Why do drinks almost always suck at room temperature?

Water’s good at room temp.

I disagree, it needs to be at-least a little colder or it’s a bit weird. Plenty of people agree with me on that one.

i think water taste good any time depending upon your thirst. For example, there is a water fountain right outside of my gym whose water tastes awful if you drink on a normal day, but after working out, the water from the same water fountain tastes like the best water ever

Well, I guess it depends on what the room’s temp. is. For example, now that I think about it, the water I’m thinking of at room temp, is water that’s in the kitchen in my house, and since my parents refuse to turn the heat up highter than about 56 degrees F, so the water’s already kinda chilly.

Perhaps it’s because we want a drink that will warm or cool us. I would think the ideal temp for a warm drink is somewhere between body temp and too hot to drink. The ideal temp for a cold drink must be low enough that we feel a somewhat dramatic difference between our body’s temp and the drink. Because 98.6 degrees is relatively close to room temperature, a room-temp drink neither cools nor warms us, therefore, it’s unsatisfying.

I only drink water at room temp.

Coffee hot; water & diet-coke with ice & an additional desirable makes it really good—a straw to sip it

Ya. It’s because part of the experience is the contrast in temperature.

Somewhere I saw a study suggesting that as a medical matter, any drink is best for your body when consumed at body temperature, although that doesn’t necessarily mean a hot or cold drink is bad for you. Drinking too much fluid at too great a difference from body temperature can be dangerous, especially for small children.

Depending on the beverage, temperature can also affect the the taste and smell. The same concept lies behind leftovers that are frozen or kept at much colder than room temperature. As temperatures drop, particles slow down and they cease to reach our nose with the zing they once had. Our sense of smell is a great insight to our sense of taste and thus part of the enjoyment of a mug of hot cocoa is lost when it is no longer “hot” cocoa!

High fructose corn syrup tastes crappy unless cold. It’s in almost everything.

I also prefer water without ice. Room temperature. And while I do like my espresso very hot, if iced coffee warms up a bit, I taste the coffee more and like it better.

because all thoose drinks you named are almost all hot drinks so therfor need to stay hot during the process of drinking them.
its the same for cold drinks, they need to stay cold or they will not taste that nice