Thirst is the way the body tells us we need fluid.
So why does drinking luke warm water not satiate it? IMHO it seems to make it worse. Ever been really thirsty and the water from the fountain is room temperature? Blah.
If the body needs water, why does it care if the water is cold or not?
If I may offer a WAG, even though it’s still early in this thread:
I guess it’s simply because the body has evolved a flawed algorithm for detecting water intake, taking temperature into account where it’s not really very relevant. (Similarly, you measure how well oxygenated your blood is only indirectly, by measuring the pH of the blood, which becomes more acidic as CO[sub]2[/sub] accumulates. Thus, you can suffocate in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere of nitrogen or helium, without ever realizing it.)
It’s also possible that waters of varying temperatures have different kinetics, that is, being absorbed through your gut into your bloodstream at differing rates.
Speaking only for myself, I haven’t found whether water is cold or tepid to have an effect on how much it satisfies my thirst but merely on how much I enjoy the experience of drinking it. Basically, if I’m hot, I want cold water. If I’m comfortable, the water doesn’t need to be chilled.
This may be entirely cultural. In China, when you come inside on a hot day, they offer you a hot cup of tea. (At least, they did 30 years ago). It was extremely weird at first but you get used to it. After a while, it seemed perfectly normal and satisfying.
You’re just used to cold water. I have worked the fields and mowed yards all day in the hot sun, and found that tepid water does indeed quench a thirst. Cold water would have been nice, but when you’ve just sweated away a couple kilos, the warmish stuff brings relief just fine.
While I prefer the taste of cool water, I find that if I’m really thirsty sometimes I prefer room temp water. If I’m thirsty enough to chug 1 or 2 glasses all at once, I prefer to be able to get the water in my system without the chill that much cold water would give me.
I’ve never noticed lukewarm water not sating a thirst. I tend to prefer my water lukewarm. I don’t like ice cold water, even when really thirsty. Room temp is exactly my preference when I’m thirsty. Then again, I don’t mind warm beer, even if it’s not meant to be drunk warm, so I could be a freak.
Possibly if you did not like the taste of non-cold water, you would not drink enough to quench your thirst. It is recommended now that athletes drink cold water because they will drink more of it.
You may have something at that. Every European country I’ve been to not only doesn’t use ice as regularly in their drinks as we do in the U.S., their drinks are not served as cold as they are in the USA. I was just in Paris and even soda from vending machines are not as cold as they are here.
Proper beer however should be served at 12-14 C (54-57 F), which is somewhat cooler than room temperature. If real ale is too warm it is not appetizing, it loses its natural conditioning (the liveliness of the beer due to the dissolved carbon dioxide).
On the other hand if the beer is too cold it will kill off the subtle flavour. Unlike keg beer which has to be chilled, real ale has flavours you need to taste! Real ale is not ‘warm’, ‘cloudy’ or ‘flat’. Real ale is served below room temperature, like red wine; served properly it should be entirely clear; if it kept and served properly it will have enough natural life to be appetizing.
Not quite what the OP was asking, but I thought I would just throw it in.
I have gone through bouts of dehydration from vomiting all day long and not holding water down. Now my favorite beverage in the world is ice-cold (almost frozen) water. Even just sipping it.
This. No matter how thirsty I am, I can’t drink a huge amount of really cold water all that quickly…I prefer it to be closer to room temp in that situation as well.
The problem with cold water is that one cannot really drink much of it. I can only drink about half a glass before my throat starts burning. Most of the time I take the water pitcher out of the refrigerator and dilute it with lukewarm water to the point were I can drink a full glass or two. I like it cold, but not throat burning cold.
As someone who grew up camping all summer, using canteens filled with well water, canoeing and sanitizing water out in the boonies, any kind of water will do. Hot from being slung off a saddle all day in the sun, cold from being dunked in a river or lake, doesn’t matter.
These days, I just usually can’t be bothered with making sure my water is ice cold. I fill a bottle at work or home and whatever temp comes out if the tap is as cold as it gets, warmer over a couple hours, then refill. I took my ice cube trays out to refill them when I was expecting a guest and the ice was gone out of all four trays, just dehydrated away after a winter of non-use. I’ll use them on hot days for my iced tea and that’s about it. Or when guests come over and want ice in everything. Weirdos.