Carbonated drinks. Why do we have carbonated drinks? I understand that it makes the soda taste erm... fresher? more refreshing? whatever. But honestly, I feel like they carbonate it a bit too much. After a drink from a bottle of soda I find my mouth to be in slight pain almost and as I swallow it the sensation is most unpleasant as it fizzes down my gullet. After said gulp, I feel a strange sensation in my belly up to my throat. At this point I have to do some weird inner gut maneuvers in order to free the gas bubble that has formed inside: which of course has to come out as a burp. I apologize if this post has been so far slightly disgusting and the fact that I am a female probably adds to that sense of "wtf?" while reading this. I know. But it's true!
So one solution to this is to hold the soda in your mouth a bit longer so that the gas has time to escape before ingestion. However, this approach, while not as unpleasant as assisting yourself into a burp, is arguably more unhealthy than just swallowing the darn thing. The acidity and the sweetness of the soda is sure to cause some damage to your teeth every time you hold soda in your mouth for a prolonged period of time. If you were daft enough to not realize this and are in habit of doing this then I suggest you stop. It'll help your dental bills in the future.
Option two is to leave the bottle opened for a while. But this is annoying as I do not wish to wait to drink the soda I just bought. Option three is the best option that I can find thus far... First, safely open the bottle to release pent up gas. Drink one or two sips (suck it up and burp). Close the bottle firmly then shake the bottle slightly until you feel the bottle start to build pressure. Carefully open the bottle to allow gas to escape. Safest way to to open only until you get a little hiss of gas escaping. If you see the soda start to bubble up towards the top, immediately close, wait for the soda to calm the fuck down then continue. Once all the gas has been released, taste test the soda to determine whether it is to your liking. If not, repeat above steps. If you bought a can, then well you're fucked and have to use option two.
While option three works to reduce the carbonation I find that it somehow diminishes the taste a bit. The soda I like best is when I simply leave it out for a couple minutes to allow the gas to escape naturally. Unfortunately, I'm not sure exactly how long I should leave it out and in any case, as I've stated before, I do not wish to or have the time to wait for my drink to slightly flatten. I understand the extreme carbonation of 2 L bottles as they are kept longer and therefore need the carbonation to last longer.. but the 591 mL bottles? Why do you people insist on liking such extreme carbonation? It only gives you gas! I just wish I could find a delicious soda which is carbonated to perfection to preserve both taste, freshness, and pleasant drinking experience. Is that so much to ask?
Fun fact: In Canada (where I live), soda is more often referred to as pop. Eg. "Pop machine", "you shouldn't drink so much pop", "can you get me a pop?" I know, to Americans it must sound weird. I used to call it pop all the time and in fact thought that calling it soda was strange sounding. But as I grew up I grew out of drinking pop and in consequence I had no frequent occasions to refer to the carbonated drink. I only recently started drinking soda again when I visited America several times (I know, what a coincidence!) and drank a lot of rum and coke during my visits. From then on I started using the word soda more but the word pop still holds its place in my vocabulary. I tend to use soda for writing or more formal speech while using pop as a colloquial slang... which is actually what the word is. Canadians do not use the word pop in formal writing.
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