I’d like to know what non-alcoholic beverage choices I have if I don’t drink wine..
I think most would order mineral water or sparkling water. Coke is probably not a popular choice being in France, plus it’s not a healthy choice. Is iced tea commonly available?
Thanks!
Ice tea will probably not be available.
Anything else is fine, including Coca-Cola. Also juice.
Iced tea is commonly available and is also very popular here although it is usually flavoured with peach.
Coke is the No 1 soft drink in France (like most of the world) but other popular soft drinks you could try include Orangina, Gini and Joker Juices (all the normal varieties).
Another extremely popular drink in France is the Diabolo, which is a fruit syrup (mint, orange, strawberry, grenadine etc) mixed with lemonade. The most common is the Diabolo Menthe.
Sprite and Fanta (different recipe to the US) are also very commonly available.
The two biggest brands of mineral water are Perrier and Badoit.
You can also order a Sirop… pronounced “see-row”. I’ve seen people order these with a bottle of perrier or with just plain water and ice. Sirop is a thick, sweet, concentrated fruit flavoured syrup that is diluted before it’s drunk. In the UK it’s called squash, in the states the closest thing is red grenadine. They also drink a lot of Fanta in France.
You could also ask for tap water, although don’t expect ice unless you ask for it – even then, they may not have it.
Being a tourist, if you ask for Coke, they may assume you want ice as well.
Water is my personal favorite. If you want non-carbonated water (“eau plate” in French, literally “flat water”, with that second word roughly being pronounced “plaht”), choices may include (but are not necessarily limited to) Evian, Vittel, Volvic, and Contrexeville, just to name a few.
If you prefer carbonated water (“eau gazeuse”), the two best-known brands are probably Perrier, which is very carbonated, and Badoit, which is much less carbonated by comparison.
In restaurants, bottled water is often served in 50cl bottles (half of a liter, which is about 17 ounces). A common way to order is “Une demi-[enter name of desired brand], s’il vous plaît.” No need to include the word “de” before the brand, as the result is unintentionally comedic. Just “Une demi-Badoit, s.v.p.”/”Une demi-Vittel, s.v.p.”
As others pointed out, soda and peach-flavored iced tea are easily available, though the advantage of water, besides the fact that it’s healthy, is that it doesn’t overpower the flavor of your meal.
Paris a very civilized city in Europe not in the middle of Africa. You can find all sort of soft drinks, juices and most of the times they are natural (freshly squeezed fruit). During meals you can have everything you wish. Drinking soft drinks during meals, though, it is not common. Usually they drink wine, Champagne or water during meals. Because of the many tourists in France, though, restaurants are quite used to all sort of requests.
You can have a coke, it is very popular. Sprite, fanta, ice tea, water, fruit juice, etc.
You can have a panaché, there is almost no alcohol: beer and ginger ale (I think). Add “sirop de grenadine” and you’ll have a monaco.
You can ask for alcohol-free cocktails.