Georgia is a country that is famous not only for good wine, but also for very tasty and healthy lemonade, and it will be discussed in the continuation of the article. Lagidze lemonade is prepared on the basis of crystal clear mineral water extracted from local mountain sources.
What is the difference?
The composition of this drink includes natural syrups from fruits and berries, herbal tinctures. Manufacturers of a dietary product are proud that they do not use dyes and preservatives in the creation of drinks. That is why the Lagidze lemonade is very popular in Tbilisi: people are happy to buy a quality product of local origin. By the way, it is also quite useful, since, in addition to natural ingredients, it includes vitamin complexes. The quality and initial taste of Georgian “Lagidze” lemonades remain for a long time even after opening the bottle.
How did this drink come about?
Lemonade "Lagidze" was opened by a student of a Polish pharmacist named Mitrofan Lagidze. It happened a long time ago, in the distant 19th century. Helping the pharmacist in the manufacture of soft drinks, the young man invented his own recipe for syrup based on fruits and berries. Of course, he appeared by trial and error - Moscow was not built immediately. Georgian lemonade "Water Lagidze" at that time only vaguely resembled a modern product. Over time, Mitrofan invented several recipes for the drink, which formed the basis for the manufacture of today's cold products.
Lemonade drinks gained their official name only by the end of the 19th century. In Russia, they were in great demand at the imperial palace. In Soviet times, they became favorite soft drinks, both ordinary people and the party elite.
The success of Mitrofan
After the 14-year-old Mitrofan Lagidze came up with recipes for creating unique drinks, in 1887 he managed to register his own enterprise under the same name. In 1900, the guy launched a small plant for the production of syrups from herbs and fruits in the city of Kutaisi.
His drinks instantly gained recognition. The boys, who were instructed to sell lemonade at a price of 20 kopecks, shouted phrases that, like a magnet, attracted more and more new customers. “Buy Lagidze’s water - you will be healthy and beautiful” - this was the appeal of young sellers. It is not surprising that the “Lagidze Vody” lemonade was sold out faster than the morning newspapers.
Bottles for drinks were delivered from France itself. There, a young businessman learned how to successfully promote his brand in his homeland. “Demand everywhere, but beware of fakes” - such is the slogan on the labels of the legendary lemonade, which has been preserved from the moment of its creation up to our time.
The delight of the Iranian Shah
In 1906, the inventor of the drink arrived in Tbilisi and launched a new factory. Subsequently, Mitrofan opened his own company store on Rustaveli Avenue. Soon, the Lagidze plant replaced all its competitors from the market of soft drinks.
At the beginning of the new century, lemonades were delivered to the imperial court, and merchants from Iran purchased huge quantities of Lagidze lemonade at the request of their shah.
Cold drinks have a large gold medal, they were highly appreciated at the first world exhibition of soft drinks in Vienna (1913). At the exhibition, lemonades deserved two gold and two silver medals.
Also, the “Lagidze” lemonade in St. Petersburg received a positive response. At the All-Russian Food Exhibition in 1914, they also received two gold and two silver medals.
Lemonade Secrets
In the early 1930s. It was rumored that the founder of the lemonade brand, as well as the author of all recipes, Mitrofan Lagidze, deliberately hid some of the secrets of preparing his goods.
This alignment did not suit the envious, and denunciations began to pour from everywhere on Mitrofan. But the Georgian magician managed to defend his honor and prove in public that no special secret exists. He even made lemonade in Stalin’s office. The leader tried it and said: "I see no difference, which means that there is no secret either."
What is the secret of Lagidze?
The Soviet government forced Mitrofan to release a collection of recipes, which included about 100 recipes. But that was not the secret. As it turned out, the manufacturer had a special tasting ability - he could only determine the composition of the drink by one sip and immediately say what was missing or in excess. People said that Mitrofan "hides all his recipes in the language."
When it came time to start making new syrup, Lagidze locked himself in a laboratory alone, immersed in working with liquids and test tubes. Making one drink might take more than one month. During this period, only the maestro visited the laboratory. When, after a long time, he left it, people understood that Mitrofan had invented the new Lagidze lemonade.
Everyone on the "Lagidze"!
At a specialized plant, a separate workshop was functioning, which was engaged in the manufacture of drinks for the highest echelons of power. There were "Tarragon", "Lemon", "Pear", "Orange", "Citro" and others. These drinks were delivered to Moscow on Mondays especially for members of the Politburo. Delivery was carried out on airplanes. Bottles with Lagidze lemonades were the decoration of tables during official meetings in the Kremlin.
Interesting Facts! Stalin preferred the lemon variety, and Khrushchev loved pear and orange lemonade. Brezhnev highly appreciated the taste of pear and tarragon drink. And the poet Sergei Yesenin even dedicated the poem to the cornel taste of Lagidze lemonade.
Pet power
Stalin loved this lemonade so much that at any opportunity he treated them to the heads of other states, in particular, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at the 1943 meeting in Tehran.
Roosevelt was simply delighted with the soft drink, so he took as much as 2000 bottles with him to his homeland! In his memoirs, Churchill recalled the amazing carbonated drink that they had tasted at the table of the Soviet leader.
New Lemonade for the American President
In 1952, the "lemonade war" began. The 33rd US President Harry Truman presented Stalin with a special flight of 1000 bottles of Coca-Cola. Party functionaries noted an unusual drink. Then Stalin decided to retaliate. He ordered the maestro to be delivered to him with lemonade ... So, on the orders of the leader, a new recipe for the drink was invented under the laconic name Lemonade. The taste of the drink combined apple, pear and vanilla notes. At the first mass tasting of Lemonade, 120 production leaders approved it.
Special cargo in premium bottles corked with natural cork was delivered to the American president.
Truman really liked the taste of the soft drink, and he asked if it was possible to arrange the supply of new soft drinks in the United States. The pride of the leader was fully satisfied.
Recommended by Nutritionists
Since there are no chemical impurities in the drink, and also vitamin complexes are present, experts recommend using Lagidze soft drinks as a medical and dietary product. By the way, an important factor for many losing weight: calorie content is only 48 kilocalories per 100 grams of green drink. According to reviews, Lagidze Lemonades perfectly quench thirst in the warm season, and have a distinct taste and aroma.
Now this Georgian product has migrated to grocery stores in a large number of countries. The types of products manufactured at Lagidze CJSC are as follows:
- berry and fruit lemonades with the taste of cherry, quince, apple, feijoa, Isindi, pear;
- citrus lemonades with the taste of orange, lemon; tarragon and mint lemonades;
- exclusive tastes based on wine or cognac;
- dessert soft drinks: coffee, cream soda, creamy, chocolate, rose.
Taste of childhood
In Soviet times, Lagidze branded syrups were often used to make soft drinks. Such soft drinks were bottled in gas-water machines. There were about 7 thousand such machines in the capital and 3.5 thousand in Leningrad.
Today, soda fountain machines are back in fashion. In large Russian cities, you can find machines that give rise to nostalgic feelings for those who caught the era of the USSR.
The brand "Lagidze" gives a guarantee that syrups with a natural composition are used in the preparation of soft drinks.
To date, the Avtomatproizvodstvo company (Moscow) is preparing to produce automatic machines for bottling hot drinks, among which there will be non-alcoholic mulled wine and grog, they, as the manufacturers assure, will also be prepared on the basis of Lagidze natural syrups.