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.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
There was a story in the business section of the NYTimes last spring mentioning the cost of the raw ingredients of Coca-cola (or maybe Pepsi) syrup. About $2 for enough to make thousands of servings, mostly caramel. No idea what the fast food joints are charged, but the cost of ice probably is greater.
Wired Magazine showed the optimal amount of ice in an Info Graphic in within the last year or two. Find that and you have your answer.
Although the soda may be less expensive than the ice, it is likely that the soda is the item you’re exchanging your money for, so it would seem that it would have more value.
I’ve always been a no ice/half ice kind of person, but I guess it depends on the personal cost of consuming warm soda/how fast a drinker you are.
Jimmy (#8) -
Ben is happily married with a child and a full-time job.
I drink my pop kinda fast (10 minutes?) so I really don’t like to get ice. Whenever I request no ice from a store I get twice the pop.
As I’m not a soda coniseur, I always add a little bit of slurpee to big gulp. Keeps the drink cool, and doesn’t dilute the taste as much as ice. I also will do the reverse.
Buy a slushee, Ben – no ice needed!
You nailed it with #3.
The density, temperature, and surface area of the ice are the major players in how fast your drink is diluted. A machine that produces solid, dense ice requires much more time to produce one batch. Since it takes longer, it also requires larger batches and/or more finished ice storage.
The temperature is also affected by the fact that many, if not most, soda fountains don’t refrigerate the ice compartment. It’s simply a cooler that the clerk dumps ice into from another machine.
Ice is a great example of what they call Q-Factor in restaurants: all the things that customers consider to be free, but actually cost money. When I suggested better ice where I worked a few years ago I was laughed at. I’m glad Dubner seems to see the value.