How does seltzer water have a taste when it has no calories/sweeteners?

1.32K views

I know people make fun of la croix having no flavor but it and other seltzer waters obviously taste like something! As an active seltzer lover, with new brands and flavors coming out all the time now, some of these are objectively quite flavorful and sweet. Yet, they have 0 calories, 0 sweeteners or sugar, only “natural flavors.” Do they really have 0 of everything or is it just such a small amount that they call it 0?
eli5 what natural flavoring means and how it can taste so strong with no sugar or anything so I can enjoy my seltzer without mental turmoil. Thank you!

In: Chemistry

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

I don’t think anyone has mentioned this yet so here’s my go. Seltzer will *still* taste something even if it has nothing added to it. Carbonated water alone should have a flavor. Carbnonation works putting a drink under CO2 at high pressure, which forces some of the CO2 to dissolve into the liquid as carbonic acid. This is reversed when you crack the bottle and let the pressure off, but there is still some amount of carbonic acid in the drink as long as it’s fizzy, and this will have a sour taste (sourness is essentially the perception of acids).

That said, there are probably a bunch of other things added that have zero or negligible calories as others have mentioned, like minerals and such.

You are viewing 1 out of 6 answers, click here to view all answers.