Drink

The word drink is primarily a verb, meaning to ingest liquids. As a noun, it refers to the liquid thus ingested. It is often used in a narrower sense to refer to alcoholic beverages (as both a verb and a noun). Drink is also slang for a body of water, such as an ocean or a water hazard on a golf course (e.g. "He hit that one into the drink."). To drink in is also used metaphorically, as in to drink in the scenery.

A beverage is a drink specifically prepared for human consumption, except water. Beverages almost always largely consist of water. Water is essential for living, significantly more so than food. Death will usually occur after one week without any liquids but humans have been known to survive some months without food.

Types of drinks

Water

Main article: Drinking water

Essential to the survival of all organisms, water has historically been an important and life-sustaining drink to humans. Excluding fat, water composes approximately 70% of the human body by mass. It is a crucial component of metabolic processes and serves as a solvent for many bodily solutes. Health authorities have historically suggested at least eight glasses, eight fluid ounces each, of water per day (64 fluid ounces, or 1.89 L), and the British Dietetic Association recommends 1.8 liters. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has determined that the average adult actually ingests 2.0 L per day. Water is available in several forms. Nearly all other drinks, including juice, soft drinks, and carbonated drinks, have some some form of water in them. Distilled (pure) water is rarely found in nature. Spring water, a natural resource from which much bottled water comes, is generally imbued with minerals. Tap water, delivered by domestic water systems in developed nations, refers to water piped to homes through a tap. All of these forms of water are commonly drunk, often purified through filtration.

Orange juice

A carbonated beverage

Alcoholic beverage

• Alcoholic beverages (which see for classification).
  • Non-alcoholic variants
    • Low alcohol beer
    • Non-alcoholic wine
    • Sparkling cider

A cup of coffee

Hot beverages

• Hot beverages, including infusions. Sometimes drunk chilled.
  • Coffee-based beverages
    • Cappuccino
    • Coffee
    • Espresso
    • Frappé
    • Flavored coffees (mocha etc.)
    • Iced coffee
    • Latte
  • Hot chocolate
  • Hot cider
    • Mulled cider
  • Glühwein
  • Tea-based beverages
    • Flavored teas (chai etc.)
    • Green tea
    • Iced tea
    • Pearl milk tea
    • Tea
  • Herbal teas
  • Roasted grain beverages (Postum etc.)

Other

Some substances may either be called food or drink, and accordingly be eaten with a spoon or drunk, depending on solid ingredients in it and on how thick it is, and on preference:

• Soup
• Yogurt

Trivia

• Latenight talk show host David Letterman has often said, "There isn't a man, woman or child alive who doesn't enjoy a tasty beverage."

See also

• Drinking
• Soft drinks
• Food
• Nutrition
• List of cocktails

External links

• CocktailTeam.net

• Tea healthier drink than water