Holiday Calendar

National Beverage Day

Next celebratedThursday, May 6, 2027

A food and drink observance on May 6 celebrating beverages of every kind, from water and coffee to soda, tea, and juice.

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Last updated March 20, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATEMay 6
OBSERVED INUnited States
CATEGORYFood
SUBCATEGORYSoft Drinks
ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY
Not documented
FIRST OBSERVED
Not documented
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A drink-everything day with no documented author.

No primary or archival record documents who created National Beverage Day or when it began. A popular account ties it to a 1920s carbonated-bottlers' promotion, but that story rests on a single secondary retelling and is not confirmed by any archive or by the beverage industry's own trade body. It is best understood as an undocumented, community-circulated US observance.

+ Know the story? Submit a founder Help us complete this holiday
INTRO

The day America toasts the drink that quietly beat soda

For most of the last century, soda was the drink Americans reached for. National Beverage Day, observed every May 6, is a small US tribute to everything in the glass: water, coffee, tea, soda, juice, the lot.

The twist is what is winning. In 2023, Americans drank 46.4 gallons of bottled water per person, against just 35.7 gallons of carbonated soft drinks. The drink that used to define the American refrigerator is now in second place.

So this is a day with a quiet story underneath the fizz. What we drink has shifted, and the reasons go back more than two centuries, to a clergyman fiddling with the gas above a beer vat.

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WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Beverage Day

BIOLOGY

The brain and heart are about three-quarters water.

Up to 60 percent of the adult body is water, and the brain and heart run at about 73 percent. A day about beverages is, underneath the branding, a day about the one liquid the body cannot do without.

HABITS

It marks a market in motion

American soda drinking has slid for years, reaching 35.7 gallons per person in 2023, down from 36.3 the year before. The day captures a country quietly trading one habit for another.

RITUAL

It honors the daily cup

Coffee is the ritual most Americans keep without thinking. In 2025, 66 percent of US adults had a coffee in the past day, on average close to three cups. Few habits are this widely shared.

BY THE NUMBERS

National Beverage Day by the Numbers

46.4 gal
Bottled water per US person, 2023
35.7 gal
Soda per US person, 2023
66%
US adults who drink coffee daily
44 oz
Plain water a US adult drinks daily
60%
Of the adult body that is water
ORIGINS

Beverage Day history

CHAPTER 01

The gas above the beer vat

The story of bottled drinks starts with bubbles, not flavor. An English clergyman and scientist named Joseph Priestley earned the nickname "the father of the soft drinks industry" for his experiments on the gas rising off a brewery's fermenting vats.

In 1772 he showed a small carbonating device to the College of Physicians in London. Water, he suggested, could be charged with that gas. The fizz had been captured.

CHAPTER 02

From a Geneva jeweler to a five-cent glass

A Swiss jeweler, Jacob Schweppe, read Priestley's papers and built his own machine. By 1794 he was selling carbonated mineral water to friends in Geneva, then took the business to London. The bottled-drink trade had a first name.

Flavor came later, and in America it came from a pharmacy counter. In 1886 an Atlanta pharmacist, John Pemberton, mixed the first cola drink and called it Coca-Cola. It was first poured at Jacobs' Pharmacy and sold by the glass for five cents.

CHAPTER 03

The day itself, and what it cannot tell you

National Beverage Day arrives without a birth certificate. No proclamation, no founding organization, no archive names a creator or a first year. A widely repeated tale credits a 1920s push by carbonated bottlers to convince a wary public their drinks were "pure," but it traces to a single retelling and the industry's own trade body never mentions it.

What the day does have is a real subject in motion. Soda, once king, now trails bottled water, and the American glass keeps changing shape.

TIMELINE

Timeline

Priestley shows off the fizz

Joseph Priestley demonstrated a small carbonating apparatus to the College of Physicians in London, suggesting water could be charged with the gas from a brewery's vats. It earned him the title 'father of the soft drinks industry.'

Schweppe bottles carbonated water

Swiss jeweler Jacob Schweppe, inspired by Priestley's papers, was selling carbonated artificial mineral water in Geneva, then moved the business to London. The commercial bottled-water trade had begun.

Coca-Cola, the first cola

Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, the first cola drink. It was first served at Jacobs' Pharmacy, sold by the glass for five cents.

A drink that became Pepsi

North Carolina pharmacist Caleb Bradham created 'Brad's Drink' in New Bern. He later renamed it Pepsi-Cola, giving Coca-Cola its lasting rival.

The plastic bottle arrives

DuPont engineer Nathaniel Wyeth patented the PET plastic bottle, strong enough to hold pressurized carbonated drinks. It changed how nearly every beverage is packaged and sold.

Water passes soda

Americans drank 46.4 gallons of bottled water per person, against 35.7 gallons of carbonated soft drinks, confirming bottled water as the country's most-consumed drink by volume.

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about National Beverage Day

Bottled water beat soda

In 2023, Americans drank more bottled water per person than carbonated soft drinks, 46.4 gallons to 35.7. The drink that defined the American fridge now runs second.

Coca-Cola began as a five-cent pour

The first Coca-Cola was not a bottle off a shelf. It was poured by the glass at an Atlanta pharmacy in 1886 for five cents.

The 'eight glasses a day' rule is a myth

A 2002 peer-reviewed review by kidney specialist Heinz Valtin found no scientific basis for the 8x8 rule. Water needs vary, and much of it comes from food.

Soda started as a science demo

Carbonated water traces to Joseph Priestley charging water with gas from a brewery's vats in the 1770s, decades before anyone thought to add flavor.

The plastic bottle is younger than you think

The PET plastic bottle that holds nearly every soda today was only patented in 1973, by a DuPont engineer named Nathaniel Wyeth.

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate National Beverage Day

EDITOR'S PICK

Drink a real glass of water first

Before the coffee or the soda, start with water. The adult body is up to 60 percent water, and it is the one drink the day quietly celebrates most.

TRACE

Trace a drink you love back to its origin

Pick a favorite and read its history. Coca-Cola began at a pharmacy counter in 1886, and soda itself started as a scientist's experiment with brewery gas.

TASTE

Taste something outside your usual order

Use the day to widen the glass. Try a tea you have never brewed, a cold-pressed juice, or a sparkling water, and notice how different the same idea of 'a drink' can be.

BREW

Brew coffee or tea at home for once

Most Americans drink coffee every day, often without noticing it. Make a cup slowly at home and pay attention to it, instead of grabbing it on the way out.

CHECK

Check what your own glass actually holds

Look at how much soda, water, and coffee you drink in a normal day. National Beverage Day is a good prompt to see your own habits clearly.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National Beverage Day?

1 / 7

Which beverage do Americans now drink the most of by volume?

Answer

National Beverage Day is observed every year on May 6 in the United States.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

9sources
5primary records
4independently dated
Primary records
National Coffee Association2025
Grounds for Celebration: Americans Remain Committed to Coffee
2025 survey finding 66 percent of US adults had coffee in the past day, near three cups on average.
View source
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention2024
Fast Facts: Data on Water Consumption
How much plain water Americans drink, about 44 ounces a day for adults and 23 for kids.
View source
U.S. Geological Survey
The Water in You: Water and the Human Body
How much of the body is water, up to 60 percent in adults, with figures by organ.
View source
The Coca-Cola Company
The Birth of a Refreshing Idea
Coca-Cola's 1886 invention by John Pemberton and its first five-cent glass at Jacobs' Pharmacy.
View source
American Journal of Physiology2002
'Drink at Least Eight Glasses of Water a Day.' Really?
Peer-reviewed review finding no scientific support for the eight-glasses-a-day rule.
View source
Additional coverage
Beverage Marketing Corporation2024
U.S. Bottled Water Volume and Sales Grew in 2023
2023 per-person US figures for bottled water and soda, with bottled water the top drink by volume.
View source
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Soft drink
The history of carbonated drinks, from Priestley and Schweppe to the first cola in 1886.
View source
The Clio
Bradham's Pharmacy, Birthplace of Pepsi-Cola
How Caleb Bradham's 1893 'Brad's Drink' became Pepsi-Cola in New Bern, North Carolina.
View source
Wikipedia
Nathaniel Wyeth (inventor)
The DuPont engineer who patented the PET plastic beverage bottle in 1973.
View source
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