drinks

[cos]

The English drink tea.

One of my cousins, with Majorca's standard ice tea

The French drink wine.
The Finns drink vodka. (Oh yeah, so do the Russians, though not as much :)

Sure, they drink other things, but some places have their endemic drink of choice. In Italy, it's espresso everywhere. When I ordered tea at some restaurants, they gave me strange looks. In Kenya, passion fruit juice is their parallel to our orange juice - the standard juice you can assume will be available.

I'm not sure what Spain's drink is, but on Majorca at least, the ice tea niche is rather odd: Wherever I ordered ice tea, it was always the same. At a fancy hotel's restaurant, or an even fancier one, at a sidewalk cafe or a streetside bar, an expensive restaurant, anywhere - they always gave me a glass bottle of Nestea, and a glass with ice. Always the same Nestea logo, and exactly the same tea. Well, except for one place: they gave me a can of Nestea (same logo, same stuff) and a glass with ice. Apparently, there is no other ice tea on that island.

I'd always associated Germany with beer. But now that I've been to Germany, or at least one part of it, I think it's actually sparkling water. At restaurants and at people's homes, sparkling water is what they pour by default. If you want just water, you have to ask for "still water". Beer is something they might offer, or ask if you want, but plain sparkling water is what they assume you want without asking.

Got any others to add to the list?

Comments

[maebeth.livejournal.com]

In South India it is hot tea and hot coffee, 3pm, prepared in another room and brought around already poured into little cups, full of sugar and milk.
And a plate of burning incense; spread the smoke over yourself, take a drink, back to work.

[charolastra00.livejournal.com]

In Mexico, particularly Oaxaca, it was Nescafe. Powdered instant coffee EVERYWHERE in an area of a country were coffee plantations are not that far away. They export ALL of their coffee which was really quite sad. And Nescafe is nasty. Oaxacan hot chocolate is not, and luckily that was just as ubiquitous (but not nearly as caffeinated).

I have heard that Iceland drinks the most Coke per capita in the world and that wouldn't surprise me, but their natural drink has got to be their delicious spring water. Many areas of the country don't even treat the water coming out of the springs, just pipe it to their homes.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

That Nestea shit inhabits Canada and the Netherlands too. Vile stuff. Arg.

[cos]

It's far short of what I wanted, that's for sure.

*at home, drinking some iced oolong w/mesquite honey*

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't even necessarily mind it being over-sweetened if it weren't so bizarrely fizzy.

[f1r3anda1r.livejournal.com]

I've grown to really like the English thing about tea.

I like that it's a kind of social glue.
I like that people who have nothing in common but want to show each other they're trying to get along will drink a cup of tea together.
I've noticed that people often put the kettle on to smooth things over after there's been a fight or any other sort of group tension.

Also, in a society where social awkwardness seems to be the norm, it's a nice "reason" to go and visit someone you don't know very well. You "stop by for a brew" -- so you have a pretext for being there, and your host has something to do with his or her hands during the first (and potentially most awkward) few minutes of the visit.

[kirin]

Eh, a lot of places in Europe are the same way with sparkling water... I know in Italy I always had to ask for "non-minerale" as well. And I have been plenty of places in Germany where the beer was the cheapest drink available, including the water.

[cos]

I did not have that experience in Italy. I spent a little over two weeks there, in a few different parts of the country. Sure, there were some places where they'd ask if I wanted bottled or plain, but a) it wasn't everywhere, and b) it was nothing like Germany, where even if I didn't want their fancier water, the plain water was sparkling too.

It wasn't like this in Spain, or Finland, or Estonia, or the UK, either.

[kirin]

Huh. Well, my italy experiences were from... 1989-ish? So things may have changed. Also, I was underage, so people weren't pushing espresso or alcohol on me. Mainly I remember that Coke was ridiculously expensive in restaurants but cheap on the streets, which is probably still true.

I don't remember getting tons of sparkling water in Germany, where I've been a couple times in the last decade. But it's possible from previous experiences I was intentionally ordering still water whenever I wasn't getting beer, I don't remember exactly.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, Italy is the first country in the world to offer sparkling water at drinking fountains as an option to encourage people to eschew bottled water. (France is following suit...)

[leenah.livejournal.com]

nepal: milk tea, served hot.

steep tea leaves in milk, serve w/ sugar.

[kirin]

Oh, in response to the *actual* question, in Japan you can pretty much always default to a nice green tea, though plenty of other things are available. Canned coffee is readily available from vending machines in many places.

[antimony.livejournal.com]

I wonder what it is *here*, to those not from here. Maybe it's just the ubiquitous (though less so now than years ago) ice water you get no matter what else you ask for. Maybe it varies enough by region that there's a variety of assumptions. Root beer is "that weird thing" but it's not common enough.

When I came back from Italy and France in high school, I asked for an espresso machine, but what it turned out I really wanted was coffee made like the regular coffee there -- some of the same flavor notes, very strong but drinkable in full-size cups, and bitter without being burnt. I buy espresso beans, grind them drip, and put extra in the basket. Which is probably exactly the same thing.

[cos]

Years ago, I was hanging out with some geeks at an IETF meeting who were discussing what "American culture" is, and one of them, who had travelled the US extensively, was arguing that there was no such thing because we have so much variation in this huge country. But he'd never been outside the US, so when someone else said "ice water" his jaw almost dropped, because he hadn't considered it - because of course people have ice water everywhere, in his experience :) So yes, ice water. Also orange juice and apple juice, but ice water above all.

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Yeah, America's drink is totally ice water. Stil ice water.

[annodomini.livejournal.com]

Man, America needs a better default drink.

And iced drinks in general I think are more uniquely American. Most other places don't put ice in drinks, such as water, soda, and the like.

Then there's every country's weird food, that is oddly popular in that country and most other people find repulsive. You know, like natto in Japan, vegemite in Australia, haggis in Scotland. Surprisingly, America's is peanut butter. Lots of people from outside the US find the idea of peanut butter disgusting, apparently.

[cos]

Although I'd never even heard of peanut butter until we moved to the US when I was a few months short of 7 years old, none of my family found it disgusting, nor have I ever encountered anyone in my memory who has mentioned that people generally find it disgusting. So this makes me curious: where have you heard that?

[477150n.livejournal.com]

I've definitely talked to a few Germans who think peanut butter is gross. ("Almost as bad as root beer," someone once told me.)

[cos]

Did anyone try to give them a bottle of Moxie? :)

[estheruth.livejournal.com]

Moxie is the best! What are you saying about Moxie?

[cos]

I'm implying the Germans wouldn't like it :)

[nurrynur.livejournal.com]

maybe they would! I don't like root beer, but will drink Moxie.

[477150n.livejournal.com]

Huh, I've never heard of Moxie... googling reveals it to be a New England thing. Though, interestingly, I do know what it means to say someone "has moxie," which wikipedia says comes from advertising of the soda.

[elfy.livejournal.com]

I know a lot of germans - including myself - who don't dislike peanut butter or find it gross. Actually I find it quite tasty, even if I don't eat it regularly. Marmite is gross! But why peanut butter? It's also available in every supermarket ... if so many people would find it gross, I don't think you'd get it here that easily. For example, you can't find Marmite anywhere ;)

About drinks: I'm still amused that you don't have Schwipp-Schwapp or Mezzo-Mix in the US.

Irn Bru

[(Anonymous)]

In Scotland, Irn Bru is huge. More people drink it than Coke. It's a bright orange soda (think Sunkist) that tastes like ginger, bubble gum, and maybe, some sort of illegal drug.

They're very proud of it - Irn Bru is actually made in Scotland.

Re: Irn Bru

[cos]

I've actually had this stuff. In the US, I think... though I've been to Scotland, so maybe it was there.

Re: Irn Bru

[(Anonymous)]

It must have been in Scotland, it's hard to get here (and super-expensive!). And besides, it actually is kind of horrible. I think one of the reasons it's so popular is because it is sharply acidic and contrasts with all the fried foods that are so popular there.

Re: Irn Bru

[(Anonymous)]

This sounds a lot like Iron Beer, one of the sodas popular / made in Cuba, that are standards in places like Miami, with big Cuban populations.

Iron Beer I don't remember the taste of.
There's Materva, which is billed as a Yerba Mate soda, but it tastes like bubble gum. Jupina, which tastes kinda like pineapple, and there's one that is like unfermented beer ingredients. I think it begins with a C. ;p

Re: Irn Bru

[diatom.livejournal.com]

(this reply was me, btw. I thought I was logged in!)

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

What is it in Israel? I haven't been there since 1974.

[cos]

I haven't been since the 90s. One thing I remember that I miss, is the prevalence of juice bars where you pick which fruit to combine and they make you a juice of it.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

I was last there in 2001 and I'm going back in November, but nothing struck me as "the drink". Tea with mint leaves ("nana tea") was just starting to become popular, but espresso and beer were equally drunk.

I'd say that Israel's drink is "anything that goes with a cigarette". But I'll let you know after I get back in November...

drinks n stuff

[diatom.livejournal.com]

Dang. Ice water is probably America's drink. Although the prevalence of soda everywhere, and the drinks one can get with free refills at a local diner, probably point to our "standard" drinks. Ice water, coffee. Ice tea if you're lucky. (Sweet tea in the south, ftw!)

In Miami, cafe con leche and cafe cubano are big: the first is a shot of cuban coffee (espresso with sugar added) added to a cup of milk, steamed or not. Cafe cubano is just the sweetened espresso, bitter and potent. An average person would drink just a shot or two of it, max. A true addict would order a whole colada (basically a medium coffee cup size's worth of the stuff). If you're generous, you share with your officemates. Otherwise, you drink the whole thing yourself...

Miami + ice water just makes sense!