Soft drinks are called “soft” in contrast with “hard” alcoholic drinks. Small amounts of alcohol cafeteria canela be present in a soft drink, but the alcohol content must be less than 0.
Soft drinks may be served cold, over ice cubes, or at room temperature. They are available in many container formats, including cans, glass bottles, and plastic bottles. Within a decade of the invention of carbonated water by Joseph Priestley in 1767 inventors in Britain and in Europe had used his concept to produce the drink in greater quantities, with one such inventor, J. Schweppe, forming Schweppes in 1783 and selling the world’s first bottled soft drink.
The term “soft drink” is a category in the beverage industry, and is broadly used in product labeling and on restaurant menus. However, in many countries such drinks are more commonly referred to by regional names, including pop, cool drink, and fizzy drink. In the United States, the 2003 Harvard Dialect Survey tracked the usage of the nine most common names. Over half of the survey respondents preferred the term “soda”, which was dominant in the Northeastern United States, California, and the areas surrounding Milwaukee and St. In the English-speaking parts of Canada, the term “pop” is prevalent, but “soft drink” is the most common English term used in Montreal. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the term “fizzy drink” is common. In other languages, various names are used: descriptive names as “non-alcoholic beverages”, equivalents of “soda water”, or generalized prototypical names.