What is the difference between seltzer, club soda and tonic water?

Funny. I bought some club soda yesterday and was reading the ingredients and comparing to seltzer.

Seltzer is just bubbly water.

Club soda is bubbly and has an added alkaline compound. Like putting a little baking soda in your seltzer. It has a hint of a chalky flavor and counteracts acid. So it’s soothing for heartburn

Tonic is bubbly and has quinine and sugar and has more flavor than club soda. Quinine is a little bitter.

I say buy a liter of each and tell us about the taste test!

The dictionary says seltzer is ‘naturally effervescent water’ and club soda is ‘artificially effervescent water’. In my experience, though, they are pretty much interchangeable (i.e. the same thing). I looked a bit into this via Google and it seems that this is true. I can’t seem to find any labels, though, so @jaytkay could very well be right.

And yeah, tonic water has quinine, which is a compound used to treat malaria. Tonic water was actually created in the earlier part of the last century to make the taking of quinine a bit more palatable to British troops stationed in Africa. Gin being a favored drink of the Brits, it wasn’t too long before a savvy soldier figured out that it was tasty paired with the tonic water.

Seltzer is fizzy water… my club soda ingredients are carbonated water, and salts; my tonic water has carbonated water, citric acid, sodium citrate, natural flavors, sodium benzoate, saccharin, and quinine. I say ‘my’ tonic water but it is DH’s… I hate the stuff.