Why Is Sparkling Water All Over Europe? (2024)

FAQs

Why is sparkling water more common in Europe? ›

As carbonated waters became popular all over Europe, it became the norm for bottled water. By the time tap water became healthy enough for Europeans to drink, they were already somewhat set in their preferences. Tap water was used for cleaning, washing and things of that nature, and carbonated water was for drinking.

Sparkling water is popular as a non-alcoholic, zero-calorie beverage in fine dining and daily consumption in regions including southern and eastern Europe, Germany, France, and increasingly Mexico and the United States.

039 grams of Magnesium per liter of water, Germans tend to believe the fizzier it is, the healthier. This type of food superstition is common to many cultures, not unlike the Chinese custom of drinking hot water rather than cold, or Americans' compulsion to refrigerate everything from onions to peanut butter.

Advertisem*nt. That's because Germans love bubbles in their water. Sprudelwasser has many other names in German: Mineralwasser, Sprudel or Selters. All of those mean the same thing: Sparkling water.

A Quick Rise in Popularity

Sparkling water has started to become more popular among the general population as more people started to add more water to their diets. While sparkling water has the fizz and the characteristic of a soda, it doesn't have the same amount of calories or sugars.

To wean themselves off of soft drinks, in an effort to drink less beer, and just because they liked the taste. All these people wanted the joy of drinking carbonated beverages, without all the sugar and additives. In a few years, La Croix (and soda water as a whole) has become nothing short of a cultural sensation.

Europe has a lot of water resources, which are mostly clean; in most Europen countries people can drink tap water.

In Europe, most water is abstracted from surface waters. Around 75 % of total water abstraction is from rivers and reservoirs, and 25 % from groundwater.

Europeans, who are notorious water connoisseurs, generally pay to drink bottled water with their meals — for taste, not health. At restaurants, your server just can't understand why you wouldn't want good bottled water to go with your good food. Luckily, it's never expensive to order a half-liter of bottled water.

According to a 2019 study, bottled still water has now surpassed sparkling water in terms of European preference. Throughout the continent, only 37% of consumers favored bottled sparkling water, while 63% of consumers prefer bottled still water. Still, the demand doesn't seem to be dwindling.

Why is tap water not served in Germany? ›

No, tap water is not served in many restaurants in Germany.

This is because some restaurants prefer to offer bottled water as a way to generate additional revenue.

Sparkling Water Benefits

Aiding weight loss. Research shows that the bubbles in sparkling water take up space in your stomach so you feel less hungry and would consume fewer calories than normal. The added benefit of tasting better than still water means that you're likely to drink more. Hydration.

There are two main kinds of bottled water in France: still (eau plate) and sparkling (eau gazeuse, sometimes also called eau pétillante in advertisem*nts). If you order water in a restaurant and don't specify, you'll usually get sparkling water. If you're not a fan, make sure to ask for de l'eau plate.

Sparkling water provides hydration, and it's a much better option than drinking regular soda or even diet soda, which does not provide adequate hydration. If a person's not hydrated, they may always feel hungry because the body can't tell the difference between hunger and thirst.

Seltzer became more of a generic term for fizzy water as its popularity spread around Europe and North America.

And, in fact, there's a chance that drinking sparkling water can lower your risk of kidney stones. “Overall, any increased intake of either still or sparkling water should reduce the likelihood of kidney stones developing,” Philip Hoekstra, MD, a board-certified urologist at Corewell Health, told Health.

But as the negatives highlight, there may be specific issues to look out for. But as long as you can enjoy sparkling water in moderation – and never as a permanent replacement for plain, still water – there's nothing to stop you from enjoying it every day.

Sparkling water is the same as still water except that it has added carbon dioxide gas, which gives it the “fizz”. That's it. The same source, the same purity, the same high quality (livescience.com). Sparkling water has been shown to help aid digestion.

In Ask Your Target Market's latest survey, just 13% of respondents said that they drink sparkling water regularly. 84% drink regular water. And 50% drink soda regularly.

Why does fizzy mean delicious? Again, we come back to science: when a bottle or can of a carbonated beverage is opened, the carbon dioxide gas reacts with water to form carbonic acid (H2CO3). Carbonic acid actually has a taste that your tongue can detect – one that accents the flavor of the beverage.

What percentage of people prefer sparkling water? ›

Sixty two percent of consumers prefer to drink still bottled water, with thirty eight percent of consumers indicating their preference for sparkling waters. To many consumers, bottled water is their most favoured and convenient way of hydrating healthily.

European bottled waters generally contained higher mineral levels than North American tap water sources and North American bottled waters. For half of the tap water sources we examined, adults may fulfill between 8% and 16% of their Ca2+ DRI and between 6% and 31% of their Mg2+ DRI by drinking 2 liters per day.

The trace levels of minerals in the water will determine its taste. This is why the water tastes slightly different wherever you travel – it's being pulled from the sea or from the ground in a location that has a slightly different co*cktail of minerals than you're normally used to.

Austria has the cleanest bathing water in Europe, according to the European Environment Agency. Nearly 98 per cent of its bathing areas - where people regularly swim - were given an 'excellent' rating last year.

Iceland had the highest clean water index score In Europe in 2021, achieving 86 out of 100. This shows that pollution levels of estuarine, coastal, and open ocean waters in the country were minimal. Other countries that had a higher score than the goal of 70 out of 100 were Norway and Finland.

Is tap water safe to drink? Most places in Europe do have drinkable tap water, which means you'll save money by bringing a reusable water bottle and filling it up before heading out in the morning.

The short answer is yes. Drinking water from the tap in Italy is considered safe. Tap water in the major cities and towns around Italy is safe for consumption, and there are thousands of old-style water fountains dotted around cities, like Rome, where you can fill up water bottles.

The survey, taken as part of the Consumer Insights Special on Sustainable Consumption, asked respondents why they choose to buy bottled water. Of those who did, the majority said it was for ease, since it was better to take with them on the go (46 percent) and because it tastes better than tap water (43 percent).

Even though Italy has great drinking water coming straight out of the tap, many Italians prefer to drink bottled water, particularly at restaurants. Part of that has to do with the fact that Italy has many name-brand mineral waters that are considered healthier because of their mineral content.

Do Italians like sparkling water? ›

Most Italians have their own favorite brands of mineral waters. And even if they don't, they certainly have a strong preference on whether they like still water or sparkling water. Carbonated drinks, in general, are obtained by adding pressurized CO₂, which partly combines with water to form Carbonic Acid (H₂CO₃).

In France sparkling water has been historically associated to "digestives" i.e. drinks one has after a meal to help digestion. Normally one would drink non-sparking water during the meal.

The free sparkling water fountains in Paris (+ map)

Tap water is so old-school when you now have free sparkling water dispensers on the streets. Ask Parisians – they know best. Paris has for a long time had eight drinking fountains with free sparkling water, but they have remained largely unknown…

Many travelers assume that the tap water must not be safe to drink if even the locals order bottled water. Again, not true! Tap water in Germany is 100% safe to drink. Many locals prefer sparkling water, however, which is exactly what the waiter will bring you if you simply order “water”.

Finland's tap water is among the greatest on the planet, and not is it totally safe, but also a joy to drink. In Finland, tap water has been viewed as essentially cleaner than filtered water. You can drink regular water all over the country.

The water that comes out of all taps in Germany is safe to drink, even in the bathroom. If you are ever worried about the water coming out of the tap, let it run for 30 seconds and only drink from the cold tap.

Teeth troubles

“Sparkling water may also contain minerals, whether natural or infused during the process of carbonation, that can lead to changes in your tooth enamel,” Sullivan warns. Be on the lookout for anything that includes citric acid, phosphorous or sugar, all of which can contribute to enamel erosion.

Good news: Sparkling water (including the flavored kind), which often helps with the taste fatigue some people experience with plain water, is just as hydrating as non-carbonated water.

Sparkling water is just as hydrating as non-carbonated water, but you may want to skip it during your next workout anyway.

Around 78% of bottled water consumed in Germany is carbonated and very rarely I meet a German friend who prefers to drink non-carbonated tap water.

Why do people in Europe drink bottled water? ›

Europeans, who are notorious water connoisseurs, generally pay to drink bottled water with their meals — for taste, not health. At restaurants, your server just can't understand why you wouldn't want good bottled water to go with your good food. Luckily, it's never expensive to order a half-liter of bottled water.

Perhaps the reasons we don't drink it as often in restaurants is because our tap water is top quality, better regulated than the bottled water industry, and it is free. Plus we have huge corporations pushing sugared carbonated beverages that many have grown accustomed to drinking.

The 12oz can have 10-20 calories, which makes it a perfect drink for health-conscious consumers and is available in duo flavors and has added natural ingredients as well. The millennial and Gen Z population makes up the majority of today's consumers of sparkling water.

Beverage Consumers

In Ask Your Target Market's latest survey, just 13% of respondents said that they drink sparkling water regularly. 84% drink regular water. And 50% drink soda regularly.

Although many French people prefer bottled water, in most places in France, tap water is perfectly okay to drink. Some locales, like Paris, even pride themselves on the quality of their tap water. But there are a few regions or cities where, sadly, the water has been contaminated due to issues like pesticide runoff.

The tap water in France is safe to drink, but its overall quality leaves something to be desired when it comes to potential contaminants.

The most common types of bottled water in Spain are 'agua con gas' or carbonated/sparkling water or 'agua sin gas' without the fizz or still. It is believed that around 95% of Spaniards opt for still water over the fizzy carbonated kind.

Sweden. Situated in northern Europe, Sweden is home to probably the cleanest drinking water in the West. It has such high-quality drinking water. The vast majority of the nation's water comes from its lakes and streams.

Even though Italy has great drinking water coming straight out of the tap, many Italians prefer to drink bottled water, particularly at restaurants. Part of that has to do with the fact that Italy has many name-brand mineral waters that are considered healthier because of their mineral content.

The survey, taken as part of the Consumer Insights Special on Sustainable Consumption, asked respondents why they choose to buy bottled water. Of those who did, the majority said it was for ease, since it was better to take with them on the go (46 percent) and because it tastes better than tap water (43 percent).

Does Europe have better water than America? ›

European bottled waters generally contained higher mineral levels than North American tap water sources and North American bottled waters. For half of the tap water sources we examined, adults may fulfill between 8% and 16% of their Ca²⁺ DRI and between 6% and 31% of their Mg²⁺ DRI by drinking 2 liters per day.

The trace levels of minerals in the water will determine its taste. This is why the water tastes slightly different wherever you travel – it's being pulled from the sea or from the ground in a location that has a slightly different co*cktail of minerals than you're normally used to.

ICELAND. Iceland has stringent quality control, ensuring that they have a consistently high quality of water. 95% of all water in Iceland comes from springs in the ground, so it never comes in touch with any pollution. This is something the Icelandic people are quite proud about.