they were both flat!

  3. Claudia says:

    I find that club soda has bigger bubbles and generally makes me a bit burpie..tmi I know! LOL! Seltzer however doesn’t do that to me and seems easier to drink. Also good for a non-bloat diet.

  4. There is no substitute for seltzer; club soda doesn’t even come close. Club has tiny, sharp bubbles, while seltzer caresses the palate with large, soft bubbles. The larger beverage manufacturers offer both, which supports the argument that they differ. I’ll take seltzer as my water substitute any day. Club soda is just a mixer IMHO.
    Cheers,

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