Glossary: Non-alcoholic

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Alcohol-free sparkling wine: A sparkling drink based on dealcoholised wine or grape juice that resembles sparkling wine without alcohol.
Non-alcoholic beer: Beer with an alcohol content of no more than 0.5 percent ABV; flavour close to regular beer.
Apple juice: The most drunk fruit juice in Germany; cloudy or clear, often made from orchard fruit.
Ayran: Salted, refreshing drink made from yoghurt and water, common in Turkey, the Middle East and the Balkans.

Bitter lemon: Carbonated lemon soft drink flavoured with quinine, tasting tart and bitter, used as a mixer.
Fizzy drink: Colloquial term for sweet carbonated lemonade, especially common in eastern Germany and in earlier times.
Buttermilk: Tangy, low-fat milk drink left over from making butter from soured cream; pure buttermilk contains no additions.

Classic (sparkling): Term for mineral water with a high carbon dioxide content.
Cola: A brown, caffeinated soft drink with a characteristic aroma of citrus, spices and caramel colour.

Not-from-concentrate juice: Fruit juice obtained directly from pressed fruit and bottled without water removal.

Iced tea: A cold, usually sweetened refreshing drink based on tea infusion or extract, often with lemon or peach.
Energy drink: A caffeinated soft drink with additives such as taurine; subject to special labelling requirements.
ESL milk (extended shelf life): Milk sold chilled that, thanks to stronger heating or filtration, keeps for about three weeks unopened.

Semi-skimmed milk: Semi-skimmed drinking milk with a fat content between 1.5 and 1.8%, in Germany mostly sold at 1.5%.
Fresh milk (traditionally produced): Briefly heated drinking milk with a limited shelf life of around one to two weeks that must be kept refrigerated.
Fruit nectar: Drink made from fruit juice or puree with water and sugar up to a maximum; fruit content between 25 and 50 percent depending on fruit.
Fruit juice: A drink made from the juice of fruit without added sugar, either as not-from-concentrate juice or from concentrate; legally regulated.
Fruit juice drink: A drink with a small fruit juice share (about 6 to 30 percent depending on fruit), water, sugar and often flavourings.

Ginger ale: Carbonated soft drink with ginger flavour, often used as a mixer.

UHT milk: Ultra-heat-treated milk filled under aseptic conditions that keeps unopened for several months without refrigeration.
Oat drink: Plant-based drink made from oats and water in which starch is broken down by enzymes; may not be called oat milk.
Medicinal water: Water with a proven preventive or relieving effect that must be authorised under medicinal law.
Hay milk: Milk from animals fed without silage; the name is protected throughout the EU as a traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG).
Homogenisation: Mechanical breakdown of the fat globules in milk under high pressure so that no cream layer settles on the surface.

Isotonic drink: A sports drink with a similar concentration of dissolved particles as blood, supplying fluid, minerals and carbohydrates.

Kefir: Slightly fizzy fermented milk drink cultured with lactic acid bacteria and yeasts that contains traces of alcohol.
Carbonation: Carbon dioxide dissolved in a drink, providing tingle and freshness.
Coconut water: Clear liquid from inside young coconuts, not a coconut milk product.
Kombucha: A fermented tea drink made with a culture of yeasts and bacteria; slightly sour and often sparkling.

Lactose-free milk: Milk whose milk sugar has been enzymatically split or removed and which in Germany must contain less than 0.1 g lactose per 100 g.
Lassi: Indian yoghurt drink prepared sweet, salted or with fruit such as mango.
Lemonade (soft drink): A sweet carbonated soft drink made of water, sugar, acidulant and flavourings.

Skimmed milk: Largely skimmed drinking milk with no more than 0.5% fat, used both as a drink and as a raw material for many dairy products.
Malt drink (Malzbier): A dark, sweet, barely fermented malt drink with low alcohol.
Medium (lightly sparkling): Mineral water with moderate carbonation, less tingling than classic.
Flavoured milk drink (milk mixed product): Drink made from milk or dairy products with flavouring ingredients such as cocoa or fruit preparation, which may make up no more than 30%.
Milkshake: Cold, creamy blended drink made from milk and usually ice cream, often with fruit, syrup or chocolate.
Whey and whey drink: Greenish-yellow liquid that drains off when making cheese and quark, and the mostly fruit-flavoured drinks made from it.
Multivitamin juice: A blend of several fruit juices, often with added vitamins; juice, nectar or drink depending on its content.

Low-sodium mineral water: Mineral water with less than 20 milligrams of sodium per litre, suitable for low-salt diets.
Natural mineral water: Officially recognised water from underground sources protected against contamination, bottled at the source and original in its purity.
Cloudy juice: Fruit juice that has not been clarified by filtering, containing fruit particles and natural haze.
Near water (flavoured water): Lightly flavoured water, usually with little or no sugar, positioned between water and lemonade.

Spring water: Water from underground sources bottled at the spring; must meet drinking water quality but need not be officially recognised.

Raw milk and certified raw milk: Milk not heated above 40 °C that may be supplied to consumers only under strict conditions, for example as certified raw milk or directly from the farm.

Juice from concentrate: Juice from which water was first removed and later added back; equivalent in fruit content.
Spritzer (juice and sparkling water): A non-alcoholic mixed drink of fruit juice and mineral water, usually 1:1 to 1:2.
Smoothie: A pureed drink of whole fruit or vegetables, often with juice or yoghurt; thick and fruity.
Sprudel (sparkling water): Colloquial German term for water with plenty of carbonation, regionally also for mineral water in general.
Still water: Mineral water with no or very little carbon dioxide, calm in the glass.

Table water: A manufactured drink made from drinking water, mineral water or other ingredients, with added minerals or carbon dioxide.
Tonic water: A carbonated, slightly bitter soft drink with quinine, popular as a refreshment and mixer.
Grape juice: Fruit juice from wine grapes; sweet and, if unfermented, alcohol-free.
Drinking yoghurt: Liquid, drinkable yoghurt, usually with fruit preparation or flavourings, which under German law has a defined dry-matter content.

Whole milk: Drinking milk with a fat content of at least 3.5%, either standardised to this value or with its natural fat content.

Water hardness: Measure of dissolved calcium and magnesium salts in water, stated in degrees of German hardness (°dH).
Pasture milk: Milk from cows with regular access to pasture; the term is not legally defined and is guided by industry standards.