"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
Don't know if I should blame my lack of curiosity when I was a kid, or the absence of the internet, but I never knew the significance of 10, 2 and 4, until now: The slogan encouraged people to drink a Dr. Pepper for quick source of energy. The slogan referred to research of the time that showed people hit a low period around those times of the day.
Now you know. These days, there's probably more people who use meth as a pick me up at 10, 2 and 4 than Dr. Pepper.
Dr. Pepper was my absolute favorite soft drink when I was a kid. The taste changed somewhat decades ago; I believe an original ingredient might have been sassafras root, and that was ultimately shown (supposedly) to be carcinogenic, so I presume it was removed. Still good though.
It also did not contain caffeine originally. That was added in the 1960s. Caffeine is actually quite bitter, and may have altered the flavor, so something else may have been changed to compensate.
Interesting side note: the first Dr Pepper bottler in Dublin, Texas continued to make it with the original recipe, with cane sugar and no caffeine, "but that changed in 2012 after they were sued by the Dr Pepper Snapple Group". What caused that was the Coca-Cola bottlers complained that Dublin was selling their version in specialty shops "outside their territory". Although Dublin Dr Pepper was hardly any competition, Coca-Cola, which owns the bottling and distribution rights to Dr Pepper on the west coast, where Dublin Dr Pepper was being sold, forced Dr Pepper Snapple Group to sue. It wasn't DPSG's idea.
You can now buy Dr Pepper in the old-style 10oz 10-2-4 glass bottles made with cane sugar (but caffeinated). It's made in Mexico, like the glass-bottle cane-sugar Mexican Coca-Cola sold here in California (and elsewhere in the Southwest, I would assume).
In Virginia, we used to be able to buy Coke, Pepsi and one of the Orange sodas (Fanta, I believe) from Mexico, with that delicious cane sugar.
Spiny, maybe the addition of caffeine (and some other mystery ingredient) is what affected the taste. I can't actually find any references to the use of sassafras (although apparently some kind of bark and/or root extracts were used in the past).
There is another Mexican company - Jarrito - that makes some tasty soda pops, including one with a grapefruit base that reminds me of Fresca (absolutely delicious).
I now stay pretty much away from soft drinks, but one of the pleasures, for me, was not just the sugar, but the carbonation, so I do consume a lot of mineral water. In fact, every week I pick up a couple of cases of Topo Chico, imported from Mexico (the logo is a comely Aztec maiden sipping water from a forest stream, but for all I know it may be sourced from the faucet in back of the Tijuana bus station).
Ummm, sassafras tea! Never did like coffee, but sassafras tea was a favorite of mine. I liked mine with just a dash of milk or cream, to give it a little bit more body. I liked digging the roots almost as much as drinking the tea. I always thought the smell of freshly dug sassafras roots must be close to what catnip is to cats. Well, maybe.
As to it being carcinogenic, it didn't kill me. Even if it was, I'd probably drink it anyway.
8 comments:
Don't know if I should blame my lack of curiosity when I was a kid, or the absence of the internet, but I never knew the significance of 10, 2 and 4, until now: The slogan encouraged people to drink a Dr. Pepper for quick source of energy. The slogan referred to research of the time that showed people hit a low period around those times of the day.
Now you know. These days, there's probably more people who use meth as a pick me up at 10, 2 and 4 than Dr. Pepper.
Dr. Pepper was my absolute favorite soft drink when I was a kid. The taste changed somewhat decades ago; I believe an original ingredient might have been sassafras root, and that was ultimately shown (supposedly) to be carcinogenic, so I presume it was removed. Still good though.
I never got around to trying hot Dr. Pepper.
The taste changed somewhat decades ago
It also did not contain caffeine originally. That was added in the 1960s. Caffeine is actually quite bitter, and may have altered the flavor, so something else may have been changed to compensate.
Interesting side note: the first Dr Pepper bottler in Dublin, Texas continued to make it with the original recipe, with cane sugar and no caffeine, "but that changed in 2012 after they were sued by the Dr Pepper Snapple Group". What caused that was the Coca-Cola bottlers complained that Dublin was selling their version in specialty shops "outside their territory". Although Dublin Dr Pepper was hardly any competition, Coca-Cola, which owns the bottling and distribution rights to Dr Pepper on the west coast, where Dublin Dr Pepper was being sold, forced Dr Pepper Snapple Group to sue. It wasn't DPSG's idea.
Oh, a follow-up.
You can now buy Dr Pepper in the old-style 10oz 10-2-4 glass bottles made with cane sugar (but caffeinated). It's made in Mexico, like the glass-bottle cane-sugar Mexican Coca-Cola sold here in California (and elsewhere in the Southwest, I would assume).
Yeah, you can get Coke and other sodas with sugar in AZ.
Mostly in places that sell Mexican food and supermarkets.
I don't get it much, it's $1 for a small bottle.
In Virginia, we used to be able to buy Coke, Pepsi and one of the Orange sodas (Fanta, I believe) from Mexico, with that delicious cane sugar.
Spiny, maybe the addition of caffeine (and some other mystery ingredient) is what affected the taste. I can't actually find any references to the use of sassafras (although apparently some kind of bark and/or root extracts were used in the past).
There is another Mexican company - Jarrito - that makes some tasty soda pops, including one with a grapefruit base that reminds me of Fresca (absolutely delicious).
I now stay pretty much away from soft drinks, but one of the pleasures, for me, was not just the sugar, but the carbonation, so I do consume a lot of mineral water. In fact, every week I pick up a couple of cases of Topo Chico, imported from Mexico (the logo is a comely Aztec maiden sipping water from a forest stream, but for all I know it may be sourced from the faucet in back of the Tijuana bus station).
Ummm, sassafras tea! Never did like coffee, but sassafras tea was a favorite of mine. I liked mine with just a dash of milk or cream, to give it a little bit more body. I liked digging the roots almost as much as drinking the tea. I always thought the smell of freshly dug sassafras roots must be close to what catnip is to cats. Well, maybe.
As to it being carcinogenic, it didn't kill me. Even if it was, I'd probably drink it anyway.
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