# Club soda, seltzer, tonic water-what's the difference?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 19, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120 "2006-07-19T02:56:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/1 "2006-07-19T02:56:37Z")
If there is any-what makes seltzer water different from club soda from tonic water?
Aren’t they all just carbonated water?
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/2 "2006-07-19T03:02:41Z")
Tonic water contains quinine. I figure all the G&Ts I drink will ward off the malaria.
Club soda is just fizzy water.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/3 "2006-07-19T03:04:10Z")
Not really. Tonic water contains quinine. In general use, I would say that seltzer water is freshly carbonated water, using a cartridge, club soda is carbonated and bottles, and tonic has the aforementioned added ingredient. YMMV.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/4 "2006-07-19T03:04:25Z")
[Tonic water](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_Water) contains up to 83 mg/L quinine.
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/5 "2006-07-19T03:05:08Z")
> [@The Sausage Creature](#):
>
> Club soda is just fizzy water.
Wrong. Check the packaging. Club soda has sodium. Seltzer water is fizzy water with natural flavors. I have a can of seltzer right in front of me.
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/6 "2006-07-19T03:10:29Z")
Quick googling reveals that it “may” contain sodium bicarbonate, depending on bottler. However, I haven’t any packaging, as I don’t often have occasion to use it.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/7 "2006-07-19T08:16:54Z")
Wikipedia thinks that Seltzer is typically pure fizzy water, while Club Soda may have small amounts of “…table salt, sodium citrate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate, potassium sulfate or disodium phosphate, depending on the bottler.”
> **[Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](https://www.answers.com/redirectSearch?query=carbonated-water)**
>
> Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want
In my experience, the salt or whatever takes some of the edge off the CO2. Still, if you are using the carbonated water as a mixer, the additional ingredients probably don’t matter.
Tonic water, OTOH, has a distinctive taste.
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### Author:  [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/8 "2006-07-19T08:40:23Z")
Tonic water is sweetened. Is has approximately as many calories as Coke or Sprite. That makes it entirely unlike seltzer and club soda.
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### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/9 "2006-07-19T09:29:02Z")
> [@ambushed](#):
>
> Tonic water is sweetened. Is has approximately as many calories as Coke or Sprite. That makes it entirely unlike seltzer and club soda.
And flavored (and not just with quinine. You can buy tonic water without quinine.)
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### Author:  [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/10 "2006-07-19T10:38:14Z")
> [@Squink](#):
>
> [Tonic water](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_Water) contains up to 83 mg/L quinine.
So you’d have to drink at least 24 litres a day to treat malaria. Good to know! 🙂
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/11 "2006-07-19T11:33:52Z")
Tonic water is a flavor, like cola, root beer, or orange.
To me club soda and selter are pretty much interchangable, ususally one has salt one doesn’t, but both serve as a base for adding flavors to make ‘soda’s’ - though they can be drunk straight.
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/12 "2006-07-19T13:10:04Z")
> [@The Sausage Creature](#):
>
> Quick googling reveals that it “may” contain sodium bicarbonate, depending on bottler. However, I haven’t any packaging, as I don’t often have occasion to use it.
I have both in my house. 🙂 I can go through a case of seltzer in a hot weekend, so I make sure there is no sodium.
the club soda works better for mixed drinks because of the pinch of salt.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/13 "2006-07-19T18:56:16Z")
> [@ambushed](#):
>
> Tonic water is sweetened. Is has approximately as many calories as Coke or Sprite. That makes it entirely unlike seltzer and club soda.
It is my impression that tonic water has less sugar than soda pop.
Some googling shows that we are both right: apparently there are varieties with 4, 10 and 114 calories. (Coke has about 110 calories, IIRC).
4: [Registered & Protected by MarkMonitor](http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/80412.html)
10: [SELF Magazine: Women's Workouts, Health Advice & Beauty Tips | SELF](http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-B00001-01c210X.html)
114: [Calories in Tonic Water | CalorieKing](http://www.calorieking.com/foods/food.php?category_id=6962&brand_id=1&food_id=88577&partner=)
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### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/14 "2006-07-19T19:28:12Z")
> [@Measure for Measure](#):
>
> It is my impression that tonic water has less sugar than soda pop.
>
> Some googling shows that we are both right: apparently there are varieties with 4, 10 and 114 calories. (Coke has about 110 calories, IIRC).
>
> 4: [Registered & Protected by MarkMonitor](http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/80412.html)
> 10: [SELF Magazine: Women's Workouts, Health Advice & Beauty Tips | SELF](http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-B00001-01c210X.html)
> 114: [Calories in Tonic Water | CalorieKing](http://www.calorieking.com/foods/food.php?category_id=6962&brand_id=1&food_id=88577&partner=)
The first is probably diet tonic water (which you can find alongside the regular at the grocery store.) The point is that tonic water is closer to soda than to carbonated water; some people who posted above implied that the difference between carbonated water and tonic water was the presence of quinine, which is not really correct.
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### Author:  [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2006, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/15 "2006-07-24T11:13:42Z")
> [@Measure for Measure](#):
>
> It is my impression that tonic water has less sugar than soda pop.
>
> Some googling shows that we are both right: apparently there are varieties with 4, 10 and 114 calories. (Coke has about 110 calories, IIRC).
>
> 4: [Registered & Protected by MarkMonitor](http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/80412.html)
> 10: [SELF Magazine: Women's Workouts, Health Advice & Beauty Tips | SELF](http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-B00001-01c210X.html)
> 114: [Calories in Tonic Water | CalorieKing](http://www.calorieking.com/foods/food.php?category_id=6962&brand_id=1&food_id=88577&partner=)
What **Excalibre** said, pretty much. Your first link is to “slimline” or “Indian” _diet_ tonic water. Your second has the wrong quantity. The link should instead be: [1 can or bottle (12 fl oz) Tonic Water](http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-B00001-01c210X.html), which gives a calorie count of 124.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/16 "2006-07-24T14:00:41Z")
> [@Excalibre](#):
>
> some people who posted above implied that the difference between carbonated water and tonic water was the presence of quinine, which is not really correct.
To be fair to those people, around these parts (and pretty much everywhere I’ve ever traveled, outside bits of the East Coast) I have never seen tonic water refer to anything but quinine water. I’d be a bit surprised if I ordered a gin and tonic and it had a different flavor in it.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/17 "2006-07-24T14:02:17Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> To be fair to those people, around these parts (and pretty much everywhere I’ve ever traveled, outside bits of the East Coast) I have never seen tonic water refer to anything but quinine water. I’d be a bit surprised if I ordered a gin and tonic and it had a different flavor in it.
In fact, the dictionary definition is:
> [@](#):
>
> tonic water
> n.
> A carbonated beverage flavored with quinine. Also called quinine water, tonic.
from [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com).
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### Author:  [@harrylentil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harrylentil)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2006, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/club-soda-seltzer-tonic-water-whats-the-difference/365120/18 "2006-07-25T04:53:55Z")
Thanks for telling me about club soda. I have always lived on the right-hand side of the Atlantic and never knew what this drink was. I have only ever heard of it - until now - in old movies where some craggily handsome guy orders it in a bar and is commisirated (“on the wagon, huh?”). I had speculated that it was a movie euphamism for Coke/Pepsi in the days before the maturity of product placement.