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When Did Nehi Soda Come Out?

When Did Nehi Soda Come Out

I’ve been learning about the history of many sodas across the globe and came across the Nehi brand of sodas.

I wanted to know when it first came out so I did some research and here’s what I found.

Nehi Soda was first sold in 1924 by the company Union Bottle Works/Chero-Cola.

Interestingly, this was before the invention of the most popular fruit soda in the world – Fanta which was first sold by Coca-Cola in 1940.

In this article I will be looking at everything there is to know about when Nehi soda and RC Cola (Royal Crown Cola)  first came out, and whether it’s still sold today as soft drinks or classic sodas.

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Is Nehi soda still made?

Is Nehi soda still made

Learning about soda or Nehi Orange soda is a little bit boring if you never get to taste it so I was wondering where I can get my hands on a bottle but can you still get Nehi soda?

There are a few places you can buy Nehi soda and it is still made today.

You can buy this Royal Crown soda on Amazon, or on online soda stores. the Chero-Cola Company soda with cola taste came in a glass bottle.

It sells for about US $2 for a 12 oz (355 mL) bottle and comes in packs of 3, 6, and 10 bottles in Nehi fruit-flavored sodas as well.

There are 3 flavors of Nehi soda – grape, peach, and orange (delicious fruit flavors).

Nehi cola also used to be available, however, there isn’t anywhere you can buy it based on my research.

You can find vintage bottles of Nehi flavors on Ebay.com.

As well as, unopened cans of Nehi sodas or Royal Crown sodas.

Interestingly, the cans don’t have the standard pull tab that you find on a regular can of soda today.

And instead, you needed to open it with a can opener.

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Who makes grape Nehi soda?

Who makes Nehi grape soda

Soda companies like

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo beverage companies have hundreds of different brands of sodas, juices, and water with classic flavor.

But, which company makes Nehi grape soda specifically? 

Nehi grape soda is made and owned by Keurig Dr. Pepper.

Keurig Dr. Pepper is the 3rd largest soda manufacturer in the USA and Keurig Dr. Pepper accounts for around 20% of the total soda sold in the USA. 

Previous to being sold to Keurig Dr. Pepper, Nehi soda was made by the company that makes Royal Crown (RC) Cola.

RC Cola is a well-known brand for RC products, however, based on most people’s opinions online and in videos it doesn’t taste as good as Coke or Pepsi. 

Royal Crown Cola the company is still around today, however, they only account for a small percentage of the total soda market. 

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Is Nehi Soda Still Available?

Can you still buy Nehi soda

Nehi soda is rare and not one you’d normally see in the fridge at the supermarket or convenience store in glass bottles.

But, can you still buy Nehi soda?

There are 2 places you can buy new Nehi soda, on Amazon or online at a range of specialty soda stores online like BEVERAGES SODA BOTTLES.

Currently, there aren’t any physical stores where you can go to buy Nehi soda.

You can also buy vintage bottles of Nehi soda and Royal Crown Cola on eBay.

Most popular sodas today will have a dedicated website where they will list all of the locations you can buy them, with a map.

However, Nehi soda doesn’t have one of these Nehi soda Website.

It is listed as one of the brands of Keurig Dr. Pepper.

And is still currently sold, however, it doesn’t look like it’s the most popular soda.

Due to the abundance of similar sodas on the market today, you could try a tonne of different sodas with delicious fruit flavors before ever coming across Nehi soda!

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What’s unique about Nehi soda Flavors?

Whats unique about Nehi soda

You may be wondering whether Nehi soda is different from other fruit-flavored sodas like Fanta, and Crush.

So, what are the main differences between Nehi soda and other sodas?

As a whole Nehi soda was one of the first fruit-flavored sodas which were invented by Claud Hatcher.

And Royal Crown Cola was invented before Fanta and other well-known fruit sodas like Sunkist.

Therefore, it is only unique because it was one of the very first fruit-flavored sodas or diet sodas.

Nowadays, there are many different fruit sodas that are virtually identical to Nehi.

Here’s a quick table that shows a comparison of the nutrients in Nehi soda compared to the most popular sodas today:

Per 3.4 oz (100 mL) Coca Cola Pepsi Keurig Dr Pepper Nehi soda
Calories (kcal) 280 43 42 54
Sugar (g) 77 11.6 10.6 14

As you can see, Nehi soda has around the same sugar and calories as Pepsi and Keurig Dr. Pepper or Dr. Pepper, however, Coca-Cola is unique in that it contains a lot of sugar.

Based on my extensive research of different kinds of sodas the amount of sugar and calories in Nehi soda is about average.

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Where was Nehi first made?

Where was Nehi first made

Nehi has an unusual name and it doesn’t give any hint about where it’s made. So, where exactly was Nehi first invented?

Nehi or Nehi Orange Soda was first made in Columbus, Georgia. Georgia is a State in the USA, not to be confused with Georgia, the country in Eastern Europe.

It was first bottled in the 1920s some 30 years after the invention of Coca-Cola.

But, before the invention of Fanta.

Columbus, a city in the State of Georgia has around 200,000 residents and is located inland in the southeast of the USA.

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How did Nehi get its name?

How did Nehi get its name

The name Nehi is quite unusual and doesn’t really say what this soda is all about.

I wondered how Nehi got its name, and here’s what I found.

The name Nehi is thought to have been given to the soda to resemble the two words ‘knee high’.

Apparently, the owner of Nehi overheard a salesperson say that some competitors’ bottles were knee-high.

And I like the way it sounded.

He later named the drink Nehi rather than knee high.

The drink is also still pronounced knee-high.

It appears a lot of popular sodas today were named with unusual names such as Sprite, Fanta, and Pepsi.

So, Nehi fits right in.

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When was Nehi (Knee High soda) discontinued?

When was Nehi discontinued

Although you can still buy Nehi, some people were of the opinion that it has been discontinued.

As a whole Nehi is not discontinued.

You can still buy new bottles of it online, and it is still listed as one of the official brands of Keurig Dr. Pepper.

It’s common for some sodas to be promotional and come and go.

But, Nehi has been around for a very long time, and so far isn’t going anywhere.

Nehi used to make a Nehi cola, though, and it is no longer made and has been discontinued. 

There isn’t any information about when it was discontinued.

Nehi as a brand still makes orange, grape, and peach-flavored soda today.

Common sodas that come and go are those that are specific flavors of popular sodas.

For example, Coca-Cola lemon.

Various soda flavors are also only available in certain countries.

As far as fruit-flavored sodas go Fanta is the most popular by far among soda lovers.

And the most popular flavor is Fanta Orange.

I did a full breakdown of the Fanta flavors that are available in each country and what the top flavors are.

You can read it here, what is green Fanta?

There you or soda lovers have it, everything you need to know about Nehi soda.