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Soft drink

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A soft drink is a drink that contains no (or very little) alcohol, as opposed to a hard drink, which does contain alcohol. In general, the term is used only for cold beverages.

In the United States, "soft drink" denotes a carbonated drink, regionally known in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest as "pop". In the Northeast, parts of the South (near Florida) and Midwest (near St. Louis), and California, it is known as "soda". In Atlanta, Georgia and some other parts of the South, it is generically called "coke". (Atlanta is home to the Coca-Cola Corporation). Elsewhere it is called "soda pop". See the The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy for maps and geographical trends. Soft drinks are commonly sold in stores in bottles and cans. They are also sold in high-volume restaurants and bars. In the U.S. and other countries, vending machine sales earn a significant amount of money for the producers and distributors. Most famous name-brand soft drinks are produced and bottled by local or regional independent bottling companies. These companies license the name and are usually sold the main ingredients (syrup) made by the main manufacturing plants of the trademark holders. For example, unless you live in Georgia or nearby, a can of Coke™ will likely be from a facility near the point-of-purchase. In the past, most Cola and other soft drinks were sweetened with ordinary sugar (sucrose), but to save on production costs, most companies have turned to the more economical corn syrup as a sweetener. Diet Sodas are sweetened with chemicals that are perceived as sweet by most people yet contain no calories or nutritional value. Competition in the industry among soft drink producers is widely referred to as the cola wars.

In German, soft drinks are known as Limo short for Limonade, the German word for lemonade, but in America lemonade is an uncarbonated beverage, generally not considered a soft drink.

In Swedish, soft drinks are called läsk which comes from läskande drycker (roughly - refreshing drinks) and denotes carbonated non-alcoholic soft drinks. The word lemonad has more or less the same use as the English word lemonade, but belongs to a slightly higher level of style than läsk.

In Australia and New Zealand, "soft drink" almost always refers to carbonated beverages. "Lemonade" can refer to "lemon drink", but most of the time means clear soft drink (i.e. Sprite, 7-Up, etc.)

In the United Kingdom the term originally applied to carbonated drinks ("pop") and non-carbonated drinks made from concentrates ("squash"), although it now commonly refers to any drink that does not contain alcohol. To further confuse matters, alcopops are often called "alcoholic soft drinks".

Some famous soft drinks (by country):

  • Germany
    • Fanta (Coca-Cola Company, but mainly in Europe)
  • Latvia
  • Malta
    • Kinnie (Black-orange with bitter)
  • New Zealand
    • L&P (Lemon and Paeroa) is now made by the Coca-Cola Company.
  • Peru
    • Inca Kola (Green colored and tasting like bubble gum)
  • Puerto Rico
  • Sweden
    • Julmust (Traditional stout-like, very sweet seasonal soft drink)
    • Sockerdricka (Traditional sugar flavored soft drink)
    • Fruktsoda (Traditional lemon-lime soft drink)
    • Champis (Soft drink alternative to sparkling wine)
    • Pommac (Soft drink alternative to sparkling wine)

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