SOFT DRINKS

Many sodas have interesting stories behind them. Dr Pepper for instance, Dr Pepper was invented by a pharmacist in Waco, Texas named Charles Alderton. Alderton worked at a place called Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store where they sold carbonated drinks Alderton started making his own recipes for soft drinks and came to realize that one became very popular customers often came in to the store asking “ to shoot them a Waco” But Alderton wasn’t the only one that noticed the popularity of his drink Morrison has noticed also and because it was his store he was credited with naming the drink and so he decided to call the new drink Dr Pepper naming it after a friend of his Dr. Charles Pepper. The first appearance of Dr Pepper to the public was in 1904 to 20 million Americans at The World Fair Exposition in St. Louis.

In May, 1886, Coca Cola was invented by Doctor John Pemberton a pharmacist from Atlanta, Georgia. John Pemberton concocted the Coca Cola formula in a three legged brass kettle in his backyard. The name was a suggestion given by John Pemberton’s bookkeeper Frank Robinson. Being a bookkeeper, Frank Robinson also had excellent penmanship. It was he who first scripted “Coca Cola” into the flowing letters which has become the famous logo of today.

The soft drink was first sold to the public at the soda fountain in Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta on May 8, 1886.

About nine servings of the soft drink were sold each day. Sales for that first year added up to a total of about $50. The funny thing was that it cost John Pemberton over $70 in expenses, so the first year of sales were a loss.

Until 1905, the soft drink, marketed as a tonic, contained extracts of cocaine as well as the caffeine-rich kola nut.

Resources: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bldrpepper.htm