Is cream soda simply root beer with vanilla flavoring?

Cream soda isn't as easy to find at a convenience store as regular Coke or popular diet sodas from major brands, but it's usually there, at the back of the aisle. But what exactly is it? There's no simple answer. What complicates things is that the term "cream soda" refers to different sugary mixtures with (mostly) similar flavors, but with different recipes and origins. These days, it's little more than carbonated water, sugar, and vanilla extract with caramel coloring. You can even make it at home with vanilla syrup, cream, and carbonated water, but it might not have that pale beige color.

Root beer is a different, and simpler, story: its somewhat misleading name doesn't actually contain beer, but rather is made with sassafras and sarsaparilla roots. Inspired by the drinks prepared by the indigenous peoples of North America with these ingredients, European colonists brewed low-alcohol beers. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the 19th century, the roots were used to make a syrup that was mixed with soft drinks, and that's how "root beer" was marketed. Does cream soda have anything to do with this story?

The numerous recipes for cream soda

Besides the fact that several modern soft drinks trace their origins back to 19th-century America, the more convoluted history of cream soda seems separate from that of root beer. The earliest beverage referred to as cream soda comes from a magazine called the Michigan Farmer in 1852, but it includes entirely different ingredients, such as an egg for a frothy texture (which, ironically, New York Egg Cream Soda does not contain). The recipe describes it as a summer drink that fits within the "Maine Act," passed a year earlier, which was one of the first laws to prohibit alcohol in the United States.

It's confusing that what Americans recognize as modern golden cream soda could have several origins. In Brooklyn, New York, the company now known as Dr. Brown's began selling a beige, vanilla-flavored soda in 1869 and still writes "the original cream soda" on its cans. Other theories suggest the term originated with soda fountain workers during the Great Depression, who called any soda suitable for adding milk or vanilla ice cream "cream soda." Given the popularity of root beer floats, it seems root beer could be considered a cream soda in this context, but not necessarily the other way around.

However, it's worth noting that the term "cream of soda" has different meanings around the world. In Canada, Crush brand cream of soda is bright pink and very sweet. In South Africa, Sparletta brand cream of soda is green and tastes more like raspberries than vanilla.