Original photo by Silvia Bianchini/ iStock
Germany loves its beer, but seltzer is a close second. The country is so entwined with the fizzy beverage that the word “seltzer” comes from the name of the German town of Selters, which is famous for its naturally carbonated mineral springs. The springs have been well known in the area for more than 1,000 years, and by 1791, fizzy water from Selters was so popular, it was exported throughout the world in jugs stamped with the name “selters-wasser,” or “selters water.” The word transformed into “seltzer” when the beverage became popular in North America, especially in New York and Philadelphia, around the early 19th century. Today, the Selterswassermuseum (in Selters, of course) chronicles the local spring’s long history.
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It's a factMountain Dew, whose name is slang for moonshine, first appeared around the 1940s as a noncaffeinated mixer for whiskey and was somewhat similar to today’s Sprite or 7Up.
But Germany’s love of seltzer goes beyond just one town. The world’s first commercial soft drink was created by German jeweler and amateur scientist Jacob Schweppe, who improved upon a way to manufacture carbonated water in the late 18th century. Schweppes soda water expanded throughout Europe, and was mostly sold as a health tonic, especially for upset stomachs. According to the company, some early customers called it “lightning in a bottle” because of its then-novel carbonation. Today, Germany is still one of the highest-ranked countries when it comes to bottled water consumption (fizzy and nonfizzy).
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______, the chemist who discovered oxygen, accidentally invented carbonated water in 1767.
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Joseph Priestly, the chemist who discovered oxygen, accidentally invented carbonated water in 1767.
Coca-Cola was originally marketed as a “brain tonic.”
In the 19th century, drink-makers of all kinds sold their concoctions as tonics or healthy cure-alls. In reality, some of these “medicinal drinks” were little more than various alcohols mixed with drugs like cocaine (a legal ingredient at the time). So it wasn’t strange when John S. Pemberton, a pharmacist from Georgia, marketed his newest nonalcoholic libation, Coca-Cola, as a “brain tonic.” The first advertisement for Coca-Cola said the “intellectual beverage … contains the valuable tonic and nerve stimulant properties of the coca plant and cola (or Kola) nuts.” It’s a strange ad campaign compared to soda-swilling Santa Clauses or pop-pounding polar bears, but clearly it worked.
Darren Orf lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes about all things science and climate. You can find his previous work at Popular Mechanics, Inverse, Gizmodo, and Paste, among others.
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