To think Coke should be cold?

[FraidyCat]

I hardly ever eat out. Tonight went to nice Indian restaurant, and I made the same mistake I make every time I eat in a non-chain restaurant: ordered Coke to drink. I can't remember the last time I had a Coke in a independent restaurant that was served at other than room temperature. The Coke was served in a large Coca-Cola branded glass with lemon and ice and a straw, but putting ice in Coke does not compensate for the actual liquid being lukewarm.

It's not just my local Indian, our nearby Thai (not posh but once reviewed as one of the top three in London) does the same.

All chain restaurants I go to serve Coke cold, as do pubs, so I know I'm not insane to think virtually everyone prefers refrigerated soft drinks.

I wondered if warm Coke is an Asian thing, as usually eating out means Indian, Thai, Chinese or (less often) Vietnamese or Korean. Also I know Chinese people regard cold drinks as unhealthy. But I remember going with DW to what reviews described as a French bistro off Oxford street, excellent food, but warm coke served at lunch-time on a day when it was nearly 30 degrees outside.

Why are my restaurant Cokes always warm?

[Permanentlyexhausted]

Personally I think Coke should be reserved for cleaning the toilet but if I am given no option but to drink it, it should be served at room temperature and without ice. I don't like cold drinks.

[itsbetterthanabox]

Putting ice in it is to make it cold.
It's small restaurants that don't have coke on tap. They have bottles of coke instead and use ice.

[Nocomet]

PE are you my mother?
She hates coke, likes warm lemonade and is on a life long crusade against ice.

Drives me nuts.

[Rainicorn]

What ItsBetter said. It'll be coke out of a bottle rather than draught like chain restaurants have.

[FraidyCat]

Do small restaurants not have fridges? You know like there are in domestic kitchens where less professional cooks operate?

[Rainicorn]

Draught? Draft? Doesn't look right either way.

[iloveanicecake]

YANBU.

[Permanentlyexhausted]

Nocomet - I hope not, because you ought to be sleeping in your bed upstairs if I gave birth to you!

I don't like eating/drinking anything cold. It's uncomfortable and spoils the taste. It is something DH and I will never agree on.

[FraidyCat]

Ice doesn't adequately compensate for it not being cold. If I have to drink room-temperature liquid, I'd rather drink slightly sewagey-smelling London tap-water than warm Coke.

I do actually like cold Coke, and I realise it's not a mainstream choice to go with a meal in a proper restaurant.

[itsbetterthanabox]

At home you are only serving yourselves but In a restaurant they may be serving a lot of people so that's a lot of coke taking up a lot of fridge space. And even then you can still run out and have to open a non chilled bottle, it takes a while to chill.
Ice does the chilling for you, ice does make drinks cold so is the best solution. I've never heard anyone make this complaint before.

[Permanentlyexhausted]

I don't like lemonade either. In fact I dislike fizzy drinks as much as cold drinks. Cold coke is my idea of hell!

[FraidyCat]

If I remember to order beer next time, it will be out of a bottle, and will be cold. Why would the same restaurant serve beer cold and Coke warm?

[Longdistance]

Putting copious amounts of ice with coke/lemonade is just for the benefit if the retailer, as it pads it out.

I only drink coke as a mixer with vodka/amaretto...

[careeristbitchnigel]

Lots of people like their drinks room temperature (me included). When working on the bar i would say about 1/3 refuse ice (our drinks are bottled so it's not like you get more like you do at McDz)

Given the choice between a cold coke and room temp, i'll have the latter thanks. Same with water and some wines

[EverythingCounts]

YANBU. They didn't build a whole advertising campaign around the phrase 'ice cold Coke' for nothing. I have noticed this in Chinese restaurants though. My tip would be look and see if they had cans in the fridge - have been places where they use a 2l bottle and add ice, but keep cans in the fridge for those who ask.

PE - each to their own, though I can't see how a situation ever arises where you have 'no choice' but to order Coke. Tap water will always be available.

[kinkymouse]

If I have fizz I like it room temperature and preferably flat. I also like my tea and coffee barely warm. Strange I am.

[careeristbitchnigel]

rainicorn it's draft

[itsbetterthanabox]

People don't have beer with ice. Coke always served with ice. I like drinks cold too but I've never even noticed this as an issue.

[FraidyCat]

ice does make drinks cold

Not to an acceptable degree, unless there is more ice than actual Coke in the glass, and you wait for it all to melt before actually drinking anything.

A warm coke with a normal quantity of ice will not be cold even if you wait until the ice completely melts.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

have a look at the Coca-Cola Rodeo You Tube Videos and if your coke matches your blood, it'll be boiling.

[shggg245]

Yanbu must be ice cold anything else is just wrong.

[Permanentlyexhausted]

EverythingCounts - no, I was being slightly tongue-in-cheek there.

The advantage of preferring rom-temp drinks is that you can always wait for them to warm up. Tea, however, should be drunk as hot as possible.

I feel the cold a lot. I don't need my drinks to make me feel even colder.

[MyrtleDove]

YANBU. Ice-cold full-sugar coke served in a glass bottle please!

[MyrtleDove]

(however, I prefer room-temp water)

[FraidyCat]

Think about it: a thermos with 50% ice (0 degrees Celsius) mixed with 50% room-temperature Coke (a bit more than 20 degrees Celsius) will once the ice has melted be near the right temperature (10 degree Celsius. I think refrigerated liquid would be about 8 degrees - to tired to Google.) In a glass rather than thermos, it will be warmer than that. If you want to actually drink something closer to coke rather than a 50-50 mixture with water, then you might only put 25% ice in a glass. That would give a temperature (in a thermos with the ice completely melted) of 15 degrees. (I think, it's a bit late at night for arithmetic.) Far to warm in itself, and of course it will actually be warmer than that given that it will be a glass in a warm room rather than a Thermos.

So, my on-the-fly estimate is that a coke with 25% ice will be double the temperature of Coke with no ice that has come out of a fridge. And that's only if all the ice has melted and mixed with the Coke and the whole drink hasn't warmed up while you waited for the ice to melt. So more than double the temperature.