I’m wondering if we use this because if it’s cheap, or it has that iconic taste, or it’s easy to produce
In: 0
They were mimicking beverages made by fermentation.
Mild carbonation is a byproduct of the fermentation process. In addition to alcohol, yeast gives off carbon dioxide which dissolves in the beverage. When the cask or bottle is opened, the carbon dioxide comes out and creates the classic fizz.
Folks who were looking to recreate the effect in other beverages (like water) used the carbon dioxide released during the fermentation of beer to impregnate their beverage with fizz. As a result, soda water ended up using carbon dioxide too. Later techniques used bicarbonate of soda and tartaric acid to get the fizz, and by chance, the fizz produced by mixing those two chemicals is _also_ carbon dioxide.
Modern processes use pressurized carbon dioxide rather than a chemical process, but at this point, CO2 is just the standard used for making stuff fizzy. Some beverages use other gasses (Guinness, most famously, uses nitrogen) but that requires more expensive production and storage techniques.
Fermentation was the original carbonation. That’s why beer and champagne are carbonated. They don’t add carbonation to it. Sodas and other drinks use co2 because it dissolves easily and stays carbonated longer. Some companies have experimented with nitrogen but it seems to be more of a novelty since everyone is used to the feel of CO2.
There is, to my knowledge, nothing else that could be used to get that fizzy property. The CO2 dissolves in the water and creates carbonic acid. This chemical is relatively stable under pressure, but can quickly dissolve into CO2 and H2O when it’s disturbed and the pressure is gone, e.g. when someone drinks it.
Unlike what the other commenters wrote, sparkling water was first discovered in a specific spring in [Selters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selters_(Taunus)#Selterswasser), Germany. It wasn’t nearly as sparkling as what we’re used to, but it was enough to make it worth selling all over the world. That is until a way to artificially add the CO2 was discovered.
Latest Answers