Pepsi-Cola
Pepsi-Cola, often shortened to Pepsi, is a carbonated, caffeinated cola-based soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo, Inc. It is made out of carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, sugar (or artificial sweeteners), phosphoric acid, citric acid, coloring, artificial and natural flavors and cola. It was invented by a pharmacist named Caleb Bradham in the early 1890s in New Bern, North Carolina. Bradham was operating a pharmacy and he invented the drink as a refreshment for his customers. It was originally called "Brad's Drink" but Bradham changed the name to Pepsi in 1898. He called it Pepsi after the enzyme pepsin. Bradham's original form of Pepsi was made of sugar, carbonated water, vanilla, kola nuts, and rare oils.
Even though pepsin was not in Pepsi they both helped the stomach to digest hard to digest foods because of their acidity which can help calm an upset or sick stomach. Pepsi was trademarked in June 1903. Pepsi-Cola Company also owns some non-caffeinated and non-soft drink businesses. It owns Gatorade, Quaker Oatmeal, and Tropicana, an orange juice company.
The Pepsi-Cola Company distributes the soft drink Mountain Dew, which is a lemon-lime cola free soft drink with a very high amount of sugar and caffeine. Mountain Dew was originally invented and owned by the Tip Corporation of Marion, Virginia but was sold to Pepsi in 1964 for about six million dollars in Pepsi Company stock. It also produces the soft drink Sierra Mist, which is a lemon-lime cola free and caffeine free soft drink. There is a version of Pepsi called Diet Pepsi which has zero carbohydrates, zero calories and zero sugar but still retains the caffeine. There is also a caffeine free version of Diet Pepsi. Pepsi used to market a soft drink called Pepsi Blue, which tasted like a mixture of Pepsi and a blueberry muffin and ended up being a commercial disaster. It used to market a drink called Pepsi AM which contained much more caffeine than regular Pepsi but is no longer produced, it was marketed as a morning drink. It also currently markets a drink called Pepsi Cappuccino, which is a mixture of Pepsi and coffee. Pepsi also markets a low calorie sugar free cola called Pepsi Max.
The Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi-Cola "war" in the international economy has become famous. During the Cold War the Soviet Communists chose Pepsi as their national soft drink franchise whereas the Chinese Communists chose Coca-Cola as their national soft drink franchise. After the fall of the USSR in 1991 Pepsi sales declined in Russia because it was associated with the old hated Bolshevik regime so Coca-Cola rose to a dominant position in the Russian soft drink industry. The Islamic government in Iran has condemned Pepsi as a pro-Jewish organization and claims that Pepsi stands for "Pay every penny to save Israel".[1]
