Baskin-Robbins Floats And Fizzes Aren't The Same — Here's Why

Baskin-Robbins has a ton of different ice cream offerings in a ton of different flavors. You can get a regular scoop of ice cream in a cone or a bowl, or you can choose a sundae, cake, Polar Pizza, or beverage. When it comes to beverages, there are a few subcategories available, with two of them being floats and fizzes. While the latter two both combine soda and ice cream, they aren't the same thing, as one major structural component sets them apart.

Baskin-Robbins describes the float as "your choice of soda with your favorite Baskin-Robbins ice cream," as it explains the fizz as "your favorite Baskin-Robbins ice cream flavor blended with your choice of soda." While these descriptions may not make the difference obvious at first, it's quite simple: In the float, ice cream is simply added to the soda, while the two are blended together in a fizz. This gives them quite different textures, as the float maintains the classic mouthfeel of soda with added ice cream while the fizz is more like a milkshake. Both have a nice zing from the carbonation, but it comes through in different ways.

In addition to its floats and fizzes, Baskin-Robbins sells five other kinds of beverages: smoothies, milkshakes, the Cappuccino Blast, bottled drinks (and water), and what it calls "Refreshing Beverages." Smoothies and milkshakes are self-explanatory, and the bottled beverages are simply for guests who are thirsty but don't want one of the chain's ice cream beverages. The Cappuccino Blast is like a fizz, but with coffee blended into the ice cream instead of soda. It comes with vanilla ice cream by default, but like a fizz, it can be customized with any ice cream flavor (try getting it with the best Baskin-Robbins flavor).

The "Refreshing Beverages" is a more confusing category, with the two drinks offered there called the Mangonada and the Lava Colada. These seem to be specialized smoothies based on the eponymous mocktails and use fruit puree rather than ice cream, making them quite a different experience from the ice-cream-based fizzes despite also being blended. Notably, none of the other beverages include both soda and ice cream, so you're best ordering a fizz or a float if you're craving that combo.