We have an ice machine in our fridge and, no matter winter or summer, we fill our glasses with ice before pouring in any cold drink (water and cola mostly).
Just doesn’t taste the same without a glass half full of ice.
However, I know when living in Europe, few if any put ice in their drinks if the drink was already cold, and there was even an old wives’ tale that too much ice in drinks will ruin your stomach. To which I answered, “Then most Americans have no stomach lining left…”
So, do you put just a few cubes, a whole lot of ice or no ice in your cold drinks?
I almost never put ice in my drinks, but most of my drinks are either from the fridge or from a soda fountain. Fountain soda is actually pretty cold to begin with, and leaving out ice ensures it won’t water down, plus there’s that much more room for liquid.
ETA: Sorry, US Doper. Arizona, in fact, where ice is used by 99% of the population all year round.
I almost never put ice in my drinks and, when ordering in a restaurant, ask for it to be left out. People told me, “Oh, you’ll love Europe, impossible to get a drink with ice in it.”
But i didn’t find that to be the case. They seemed to have the same ice rules as the US (at least in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain). Or, anyway, at least on a couple of occasions I had to request no ice. Although I supposed if it most generally came according to my preference (no ice) I probably wouldn’t have noticed.
US Doper; I always use ice in sodas or water if I can.
When I was in Italy in 2001, I went to two different restaurants in Rome that didn’t even have ice available when I asked for it. After that, I stopped asking out of fear of looking like an idiot. The next week I happened to be walking past a McDonalds in 90 degree heat when I suddenly had a craving for a Diet Coke iced down American-style, so I went to get one; my drink had one large ice cube in it.
U.S.; I only use ice for my own drinks if the beverage isn’t already cold (as a rule, we store the soda in the fridge, so it’s usually cold enough). At restaurants, I don’t typically ask for “no ice” because I don’t know if it’ll be cold without the ice.
My wife, OTOH, always wants to have ice in her soda or water.
Canada - I’m no fan of ice (it bothers my sensitive teeth, and it waters down the drinks, and I can’t be arsed to fill ice trays). Ice is usually in my drinks when I eat out, though, and I could live without that (especially if there’s no straw - I hate the ice shifting as I drink and I get my drink all over my face and shirt).
American and I don’t usually–mostly out of laziness. Plus if it’s already cold, there doesn’t seem to be a reason. Plus, the whole watering down the drink is an issue, too.
When traveling in Mexico, London, and Amsterdam I found if I wanted more than one or two cubes of ice in my “ice water,” I actually had to order a glass of water, and a separate glass of ice.