It’s a sticky, boiling hot day in Paris, London, Rome, Athens or any other heatwave-stricken European destination. You flop down in a cafe after a morning spent on your feet. You order a refreshing cold drink. The beverage arrives and it’s lukewarm. No ice cubes to be seen.

Just as there are cultural differences in how some U.S. folks and Europeans handle the tap water versus mineral water question, there’s also a divide when it comes to the iciness of beverages.

There has been a slew of memes, TikToks and Instagram Reels that have popped up in recent summers as Americans decamp to Europe and come face to face with room-temperature drinks.

That social media trend is capturing, as historian Jonathan Rees put it, a genuine, “historically determined” cultural difference. “The entire world does not have as much interest in ice as the United States does,” said Rees.

Another author, Amy Brady, whose book “Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks — A Cool History of a Hot Commodity” contemplates the environmental consequences of populating so many aspects of life with frozen chunks of water, agreed. “Americans are unique on the world stage in terms of our absolute obsession with ice,” she said.

That rings true for New Yorker Isabel Tan, who is originally from Singapore and grew up around different attitudes toward refrigeration. “It’s a cultural thing in the Asian culture to believe that drinking warm drinks is better for you,” she said.

Years in New York converted Tan to the icy way of life. “I definitely prefer ice drinks. Even in the winter, I will drink an iced coffee,” she said.

U.K.-based Claire Dinhut has a different perspective: “I personally really don’t like ice,” she said.

“I find that ice dilutes the overall flavor of the beverage, falls on your face and spills your drink when you try to drink it, and is a good way for people to hide the actual amount of drink in a cup,” said Dinhut.

Essays and letters from Charles Dickens, the famous 19th century English author, recounted how he, on a visit to America, was shocked and disgusted by what he called the mounds of ice overflowing from American drinks.

As the 19th century rolled into the 20th, ice was cemented as a status symbol in the U.S. “Marketing campaigns talked about ice like they would talk about an automobile or a TV set,” says Brady.

In Europe, ice never gained the same popularity. Whereas Americans look upon ice with glee, generally speaking Europeans view ice as unnecessary, and even a little gross.

(SD-Agencies)

在巴黎、伦敦、罗马、雅典或其他遭受热浪袭击的欧洲城市，一个闷热难耐的日子里，你逛了一上午后瘫坐在咖啡馆里，点了一杯清爽冷饮。饮料端上来却是温热的，连冰块影子都看不到。就像美国人和欧洲人在自来水与矿泉水选择上存在文化差异一样，双方对饮料加冰也持不同态度。

近年来随着美国人涌向欧洲度假，针对常温饮料他们创作了大量表情包、TikTok和Instagram短视频。正如历史学家乔纳森·里斯所言，这种社交媒体趋势反映了一种真实的、源于历史的文化差异。里斯表示：

“全世界对冰块的兴趣都不及美国。”

另一位研究冰块文化的作家艾米·布雷迪也赞同这一观点，她在著作《冰：从饮料到滑冰场——一种热门商品的酷历史》中，探讨了冰块在生活各方面广泛应用对环境的影响。她指出：“美国人对冰块的痴迷程度在世界舞台上独树一帜。”

出生在新加坡的纽约人伊莎贝尔·陈对此深有感触，她在不同文化中长大。“亚洲文化认为喝热饮更健康，这是一种文化习惯。”但在纽约生活多年后，陈女士已转变为“冰镇生活”的拥趸：“我现在绝对偏爱冰饮，即便冬天也要喝冰咖啡。”

英国居民克莱尔·迪纳特则持相反观点：“我个人非常不喜欢冰块。冰块冲淡了饮料风味，喝的时候容易溅到脸上，还让商家有机会偷工减料。”

19世纪英国文豪查尔斯·狄更斯在信件和文章中曾提到，他对美国饮料里堆积如山的冰块感到震惊与厌恶。

随着时间来到20世纪，冰块在美国演变为身份象征。布雷迪解释道：“当时的营销话术把冰块说得像汽车电视机一样高级。”而在欧洲大陆，冰块始终未能获得同等青睐。当美国人欢欣鼓舞地往杯里加冰时，欧洲人普遍认为冰块既多余又有点恶心。(Translated by DeepSeek)