A reader named Ben Muschel of Flushing, N.Y. (that’s where Citi Field is), writes in with a question that he admits is trivial:
I often enjoy getting sodas from 7-11. Though I’m aware the markup on fountain soda is quite high, I still consider a “Big Gulp” a pretty good bang for my buck. My constant quandary, however, is the question of how much ice to add to my soda. On the one hand, I don’t want to waste valuable soda space with space-consuming ice. On the other hand, it feels like it should take more than one or two cubes to successfully cool a 32-oz. soda (or the occasional 44-oz. “Super Big Gulp”). But is that true? And to what extent? Is there a specific — or minimum — quantity of ice needed to chill a drink to what could be considered a “standard level of coolness” given the total liquid volume of the drink? Or is any ice beyond the first few cubes a waste of my cup space?
Please give Ben any advice you can. To my mind, there are at least three considerations.
1. It may be a mistake to assume that the soda is more costly than the ice.
2. Since there are more than 500 calories in a 44-oz. non-diet soda, from a public-health perspective it is best to load the entire cup with ice and then squirt in a little bit of soda. (New York City has just begun a soda-as-human-fat public relations campaign; reminds me a bit of this.)
3. The big issue with ice, to me at least, isn’t quantity; it’s quality. Most commercial establishments dispense a loose, sloshy, barely-frozen ice that has a high melt rate and therefore instantly begins diluting your drink. Compare that to a good old-fashioned ice cube that comes from the freezer in your refrigerator. Good ice is much more costly to make but, if I were as concerned as Ben is about his dilemma, I’d be pursuing a revolution in quality commercial ice rather than trying to find the right ratio of soda to slush. Much like phone fidelity, ice quality seems to be a victim of progress. Maybe we should get back to making our ice this way.
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Seems unfair that they don’t make the ice cubes out of the soda.
This looks like a job for a chemical engineer!
… one with less work than I have right now.
One more factor not brought up – more ice, as it melts, dillutes the taste of the soda. Another reason to push for higher quality commercial ice, I guess.
Having worked in the beverage industry for a few years,my recommendation is NO ICE AT ALL.
First, the manufatcturers have specific and strict formulas to determine the proper amount of syrup, water and CO2 in the mix to make a good tasting product. Adding extra ice will just add extra water to the formula and it will ruin the product when it melts.
Second, some retaurants and stores, alter the proportion of water in the mix (add more water) in order to make their syrup tanks last longer and save a couple bucks. So, chances are you are getting an already watered product and adding extra ice will only make it worse.
Third, the CO2 in in the formula is a gas and it is supposed to be dissolved in the water and syrup mix, but its nature is to go back to its gassy form and dissipate in the air. Lower temperatures help CO2 to stay in the mix for a longer time, as opposed to higher temperatures, which promote a faster dissipation rate. In order to keep CO2 in the mix for a longer time, the whole product is usually mixed at 39?F (4?C), slightly above the freezeng point. So, the product is dispensed from the fontain at a very low temperature and extra ice will not really contribute to make it much colder.
Hope this helps
The shape of the ice has nothing to do with how much of it melts. The correct amount of ice will melt to keep your soda right at freezing temperature. The melted ice is just more obvious when it comes from ice shavings than ice cubes. If you want to keep your soda cold without watering it down, I suggest starting with colder ice cubes.
If you want to keep your soda at freezing temperature for the entire duration of your drinking, while maximizing the amount of soda that you can fit into your cup, you want just enough ice so that the last morsel is melting as you finish drinking. This of course will depend on how cold the ice is, how fast you drink, and whether or not you have diet or regular soda. Diet soda has a freezing temperature closer to that of water while soda with corn syrup has a lower freezing temperature. It will take more ice cubes to keep your sugary soda at the lowest possible temperature.
Better yet, ask a chemist on how much ice you need to make the soda as cool as you want it to be, and then go from there.
i did a similar analysis with dunkin’ donuts iced coffee -
dunkin donuts iced coffee is prepared by adding ice to already refrigerated coffee. i decided the refrigeration of the coffee was sufficient to cool the beverage to the appropriate temperature.
so, to maximize the amount coffee i would receive, i decided i should order it with no ice.
the person at the counter had to get the manager to see if they could sell it to me that way… it was an ordeal and they laughed at me. eventually they gave it to me and it was just right!
Ben clearly needs a girlfriend.