kinda losing my mind over how many places serve flat sparkling drinks...
Been doing a ton of summer drink r&d lately and it's actually driving me insane how many places charge like 8 bucks for a sparkling drink that goes totally flat before it even gets to the table. it just tastes like sweet tap water. wasted an ungodly amount of sparkling water testing this over the last month so figured i'd just ramble about what actually works if you want stuff to stay fizzy during a rush.
First off, please stop pouring soda water directly over the ice. Get your base and syrups in, add the ice, and then tilt the glass and pour the soda down the inside wall. Hitting the cubes directly shocks all the carbonation out of it. also temp differences are a huge trap... if your purees are sitting at room temp and you hit them with cold soda, the temp shock kills the bubbles instantly. keep the bases in the fridge. room temp syrup + cold soda = flat garbage in like two minutes, tested it to death.
Also, I am begging people to stop muddling herbs to death. we do this grapefruit rosemary thing and people always try to violently muddle the rosemary at the bottom. It makes the drink taste like a bitter lawn lol. just put the sprig in your palm and smack it really hard one time. releases the oils perfectly. oh and if you make your own soda water with a keg or soda stream, the water has to be literally freezing cold BEFORE you carbonate it. Cold water holds fizz way better than room temp. anyway rant over. Definitely drop your own weird bar prep tricks below if you have any. always down to steal some good ideas.