Your vote is needed! Coca-Cola versus Pepsi-Cola

Soft drinks can trace their history back to the mineral water found in natural springs. Bathing in natural springs has long been considered a healthy thing to do, and mineral water was said to have curative powers. Scientists soon discovered that gas carbonium or carbon dioxide was behind the bubbles in natural mineral water.

The first marketed soft drinks (non-carbonated) appeared in the 17th century. They were made from water and lemon juice sweetened with honey. In 1676, the Compagnie de Limonadiers of Paris was granted a monopoly for the sale of lemonade soft drinks. Vendors would carry tanks of lemonade on their backs and dispensed cups of the soft drink to thirsty Parisians.

In 1767, an Englishmen, Dr Joseph Priestly, created the first drinkable manmade glass of carbonated water. Three years later, the Swedish chemist Torbern Bergman invented a generating apparatus that made carbonated water from chalk by the use of sulfuric acid. Bergman's apparatus allowed imitation mineral water to be produced in large amounts.

In 1810, the first U.S. patent was issued for the "means of mass manufacture of imitation mineral waters" to Simons and Rundell of Charleston, South Carolina. Carbonated beverages did not achieve great popularity in America until 1832, when John Mathews invented his apparatus for the making carbonated water. John Mathews mass manufactured his apparatus for sale to others.

The drinking of either natural or artificial mineral water was considered a healthy practice. American pharmacists, who were selling most of the mineral waters, started to add medicinal and other flavorful herbs to the unflavored beverage: e.g., birch bark, dandelion, sarsaparilla and fruit extracts. The early drug stores with their soda fountains became a popular part of American culture. Customers wanted to take the drinks home with them and the soft drink bottling industry grew from the consumer demand.

Coca-Cola
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 have 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.
By the late 1890s, Coca-Cola was one of America's most popular fountain drinks. With another Atlanta pharmacist, Asa Griggs Candler, at the helm, the Coca-Cola Company increased syrup sales by over 4000% between 1890 and 1900. Advertising, was an important factor in Pemberton and Candler's success and by the turn of the century, the drink was sold across the United States and Canada.

Around the same time, the company began selling syrup to independent bottling companies licensed to sell the drink. Today, products of the Coca Cola Company are consumed at the rate of more than one billion drinks per day.

Pepsi-Cola
Caleb Bradham of New Bern, North Carolina, was also a pharmacist. Like many pharmacists at the turn of the century he had a soda fountain in his drugstore, where he served his customers refreshing drinks, which he created himself. His most popular beverage was something he called "Brad's drink" made of carbonated water, sugar, vanilla, rare oils, pepsin and cola nuts.

"Brad's drink", created in the summer of 1898, was later renamed Pepsi Cola after the pepsin and cola nuts used in the recipe. The name was trademarked on June 16th, 1903.
After seventeen years of success, Caleb Bradham lost Pepsi Cola. He had gambled on the stock market, he believed sugar prices would raise but they fell instead. Pepsi Cola went bankrupt in 1923.

In 1931, the Loft Candy Company bought Pepsi Cola. Loft president, Charles G. Guth reformulated the popular soft drink into what it is today.

So after the long debates and the vicious name calling and all the mudslinging, it comes down to this! Coke or Pepsi? Your choice! Vote below and then make a Coke or Pepsi object honoring your chosen soft drink!

It also looks like we have some "Write in" candidates!

Paula	Boop	Mary Lou

Sam	Mary Lou	Claudette

Geoff	Mary Lou	Mary