What we drink can say as much about us – and the era we grow up in – as what we eat, wear and listen to. Whether we slurped chocolate milk or were part of “the Pepsi Generation”, these were the liquids that fuelled generations. From now-discontinued diet sodas and alcopops to canned drinks and cocktails that remain classics today, here are some of the most popular drinks from the decade you were born.
This zingy, citrusy energy drink, known for its vivid green bottle, was created by the Hartman brothers as a chaser for moonshine and whisky (it’s named after a 19th-century term for scotch). They originally distributed it in parts of their native Tennessee, including their home city of Knoxville, and it only reached the wider US market after being acquired by Pepsi-Cola in 1964. It reached the UK in 2010 when Britvic began bottling and distributing both original and sugar-free versions.
Postum, a caffeine-free powdered drink, was originally launched in the late 19th century and promised to make giving up coffee much easier. But it really took off in the 1940s, when wartime rationing made coffee scarce. Made from wheat and molasses and designed to be stirred into just-boiled water, it remained hugely popular throughout the decade.
The daiquiri – a cocktail of rum, lime juice and sugar – is believed to have been invented in Cuba in the 19th century (the first known written recipe dates from 1896). But the frozen, strawberry-laced drink we know today became truly popular during the Second World War and beyond. Rum was the most plentiful booze in the 1940s thanks to good trade relations between the US and Latin America, Cuba and the Caribbean.
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Nestlé launched its Quik Chocolate Powder in 1948 in an exciting new development for plain old milk, providing parents with a new way to tempt kids to drink the white stuff. The company later added new flavours, including strawberry and banana, and changed the name to Nesquik. The famous Nesquik bunny, who still graces tubs of the powder, hopped onto the scene in the 1970s.
Even before Bond came along and demanded it be “shaken, not stirred”, this most potent of cocktails was a popular stiffener. The gin martini grew with the boom in distilling during Prohibition but it was the 1950s that saw a vodka-based version become a go-to drink. The US had begun importing vodka from Russia and stars including Frank Sinatra, pictured in a scene from 1955 movie The Tender Trap, boosted its glamorous profile.
This was the decade of diet pop, beginning with a 1952 ginger ale created by the Kirsch Bottling Company in Brooklyn, New York for diabetic parents. Royal Crown Cola was the first to release a diet soda to the entire US market, though, with its Diet-Rite Cola in 1958. It quickly became the biggest-selling diet soda and one of the top sellers overall, behind only Coca-Cola, Pepsi and 7-Up. It’s now owned by Keurig Dr Pepper and sold in the US in flavours including the original cola.
This orange-based drink – now renamed SunnyD – was invented in 1963 by, what the brand’s website calls, “a couple of Florida dads”. It didn’t launch in the UK until 1998, quickly becoming one of the biggest-selling soft drinks behind only Coca-Cola and Pepsi. But it fell out of favour due to claims that marketing implied it was a healthy juice drink. It’s still sold in the UK and US today.
A broken soda fountain was the reason this popular frozen drink was invented. In the late 1950s, Kansas City Dairy Queen owner Omar Knedlik decided to freeze some bottles of fizz because his machinery was playing up. The resulting slush was such a hit that Knedlik fashioned a machine that would mix and freeze flavouring, water and CO2. 7-Eleven licensed the ICEE machine in 1965 and renamed the drink Slurpee, after the noise created when slurping it through a straw.
Coca-Cola finally entered the diet drinks arena when it launched TaB in 1963, selecting the name from a computer-generated search. Sweetened with saccharine and containing one calorie per serving, TaB was a cola drink that was mainly marketed to women. Although TaB has maintained something of a cult following through the decades, the soft drinks giant announced plans in October 2020 to discontinue the diet soda and prioritise “category-leading brands”.
The familiar yellow boxes of Lipton tea began life in Glasgow, Scotland, in the late 19th century, when founder Sir Thomas Lipton bought tea fields in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The brand’s first foray into the chilled market was a powder launched in 1964 and designed to be stirred into water. Their bottles of ready-mixed iced tea, flavoured with lemon, peach or mango, followed in 1991 and are now a hot-day staple in the US and more than 100 other countries.
When it launched in 1961, Coffee-mate promised to transform home-brewed coffee, making it taste “smoother, richer, mellower”. The non-dairy creamer, originally sold only in powdered form, was a revelation for those seeking an alternative to milk – or a standby for when the fresh stuff runs out. It’s still sold today, with the powder joined by liquid creamers in flavours like vanilla and pumpkin spice.
Coca-Cola has been around since the late 19th century and dominated the market thanks to some clever marketing (often involving Santa Claus). But none of its advertising has reached the heights of the “Hilltop” advert that debuted in 1971, featuring the ridiculously catchy song “I’d like to buy the world a Coke”. The ad aired just two years after the fizzy drink got its new (and now familiar) red-and-white label and logo – and reaffirmed it as the market leader.
This medium-sweet and frizzante (softly sparkling) rosé wine was almost as de rigueur at 1970s dinner parties as prawn cocktails and steak Diane. It was so Seventies, in fact, that Elton John referenced getting “juiced” on the pink stuff in his 1973 song, Social Disease. The distinctive bottles, inspired by flasks of Second World War soldiers, were launched by Portuguese winery Sogrape in 1942, and sold in more than 120 countries, including the US and UK, by the late 1970s. Pictured is Sogrape founder, Fernando van Zeller Guedes, sipping the rosé in 1975.
The other wine of the 1970s was this German riesling, which (it’s been suggested) gave the country’s wines an unfair reputation for being rather sweet and simple. According to the brand’s website, the Seventies were the “glory days” of Blue Nun, which counted David Bowie and Rod Stewart among its fans. By the mid-Eighties, annual sales had hit 1.25 million in the US and around 750,000 elsewhere. It’s still sold, with a certain retro appeal, though the wider choice of wines has seen sales fall.
Few gadgets evoke a 1970s (and 1980s) childhood than the hand-cranked, fizzy-water-making SodaStreams that graced many a kitchen counter (and entranced many a child). But this at-home carbonation machine was actually invented in 1903 by Guy Gilbey, who ran a London gin distillery. It was the jingle of famous ads, though, that inspired so many families to “get busy with the fizzy”. Modern incarnations of the gadget have enjoyed a comeback recently, though it hasn't quite reached the dizzy-fizzy days when 40% of UK households owned one.
The "Diet Coke man" – with his bulging biceps and tendency to strip off while working – wouldn’t raise temperatures until the mid-1990s but Coca-Cola’s new diet version of its classic was a hit nevertheless. Diet Coke was launched with a fancy flourish and starry New York City ceremony in 1982, joining – and quickly outselling – the company’s debut diet soda, TaB. This original ad, presenting it as a sophisticated alternative to the sugary original, signalled the birth of a classic.
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This tartly sweet favourite was originally launched in a handful of US cities in 1985 before being rolled out nationwide and, later, to the UK and beyond. It caused a lot of excitement among Coca-Cola fans and was among the top 10 bestselling soft drinks within a year of its release, appealing particularly to children and teens. A diet version was launched in the 1990s, followed by Cherry Coke Zero in 2005.
It was the ill-fated “New Coke” that allowed Pepsi to take the top spot in the mid-1980s. Coca-Cola announced plans to change the original formula recipe in 1985, creating something of a backlash and eventually a U-turn. Pepsi-Cola moved into the gap, becoming the biggest-selling soda with the new-recipe Coke at number two and the relaunched Coke Classic at number three. Pepsi even had a clothing line, as shown in this 1987 Sports Illustrated ad.
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Perhaps best-known for the iconic marketing phrases “shake the bottle, wake the drink” and “shake it to wake it”, Orangina was originally launched in France in 1935, but didn’t fully enter the global market until the mid-1980s (it launched the US in 1978). It’s known for its pear-shaped glass bottle and the mix of pulpy juice and fizz, combined with a quick shake. Sales have since declined, but it’s now being relaunched with the original French recipe.
This famous energy drink launched in Austria in 1987, rolling out through Europe and hitting the US market in 1997. It quickly became the drink of choice among young people looking for a boost during the day or in nightclubs, where it would often be mixed with vodka for a potent buzz (or “wings”, as the old slogan suggested). It still has a strong following and the brand has become known for sponsoring sports events.
Invented in the 1950s, fizzy orange soda Tango flew relatively under the radar until the 1990s, when it grabbed attention with a (literally) aggressive marketing campaign. The infamous ads featured the “Orange Man” who, half-naked and painted orange, would slap strangers to indicate the tangy hit of the drink. An apple version, advertised here by British TV presenter Dani Behr, also launched in 1996.
The world of alcohol alternatives has come a long way in recent years but J2O was a revelation when it launched in British pubs in 1998. It was initially only sold to trade before hitting shops a few years later, and quickly became a popular choice for teetotallers and designated drivers. Effectively a still, blended fruit juice sold in a glass beer bottle, the original J2O and newer J2O Spritz remain the market leaders in pubs, despite increasing competition.
The dawn of innocent smoothies changed the way we think about fruit and veg consumption and provided an easy, tasty way to get some of our five-a-day. The little bottles began life in 1999 when the inventors sold them at a music festival. According to the website, they put up a sign asking people if they should give up their day jobs and make smoothies full-time, with one bin for “yes” and another for “no”. By the end of the weekend, the former was full. The brand is now owned by Coca-Cola, who took ownership in 2013.
Blame Bridget Jones (the eponymous, chardonnay-swigging heroine of Helen Fielding’s 1996 novel) or maybe just people’s tastebuds. Whatever the reason, buttery, heavily-oaked chardonnays were hugely popular during the 1990s. Chardonnay remains the world’s second most-heavily planted grapes, but crisper styles, aged in stainless steel tanks or with more subtle oak barrel ageing, have taken over. Trends also quickly switched to lighter, fresher wines like sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio.
Drinks tastes definitely seemed to edge towards the sweet end of the spectrum in the 1990s, with Lambrini a case in point. The sparkling fruit perry (pear cider) was launched by Liverpool-based company Halewood in 1994 and has been a market leader in the category ever since. Its relatively low alcohol content (7.5% ABV/15 proof) and affordable price has made it a popular alternative to more expensive styles of fizz. The brand played up to the drink’s fluffy, fun image with bikini contests and searches for the latest “Lambrini Girl”.
Not content with Diet Pepsi, the company launched another, supposedly more "masculine" alternative to its classic formula in 1993. Pepsi Max is a low-calorie and sugar-free version with more caffeine content than the diet drink (43mg compared to 23mg). It helped the brand to win over customers who liked the taste of soft drinks but wanted less sugar content without compromising on flavour.
Alcopops were all the rage from the mid-1990s and, by the dawn of the new millennium, they had pretty much taken over the bar and nightclub scene – at least when it came to younger tastes. At times controversial, some people argued they encouraged underage drinking. Bottles from Bacardi Breezers to WKD – with Hooper’s Hooch, Smirnoff Ice and many others in between – flew off the bar shelves. Several brands are still around, but their popularity has waned with changing tastes.
Nespresso pioneered the coffee capsule concept when it launched in 1986, initially in offices in Switzerland, Italy and Japan. It later rolled out to other markets including the UK. It was in the Noughties, though, that Nespresso became a true household name, making inroads into the US market and launching the now-familiar compact machine where capsules are loaded from the top. The brand also launched its Lungo pods, for longer coffees, alongside recipes with milk.
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Cocktails don’t come much more Noughties than the cosmopolitan (or cosmo), which trickled into people’s consciousness (and glasses) with hit TV show Sex and the City, which first aired in 1998. It was the drink of choice for Carrie and co, and soon became the go-to cocktail for a generation of viewers too. The pretty yet potent mix of vodka, triple sec, lime and cranberry juice is still found on menus today, though its popularity has waned.
Coke Zero launched in 2005 and, like Pepsi Max, was firmly targeted at the non-diet health market. That is, it’s a low-calorie and no-sugar drink for those who might be put off by the diet label. It was an instant hit and became one of the USA’s top 10 soda brands. It’s now been replaced by Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, which is said to taste more like original Coke than its predecessor and features the brand’s famous red-and-white logo.
Few hot beverages cause as much excitement and anticipation each year than Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte, or PSL, released as part of the coffee chain’s annual autumn menu. The creamy, espresso-based drink, infused with warm spices of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg, and pumpkin syrup, was developed in the company’s “Liquid Lab” in Seattle, Washington in 2003. It’s gone on to become Starbucks’ all-time most popular seasonal beverage and has firmly cemented pumpkin as the fall flavour of choice.