By Staff Writer: Jerri Clewis
Soda is a huge market in the United States, featuring dozens of brands that all compete to be the most popular drink, that go-to icy cold beverage Americans first reach for when sitting down for a meal, but it’s a pretty quirky product if you think about it.
First off, soda has its roots in the medicine industry. Joseph Priestly is credited with that since he discovered how to infuse water with carbon dioxide in 1767, which made the fun bubbly drinks we enjoy today possible, according to Southside Craft Soda. The new discovery was believed to cure illnesses, so sodas were sold in pharmacies where pharmacists would mix prescriptions into the drinks for easier consumption.
The sodas bottled and sold to consumers were typically unflavored, basically seltzer water, but soon flavors and sweeteners were added to make the medicinal drinks more desirable. The first syrups included ginger and birch bark, chosen for their health benefits, but it didn’t take long for more recognizable flavors to start appearing. Orange, apple, black cherry, lemon, grape, and even tutti frutti became trendy options for the pickier palettes by the late 19th century. So did “cola.”
One of the more popular bits of soda history talks about how Coca-Cola used to contain cocaine, and it’s true, the recipe did once contain cocaine, but that’s a bit less shocking when it’s looked at from soda’s medicinal origins. Processed cocaine was first synthesized by Albert Niemann of the University of Gottingen in Germany in 1859 before being heralded throughout Europe as a “wonder drug” responsible for curing fatigue, toothaches, headaches, and other ailments, according to the Department of Justice. It was such a big deal that it found its way into everyday items, even Coca-Cola.
The unusual addition wasn’t a part of the soda for long. Coca-Cola swapped the drug for caffeine in 1903, a little under two decades after the soda brand was developed in 1886, which produced a more similar product to what we have today. Although not the first sweet soda drink, root beer was one of the first in 1876, Coca-Cola is likely one of the more iconic in history.