There’s one topic and two words that has been bothering me for a while. I know and I have learned here that the word ‘fresca’ like in ‘bebida fresca’ means ‘cold’ but there’s also the word ‘fria’ that I see almost always around me (I’m living in Lisbon) when it’s all about beverages.
I’ve had one situation when I mentioned ‘cola fresca’ and they seemed really surprised/confused as if they had been expecting the word ‘fria’ instead.
What is it really like with these two words? Are they really interchangeable?
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@kanikowskiszymon, in general, the words mean the same, but in different degrees, with fresco(a) referring to something reasonably cool/cold, while frio(a) covers the whole range from cool to proper cold, all the way to down to gelado(a) (super cold/freezing). These are usually very subjective ranges.
In reference to water/beverages that might be served either cool or at room temperature, it’s very common to use the term fresco(a) for cool. Frio(a) should also be understandable, but it’s rather unusual in this context. However, for soft drinks like coke, as well as some other drinks (e.g. spirits), the most usual question is actually “Com ou sem gelo?” rather than “Fresco ou natural?”. This might’ve been the source of people’s confusion in the situation you described with ‘cola fresca’, or it could’ve been something in your pronunciation, or something else - only they can clarify for sure 
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A bit off topic here, but have a question on frio vs gelado.
I said (practising) while hurriedly putting on house shoes, Uau, os meus pés estão frios, which my roomie responded (also learning), I think it’s Uau os meus pés estão gelados. That got us wondering so went to a translator (I won’t get too deep into which one) and received these:
with the wow: Uau os meus pés estão gelados.
taking out the wow: Tenho os pés frios.
Are frio and gelado interchangable? Is the use of wow bringing in an emphasis like my feet aren’t just cold, but freezing?
So what is the portuguese-way of saying my feet are cold; pés estão X or tenho os pés X? And is it the same with cold hands? Obrigada!
@Tvl_Dreamer, frio means cold and gelado means freezing/frozen, so strictly speaking, they are not interchangeable. But in this context, either one works perfectly fine, because the choice is only dependent on how emphatic the speaker wants to be. There’s no single correct answer.
In any case, since uau is an emphatic interjection, I’m not surprised that the translator went specifically for the most emphatic noun to go with it, but again, not mandatory 
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