The history of soft drinks is as interesting as the drink itself. Carbonated drink without any alcohol is called soft drink. Today you have numerous soft drinks in the market from different companies. We have colas, iced tea, lemonade, sparkling water and squash as soft drinks. Initially when mineral water was manufactured it went through various stages and later it was carbonated and flavored.

History of soft drinks       

The history of soft drinks dates back to 17^th century. Initially artificial mineral water was created by William Brownrigg from England in the year 1741. German Swiss jeweler named Jacob Schweppe was called the father of soft drinks who started to produce soft drinks large scale in the year 1783. Townsend Speakman from United States produced the first flavored and carbonated drink in 1807.

Drinking the artificial or natural water was considered as a healthy practice those days. In 19^th century many American pharmacist tried to improve the properties of the mineral water by adding ingredients like sarsaparilla, lemon, dandelion, ginger and cola. Among these, the very famous coca cola drink was produced by the pharmacist Dr John Styth Pemberton. In May 08, 1886 Coca Cola was first sold in Georgia, USA. In the soft drink history, this phase is considered as very crucial.

The local pharmacy served soft drinks from the soda fountain, so the market for soft drinks was limited. The shop based trade was not very helpful to boost the sales of soft drink.  Soft drinks were not very popular at that point of time.  After bottling the drinks, the sales were good; however storing the aerated drink in the bottle was another issue. More than 1500 corks and bottle stopper were produced, but the crown cork or crown cap produced by William painter (USA) was the best cap.  In 1891, carbonated drinks were sold in bottles which can be carried home and was also easily transported. Today soft drinks are sold in cans and pet bottles, now it’s very easy to carry them anywhere.

History of soft drinks shows us several phases the drink went through. In each and every phase pharmacists and scientists incorporated various innovations, to produce the soft drink as we know them today.

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