What gives (commercial) Indian Tonic Water its special taste?!
Answers: Is it quinine? If so, where does it come from?
The citrus like flavour is derived from Quinine bark from the tropics. During the mid to late 18th century and the Napoleonic wars, it was discovered to have beneficial effects in fighting the "fever", or malaria. The traditional treatment for this at the time was a spoonful of gunpowder in brandy, rum, whiskey or gin. It followed that quinine water - the "tonic" (cure) would be also added to these spirits. This was found to be rather a pleasant taste and so became a popular mixer. It is unusual for quinine to be used in commercially available tonic water these days and it is synthesised by using citric acid and other fruit extracts.
Quinine i thought, ive read it's used for medical purposes but it must be some sort of other form of it they use for the tonic water.
I thought it was quinine
it is a tropical plant (used in the cure for malaria)
It's quinine. The drink was supposed to make taking the herb palatable for colonials seeking to avoid malaria; but it was quite bitter so they added gin.
The taste is quinine, obtained as an extract from the bark of a tree. Also used in the treatment of malaria (quinine, not tonic water!)
Quinine on its own is a bitter taste. It is a partial cure for the sweats caused by malaria.
So that the troops, in India and other countries where malaia is prevalent, took their quinine it was devised into tonic water to drink in gin.
A bitter, colorless, amorphous powder or crystalline alkaloid, C20H24N2O2·3H2O, derived from certain cinchona barks and used in medicine to treat malaria.
I'm not too certain because the taste of the whiskey covers it up.