The History of Lemonade

Today, the term ‘soft drinks’ includes a large number of different beverages. Earlier, the words ‘refreshing beverage’ were mostly used to describe lemonades or mineral water, but also small beer (kvass) and mead.
Initially, ‘lemonade’ meant a drink made of lemons. The drink originates from either Italy or France where it was already made and sold at the beginning of the 17th century. In Italian, the fruit is known as ‘limone’ while the drink made of lemons is known as ‘limonata’. In French, the fruit is known as ‘limone’ while the drink made of lemons is known as ‘limonade’. In the 18th century, while speaking French was considered very smart and fancy all over Europe, words of French origin were adopted en masse in many languages. So, the word ‘limonade’ was introduced from the French language first to Russian and German and then to the Estonian language – ‘limonaad’ – the stress being on the first syllable.
Even by the 17th century, attempts were being made to produce artificial mineral waters instead of natural ones. Initially, such produce was mostly intended for medicinal bathing. Medicinal baths were popular yet could only be described as ‘cheap’ within the immediate vicinity of the springs. Travel was expensive and the transport of natural mineral water – considering the prevelant transport situation at that time – even more expensive. Therefore, the opportunity for manufacturing artificial mineral water at places a great distance from the springs was seen as a promise of considerable gains.
In the 18th century, companies producing artificial mineral water were established in many places all over Germany, France, England and Switzerland. The limits established by historic industry served as an obstacle to the production of high quality mineral water and therefore the number of clients was initially quite limited.
In 1788, the so-called ‘Geneva apparatus’ was introduced, used for the industrial production of artificial mineral water in a machine industry factory in Geneva. Carbon dioxide was obtained as the result of a chemical reaction between sulphur and bicarbonate of soda. The gas was washed and delivered first into a gas meter and then to a mixing vessel, filled with water and supplied with a special mixing device. Required sales were added to the very same vessel and then mixed. As carbonisation did not take place under pressure, only an immaterial fraction of gas remained in the water.
The following years were spent in improving the production process. In 1821, a German doctor and pharmacist  Friedrich Adolf August Struve opened his factory for the production of artificial mineral water in Dresden. Struve had succeeded in devising a much more practical and sophisticated apparatus for the production of artificial mineral water. He mostly produced water manufactured according to the recipe for mineral waters coming from the Niederselters springs, known as seltzers. Soon, the production of much cheaper soda water was launched.

While the apparatus for the production of artificial mineral water was quite reliable and productive, fruit and berry drinks were still produced in the old-fashioned, 17th century way – without being charged with carbon dioxide. Please find one of the recipes for making lemonade below:
Yellow rind from three to four lemons is sprinkled into a jug filled with clean spring water, covered immediately and allowed to stand for a couple of hours. Now the juice from the lemons is added to the water, followed by 30 minutes of waiting time. Now the drink is drained through a coarse piece of linen cloth eight or nine times, sugar is added to taste and then the drink is drained for two more times through a piece of cloth. The drink gains a very delicious flavour and aroma from crushed coriander and cinnamon, kept in a linen bag and soaked in the jug for a couple of hours.

Mass production of carbonated fruit and berry drinks was started in the middle of the 19th century. At the same time, the word ‘lemonade’ was first introduced to describe all the sweet and carbonated soft drinks.
According to the old instructions, one could use two different types of apparatus for producing artificial mineral water and bubbly drinks:

a) Pumping system, using pressure obtained with the pump to saturate water with gas.

From the left: gas meter with gas bell afloat in the water, accompanied with the apparatus used for filling and capping the bottles, then the pump, saturator (vessels for washing the gas on its back side) and gas generator.

b) Gravity system using only the pressure incurred from the creation of gas to saturate the water with gas.

From the left: the apparatus used for filling and capping the bottles, then the pump, saturator (three vessels for washing the gas on its back side) and gas generator.

Now some more information about the apparatus depicted in the pictures:
The gas meter consists of an oak or copper vessel and copper bell with its inside treated with stannic. Should one use a wooden vessel, the water carrying the bell should be treated with calcium chloride to avoid rotting the wood.
The device for washing gas is supposed to eliminate undesirable ingredients (hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen compounds, etc). As a rule the water is charged through three vessels, one of them containing ferric vitriol, another the solution of soda bicarbonate and the third – clean water. Some other chemical compounds may also be used.
The filling apparatus must be equipped with protective screens to protect staff against shreds of glass. The saturator is made of red copper and must be treated with stannic from the inside. The saturator must be equipped with a pressure gauge and if working at a pressure exceeding six atmospheres, also with a safety valve.
The pump is made of copper or bronze and special attention should be paid to its cleanliness. The piston and other moving parts should be lubricated with cocoa butter or pure Vaseline. The pipes that transport fluids should be made of stannic or copper, treated with stannic from the inside.
There is one more very important device, used for washing the bottles.

Bottle washing machine. Stands A and B, t – the pedal for starting the brushes, m n – the transition, c – the brush. Shown with the rinsing water vessel.

Next we are going to say a few words about another well-known soft drink – small beer or kvass. Kvass is known to be an Old Russian soft drink. Unfortunately we do not know where and when kvass was first made. Nevertheless, it has been alleged that Estonians used to make a drink resembling Russian kvass – small beer – a very long time ago. As a rule, small beer was made by fermenting the infusion of rye or barley malts. As the recipes of these drinks are very diversified, we can’t make a distinction between small beer and kvass.
Kvass was produced and sold in medieval towns. Small beer was also quite common in the countryside. Special small beer breweries started to operate actively in the second half of the 19th century. The town breweries introduced certain types of small beer:
1. Russian small beer (kvass), made of rye bread and malt
2. Bavarian small beer (made of barley malts, wheat flour and syrup)
3. Sour (fermented) small beer (barley and rye malts and wheat flour)
4. White sugar beer (dried rye bread, wheat malts and sugar)
5. Various fruit and berry small beers (juices or jams were added to small beer).
In Tallinn, in addition to small beer breweries some artificial mineral water factories also started the production of small beer or kvass. 

And finally some words about mead. This honey-based drink was initially manufactured in regions where grapes didn’t grow but the know-how for bee keeping was available. Mead is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks know to both Estonians and other European nations, produced according to the old technological until the 19th century.
Usually, the following method was applied to produce mead: one part of honey was added to eight parts of spring water. The mixture was cooked at a low heat, removing any suds, until the liquid was clear. If the drink was meant for immediate consumption then it was cooked for a short period. Drinks intended for a longer preservation was cooked until sticky. Once the liquid had cooled, it was poured into a barrel, leaving some space for fermenting. Cinnamon, mace and nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom and calgan in a small linen bag were used to season the drink. Saffron was added to enhance the colour. Cooled mead was allowed to ferment with the spices. Then it was kept for at least three months in a well-closed barrel. According to general opinion mead grew stronger and more delicious when kept longer.
In the 20th century the breweries started to make cheaper sugar mead that immediately became very popular.