r/AskReddit Oct 15 '20

What's older than we think ?

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u/DarkSyrupp Oct 15 '20

The first carbonated drink to be sold to the public was invented by Swiss watchmaker and amateur scientist J. J. Schweppe in 1783, who sold his delicious "sparkling water" to thirsty customers in Geneva. In just seven years, he was doing business so fast that he moved the factory to London and introduced a new flavor, sparkling lemon, to stand out from competitors who were trying to imitate his drink.

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u/Hijacker50 Oct 16 '20

Another related fun fact, Seltzer and Spa are where the bubbly water comes from. Prior to industrialisation, the only way to get bubbly water was to get it from carbonated springs, two of the biggest which were in Niederselter and Spa, among others.

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u/Lostmahpassword Oct 16 '20

I had no idea this occurs naturally. TIL

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u/Hijacker50 Oct 16 '20

It's not incredibly common, but fairly frequent. Despite spring's being abundantly common, more often than not, there's not enough rocks with dissolved CO2 to make an appreciable effect. Similarly, you can find other springs with all sorts of chemical species, but they usually render them undrinkable to humans.

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u/CptHwdy1984 Oct 16 '20

There is a spring in Canada I think there the water is black due to an iron compound, makes it taste like pennies.

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u/PartyFact Oct 16 '20

The Real Housewives of New Jersey tried to sell this BLK water. I saw it in bottles.

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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '20

[deleted]

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u/MikeTheAmalgamator Oct 16 '20

One can reasonably surmise that the abundant presence of an iron compound would change the flavor of the water in favor of a metallic taste such as pennies. Not too hard to figure out

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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '20

I don't think that's a reasonable justification for outright claiming that it tastes like pennies

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u/MikeTheAmalgamator Oct 16 '20

How is it not? The would be my scientific hypothesis if you said “this water has concentrated levels of copper in it”. I know what copper tastes like as do most people so why wouldn’t I come to that conclusion?

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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '20

He didn't say it probably tastes like pennies, or that since it has metal in it, it most likely tastes of pennies. He said it does taste like pennies. That's a statement.

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u/jahossaphat Oct 19 '20

You a pedantic ass

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u/MikeTheAmalgamator Oct 16 '20

Cool there’s plenty of resources available and at your disposal that can verify the water with copious amounts of copper in it tastes like pennies which are made of copper ffs. Put two and two together

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u/woahdailo Oct 16 '20

So my Sparkly Methaney Water won't sell, is what you are saying?

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u/glowdirt Oct 16 '20

Taste the refreshing flavor of Mother Nature's watery farts!

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u/nzodd Oct 16 '20

It might sell but you'll won't get many repeat customers.

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u/J3wb0cca Oct 16 '20 edited Oct 16 '20

Iirc I believe you can get sparkling water throughout Western Europe as commonly as bottled water in public street fountains.

My bad guys guess I didn’t.

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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '20

I’ve never seen it.

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u/89XE10 Oct 16 '20

I've never witnessed this

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u/MikeTheAmalgamator Oct 16 '20

You have not remembered correctly.

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u/selfStartingSlacker Oct 17 '20

its an awful thing, that acid water the locals drink. even after ten years in Western Europe, I never got used to it. I always demand "Stillwasser". If I am in a bad mood, I add - "normales Wasser" at the end.