Why Americans are OBSESSED with Sparkling Water

Sparkling water has never been so big, especially in North America. What used to be a fancy drink for rich people is now everywhere. Our question is, how did this become so popular and, most importantly, why???

Subscribe to Future Proof!

Join our Patreon:

Stay updated on our socials

For further reading, check out the sources for this video here:

Script: Jaz Papalapoudos
Editor: Reid Valaitis
Lead Editor: Kirsten Stanley
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez
Host: Levi Hildebrand

[namenamenamename]

The best part about La Croix is that the founders started it because they wanted sparkling water, but found Perrier to be obnoxious and expensive. It has now become the monster it sought to slay.

[groberti]

As a European it is kind of fascinating for me that fizzy watter is just catching up in the US. I've been drinking it all my life and has literally replaced soft drinks for me around 6 years ago

[AshleyWade]

Once upon a time, a co-worker left me their plant despite my saying it's a bad idea. At the time, drinks were free at work and I switch from pop to bubbly water. Lost 30lbs. But not the point. I'd often leave partial full cans on my desk. I gave that to the plant. The thing thrived. It even blossomed and we didn't know it could do that.

[sonipitts]

The reason why the gluten-free label is important is that a lot of canned and bottled beverages are produced in the same factories or even using the same machinery as beer, which can result in traces of wheat proteins in the mix from cross-contamination. Not an issue if you're merely mildly gluten intolerant, but a huge deal if you're severely responsive or outright allergic, as some people are. The gluten-free label ensures the beverage was not produced in conditions that could result in cross-contamination.

[ImmaLabRat]

I grew up in Latin America way back when the water out of the tap wasn’t entirely potable. So for us, seltzer was actually consumed for “safety” reasons. We would order crates of glass seltzer bottles that we knew were properly sterilized and filtered. Once a week, we would exchange our spent bottles with fresh ones, sort of how milk used to be delivered in the 50’s. This service actually still exists in some countries.
Anyway, for years I struggled to drink plain flat water after moving to a tap-water safe country. Now I live in Europe where I’ve opted to invest in a water carbonator, and it’s the best thing ever. I can even get the aromatic water flavoring drops to mimic “La Croix” type flavors, which is rad.

[nintendudecubed]

I used to drink Bubly, but made a hard switch ever since pepsi took advantage of the craze by reducing the number of cans per case down to 8 while keeping the price relatively the same, which seems to have now become a trend among most brands... However, in a hilariously LaCroix move, the company has recently started selling 15-packs as if to give yet another middle finger to the industry.

[duyo]

Sparkling water has always been huge in Europe, especially France Italy Spain. My entire in-law family (French) has been drinking sparkling water on a daily basis for generations.

[djNM]

*tonic water* has a trace of quinine and lots of sugar, to give its signature bitter and sweet taste.
It is a softdrink/coke/soda all of it's own, not a plain sparkling or seltzer water and mostly used as a mixer with gin to make a G&T.

[BobSmith-funn]

Remember that "natural flavouring" does not necessarily come from the the fruit (or whatever) that it describes. It is defined by the FDA as "a substance extracted, distilled, or similarly derived from natural sources like plants (fruits, herbs, veggies, barks, roots, etc.) or animals (meat, dairy products, eggs, etc.) via a method of heating, with its primary function in food being flavoring not nutritional."

[tracejohnson]

Casually watching this while drinking a blood orange tangerine (best flavor) Spindrift hoping you'd mention them. As usual, you did not disappoint. The few calories in a can are worth having literally no "natural flavors" added and the juice adds just the right amount of sweetness. Honestly it's the last carbonated NA beverage I'll ever need.

[antibioteka]

..born and raised in Germany. Sparkling water at home is normal here since the 70s.

[joermnyc]

I’ve mentioned it before, Bulgaria (where we adopted our daughter from) has so much natural mineral water sources that you can just fill up for free from public taps. Some sources are actually naturally carbonated as well.

[HeyyJillian]

when I was 16 I visited Austria and my friends and I were at the grocery store looking for bottled water, and could only find sparkling water. I remember thinking it was so disgusting, we ended up finding a natural spring in town and dumping out our purchased water and filling up at the tap. Now I can't get enough of the stuff.

[casualotaku]

Limoncello La Croix is my personal fave. It's not as harsh as their normal lemon. And honestly I don't think we've 'just drunk water' for centuries, . There's a reason things like small beer, grog, and rum have existed for millennia. I only drink pure water when I feel dehydrated. Then and only then does my brain go "Oh yeah...that's the good stuff."

[spiralpython]

I thought flavoured fizzy water had “always” been around. As a kid in 70s/80s Australia, a glass of sparkling ’mineral water’ infused with fruit flavours (mostly orange/ mango and lemon or lemon/lime and not loaded with sugar) was the ‘kids’ drink when the adults were guzzling wine…

[JenniferJadeKerr]

My husband calls it "glitter water." And because he's Mr. All or Nothing, he was drinking up to 5 cans a day at one point. But it got to be pretty cost prohibitive, as well as physically uncomfortable (because gas). So now we have about a case just sitting in our fridge, and after reading these comments, I will now use it to water my plants. LOL.

[InDeepPudding]

As someone from Italy where we drink sparkling water almost every other day and don't have the association with it being "fancy"... it's just carbonated water. You can literally get it from public water dispensers for free. Why must Americans always be like this.

[SteMegManzaroli]

This little differences between the US and the EU are always baffling to me! In Italy and other European countries there are two kinds of water, normal and sparkling (there is a third version that is something in between the two but to me tastes like a bottle of sparkling water left open for a week).
So at the restaurant or supermarket you always find two options, and they are in plastic or glass bottles, not in cans like beer and coke 😂

[ehmzed]

In Italy when you order water at a restaurant or a store, you'll always be asked if you want it still or sparkling. Even water fountains often have the still/sparkling option. It's just as normal as still water. Not with flavours though.

[OneManOnFire]

I used to drink this carbonated water everyday cause it was free at work. It made me bloated and gassy. It would cause random feelings of as if someone poked me inside and felt like a mini quick blip of heart burn. I stop drinking it and all of those issues magically went away.