The origins of soft drinks lie in the development of fruit-flavored drinks. In the
medieval Middle East, a variety of fruit-flavored soft drinks were widely drunk, such as
sharbat, and were often sweetened with ingredients such as
sugar,
syrup and
honey. Other common ingredients included
lemon,
apple,
pomegranate,
tamarind,
jujube,
sumac,
musk,
mint and
ice. Middle Eastern drinks later became
popular in medieval Europe, where the word "syrup" was derived from
Arabic. In
Tudor England, 'water imperial' was widely drunk; it was a sweetened drink with lemon flavor and containing
cream of tartar. 'Manays Cryste' was a sweetened cordial flavored with rosewater, violets or cinnamon. Another early type of soft drink was
lemonade, made of water and lemon juice sweetened with honey, but without carbonated water. The
Compagnie des Limonadiers of Paris was granted a monopoly for the sale of lemonade soft drinks in 1676, making it the first marketed soft drink. Vendors carried tanks of lemonade on their backs and dispensed cups of the soft drink to Parisians. in his experiments on gases and the carbonation of water|alt=Engraving of assorted scientific equipment, such as a pneumatic trough. A dead mouse rests under one glass canister. In the late 18th century, scientists made important progress in replicating naturally carbonated
mineral waters. In 1767, Englishman
Joseph Priestley first discovered a method of infusing water with carbon dioxide to make carbonated water when he suspended a bowl of distilled water above a beer vat at a local brewery in
Leeds, England. His invention of carbonated water (later known as
soda water, for the use of
soda powders in its commercial manufacture) is the major and defining component of most soft drinks. Priestley found that water treated in this manner had a pleasant taste, and he offered it to his friends as a refreshing drink. In 1772, Priestley published a paper entitled
Impregnating Water with Fixed Air in which he describes dripping
oil of vitriol (or
sulfuric acid as it is now called) onto
chalk to produce carbon dioxide gas and encouraging the gas to dissolve into an agitated bowl of water. and relocated his business to London in 1792. His drink soon gained in popularity; among his newfound patrons was
Erasmus Darwin. In 1843, the Schweppes company commercialized
Malvern Water at the Holywell Spring in the Malvern Hills, and received a
royal warrant from King William IV. It was not long before flavoring was combined with carbonated water. The earliest reference to carbonated
ginger beer is in a
Practical Treatise on Brewing. published in 1809. The drinking of either natural or artificial mineral water was considered at the time to be a healthy practice, and was promoted by advocates of
temperance. Pharmacists selling mineral waters began to add herbs and chemicals to unflavored mineral water. They used birch bark (see
birch beer),
dandelion,
sarsaparilla root, fruit extracts, and other substances.
Phosphate soda A variant of soda in the United States called "
phosphate soda" appeared in the late 1870s. It became one of the most popular soda fountain drinks from 1900 until the 1930s, with the lemon or orange phosphate being the most basic. The drink consists of fruit syrup, of
phosphoric acid, and enough carbonated water and ice to fill a glass. This drink was commonly served in pharmacies.
Mass market and industrialization Mineral-Waters Soft drinks soon outgrew their origins in the medical world and became a widely consumed product, available cheaply for the masses. By the 1840s, there were more than fifty soft drink manufacturers in London, an increase from just ten in the 1820s. and in 1845,
R. White's Lemonade went on sale in the UK. For the
Great Exhibition of 1851 held at
Hyde Park in London, Schweppes was designated the official drink supplier and sold over a million bottles of lemonade, ginger beer,
Seltzer water and soda-water. The
mixed drink gin and tonic also originated in
British colonial India, when the British population would mix their medicinal quinine tonic with
gin. In 1892, the "
Crown Cork Bottle Seal" was patented by
William Painter, a Baltimore, Maryland machine shop operator. It was the first bottle top to successfully keep the bubbles in the bottle. In 1899, the first patent was issued for a
glass-blowing machine for the automatic production of glass bottles. Earlier glass bottles had all been hand-blown. Four years later, the new bottle-blowing machine was in operation. It was first operated by
Michael Owens, an employee of Libby Glass Company. Within a few years, glass bottle production increased from 1,400 bottles a day to about 58,000 bottles a day. In America,
soda fountains were initially more popular, and many Americans would frequent the soda fountain daily. Beginning in 1806,
Yale University chemistry professor
Benjamin Silliman sold soda waters in
New Haven, Connecticut. He used a Nooth apparatus to produce his waters. Businessmen in Philadelphia and New York City also began selling soda water in the early 19th century. In the 1830s,
John Matthews of New York City and John Lippincott of Philadelphia began manufacturing soda fountains. Both men were successful and built large factories for fabricating fountains. Due to problems in the U.S. glass industry, bottled drinks remained a small portion of the market throughout much of the 19th century. (However, they were known in England. In
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, published in 1848, the caddish Huntingdon, recovering from months of debauchery, wakes at noon and gulps a bottle of soda-water.) In the early 20th century, sales of bottled soda increased greatly around the world, and in the second half of the 20th century, canned soft drinks became an important share of the market. During the 1920s, "Home-Paks" were invented. "Home-Paks" are the familiar
six-pack cartons made from cardboard.
Vending machines also began to appear in the 1920s. Since then, soft drink vending machines have become increasingly popular. Both hot and cold drinks are sold in these self-service machines throughout the world. ==Consumption==