Caleb Davis Bradham (May 27, 1867 – February 19, 1934) was an American pharmacist who invented the soft drink Pepsi.
Early life
Bradham was born Caleb Davis Bradham on May 27, 1867, in Chinquapin, North Carolina, to George Washington Bradham, and Julia McCann Bradham. Bradham was of English and Scots-Irish descent.[1]
He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Philanthropic Society, and attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Bradham Drug Store Company
Circa 1890, he dropped out of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, owing to his father's business going bankrupt. After returning to North Carolina, he was a public school teacher for about a year, and soon thereafter opened a drug store in New Bern named the "Bradham Drug Company" that, like many other drug stores of the time, also housed a soda fountain. Middle Street and Pollock Street in downtown New Bern is where Bradham, in 1893, invented the recipe—a blend of kola nut extract, vanilla, and "rare oils"—for what was initially known as "Brad's Drink," but on August 28, 1898, was renamed Pepsi-Cola.