Torbern Bergman and soft drinks

The first non-carbonated soft drinks appeared during the seventeenth century, Joseph Priestley produced the first man-made palatable, carbonated water in 1767 by dissolving the gas formed from the fermentation process from a nearby beer brewery, in the water.

In 1770 a Swedish chemist, Torbern Bergman expanded upon Priestley’s discovery and invented a process that produced carbonated water from the reaction between chalk and sulphuric acid.

He also dissolved a number of minerals commonly found in popular mineral waters to make his product more closely related to the spa water. Bergman’s apparatus allowed a commercial production of aerated mineral water.

Since the spa water sources dried up at different times of the year, this was a significant development. In 1783 Jacob Schweppe, a young watchmaker and amateur scientist, perfected an efficient system for manufacturing carbonated mineral water and founded the Schweppes Company in Geneva.
Torbern Bergman and soft drinks