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Pepsi-Cola, advertised as the “Taste Born in the Carolinas,” is one of many carbonated soft drinks invented in the
South between the Civil War and World War I, when the temperance movement, poverty, and the relatively high prices
of coffee and tea conspired with the climate to create a regional market for inexpensive, nonalcoholic social beverages.
Caleb Bradham (1867-1934) first concocted Pepsi-Cola as a fountain drink at a pharmacy at Pollock and Middle Streets in
New Bern in 1893. Three years later he formally gave “Brad’s Drink” a new name-Pepsin Cola. He began bottling and
marketing Pepsi under its present name in 1898 and founded the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1903. By World War I Pepsi was
sold in 24 states. During the war, Bradham invested heavily in sugar in order to ensure a reliable supply, and the
glut of 1920 abruptly ended his prosperity and his ownership of the company. Pepsi-Cola changed hands repeatedly over
the next decade, but bottlers who had large stocks of syrup kept some Pepsi drinkers satisfied without interruption.
Categories: Carbonated Drinks, Drinks
