It has been said that a pharmacist in 1876 began selling a dry version tea mixture called Root Beer--its origin is referred to as "small beers." Small beers are a collection of local beverages made during colonial times in America from a variety of herbs, barks, and roots that included: birch beer, sarsparilla beer, ginger beer and root beer. Ingredients in early root beers included allspice, birch bark, coriander, juniper, ginger, wintergreen, hops, burdock root, dandelion root, spikenard, pipsissewa, guaiacum chips, sarsaparilla, spicewood, wild cherry bark, yellow dock, prickly ash bark, vanilla beans, hops, dog grass, molasses and licorice.
There is a plant grown in California, Florida, Gulf-coast states, Pacific Islands and tropical areas that is called the Root Beer Plant (Piper auritum). It is a large leaved perennial related to the pepper plant. It is known for its leaves which are used for their spicy aromatic scent and flavor, some liken it to root beer, others to anise-clove.
Pure Fun™ products come in Root Beer
