Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 168: Little Sweetwater's Joy

The war in the East Indies was raging fiercely, while on the other side, Carlo’s commercial empire was also constantly expanding.

It was August in Spain, and the temperature was not as hot as imagined. The main reason Spain could become one of the tourist destinations in posterity is this comfortable weather in Spain.

Madrid has distinct seasons, with hot summers and cold winters.

But such distinct seasons have limits; Madrid’s winter does not drop below zero, with an average temperature of 3 to 10 degrees Celsius.

The average summer temperature is around 27 degrees Celsius, and the hottest is just over 30 degrees Celsius, not enough to make one sweat profusely.

Not to mention anything else, Carlo still enjoyed Spain’s climate very much. Spain in summer is sunny, one could say cloudless for thousands of miles.

With comfortable weather, Carlo naturally could not stay in the royal palace as a shut-in. Since summer began in June, Carlo and Queen Sophie had not stopped, touring around the Spanish inland, appreciating the varied scenery.

Although Spain’s area is not large, equivalent to a province in posterity. But tiny Spain has several different climates; the inland and coastal climates and temperatures differ, and the scenery each has its own characteristics.

In the height of summer, Carlo brought Queen Sophie, two maids, and a large number of servants, grandly heading to the Spanish Balearic Islands for a vacation.

Spain becoming one of the most popular tourist countries in the future is not without reason. Not to mention the scenic Balearic Islands, even ordinary coasts have unimaginable beautiful scenery. Emerald seawater and golden sand beaches, plus azure skies and a few white clouds, adorn the originally ordinary beach scenery into a beautiful painting, attracting countless tourists.

What can attract the royal family is naturally the most beautiful scenery among Spanish beaches.

Ses Ileites Beach is still quite famous in Spain in posterity, even once reputed as the top of Spain’s top ten beach sceneries.

Ses Ileites Beach is located on Formentera Island in the Spanish Balearic Islands, reputed as the best Spanish beach scenery, with its own relatively unique characteristics.

Formentera Island is mainly based on tourism, and the only reason it can attract a large number of tourists is the beauty of Formentera Island’s beach scenery.

Ses Ileites Beach is the most beautiful among Formentera Island’s beach sceneries and the most chosen tourist spot by many people.

Of course, now separated by more than 100 years from posterity, Formentera Island is just a small island with not much population, and not many tourists come.

The reason Carlo chose Formentera Island as the travel destination is first, the beach scenery here is indeed beautiful; second, few people come here, making it more private and safer for the royal family.

Carlo’s outings are definitely not as simple as ordinary people. Even traveling on Spain’s own territory, the accompanying servants and guards add up to several hundred people.

Those coming with Carlo include the royal family’s exclusive private doctor, two quirky maids, dozens of servants with various duties, and over a hundred guards.

Carlo dislikes his travels being disturbed, so before heading to the Balearic Islands, he had already instructed Butler Loren to tell the local officials not to come and disturb without permission.

Being able to go out and play, Queen Sophie was also quite happy.

After all, she was not yet 20 years old, and playfulness is innate; Carlo naturally indulged her.

Walking with Queen Sophie on the soft sand beach, Carlo’s mood was also very pleasant. Spain’s development was thriving, and colonizing Africa was also very smooth, making Carlo’s mindset very relaxed.

Not long after, Carlo and Queen Sophie returned to the center of the beach and lay on the lounge chairs already prepared by the servants.

Two large parasols were set up beside the lounge chairs, with Anna and Alice standing on either side respectively, responsible for attending to Carlo and Queen Sophie closely.

Queen Sophie was well aware of the relationship between Anna, Alice, and Carlo. In fact, such things are inevitable; before marrying into Spain, her mother Princess Sisi had already told her and instructed her not to care too much about such matters.

A king does not like a queen who interferes in everything. For Queen Sophie, living her own life well with Carlo and giving birth to a few princes and princesses for him was enough.

Anna obediently came to Carlo’s side, smiling as she massaged him. Alice went to Queen Sophie’s side, also performing massage services.

What made Queen Sophie relieved was that although Carlo had lovers, there seemed to be only Anna and Alice at present. After all, they had been following Carlo since Italy, so Queen Sophie could not say much.

At least Carlo was much better than other nobles. Some nobles simply liked affairs, and the ones they chose were married women—isn’t that more promiscuous than what Carlo does?

Enjoying the maids’ massages and the non-sultry sea breeze, Carlo admitted that such days were indeed comfortable.

But comfortable as it was, it always felt like something was missing from his mouth, lacking that essence of summer.

Thinking about it, Carlo finally remembered what he was missing: the famous happy water for fat otakus in posterity.

In a sweltering summer, how could one miss iced happy water? The sour sweetness of the beverage and the stimulation of carbonation—that is the soul summer should have.

Although Carlo was not very clear on the exact birth time of Coca-Cola, he could be sure that Coca-Cola was born before the 20th century.

Moreover, this thing has no technical content; a sour-sweet beverage plus carbonated water becomes a carbonated drink, and with ice cubes, it has soul.

Carbonated water had already been invented in the first half of the year, and the original raw material of cola is the kola nut, a fruit common in the tropics.

“Coca-Cola Company?” Butler Loren searched his memory and found no enterprise by that name: “Please forgive me, Your Majesty. I have no impression of such a company; perhaps it does not exist, or perhaps such a company is not famous locally.”

Carlo nodded, his heart full of excitement.

Since the Coca-Cola Company had not yet been born, Carlo naturally would not miss the huge beverage market.

Cola is not only popular in posterity; it is equally popular in this era. No one can refuse the temptation of enjoying an iced cola in summer—unless they have two.

Carlo remembered that as soon as Coca-Cola was born, it received enthusiastic acclaim from everyone. Moreover, cola’s value is not expensive; rich people in the United States often carry glass bottles filled with cola, drinking it while walking on the streets.

If cola could be born ahead of time, it might achieve the same success. After all, making this thing is not difficult; it just needs a gimmick to become popular everywhere anytime.

As long as the first cola can quickly go global, even if other colas are born later, even if the taste is not inferior, they cannot compete with the first-born cola.

The first point is about cost, and the second is that once people get used to the taste of one cola, they often find other colas not as refreshing.

Although he already had the idea to make cola, Carlo was not in a hurry.

The initial cola recipe is indeed very simple: nothing more than a fizzy drink modulated from kola nuts, carbonated water, and white sugar.

To make cola a huge success, every bottle produced must have the same flavor, and that flavor must be welcomed by the majority.

“A beverage made from kola nuts and carbonated water?” After hearing Carlo’s instructions, Butler Loren did not ask why but nodded to indicate understanding.

Although he did not know what purpose Carlo had in ordering such a beverage, since it was the king’s order, he would naturally carry it out.

Moreover, doing so is not complicated; carbonated water and kola nuts are relatively common things. Nothing more than mixing these things into a beverage; for Carlo, it is naturally something he can think of and do.

The next day, Carlo received three large cups of beverages in a row.

Butler Loren explained: “Your Majesty, these three cups are all beverages made according to your instructions. From left to right, the closer to the right cup, the higher the proportion of sugar added.

These beverages have already been tried by people in advance to ensure no discomfort after drinking. You can taste them first and see which flavor is the one you want.”

Carlo nodded, very satisfied with Butler Loren’s speed.

This is also the power of a king in this era; wanting to do something is really just a thought.

From something as small as this carbonated beverage to something as large as cars and cannons, all can be made into specific products according to his ideas.

Carlo had drunk a lot of cola in posterity, but he had not tasted the most primitive cola flavor.

What is the difference between this carbonated drink made from kola nuts and sugar and the cola in posterity?

Carlo first poured a small cup from the leftmost beverage and took a light sip to taste carefully.

How to describe the taste? It has a diluted cola flavor, but not sweet, and the bubbles are relatively few.

Then the middle cup, the taste slightly richer, with moderate sweetness.

Then the right cup, the taste similar to the second cup, just with more pronounced sweetness, but both have the flaw of fewer bubbles.

This is unavoidable. Compared to the cola production process in posterity, the current carbonated water production is simpler, so the bubble content in the water is naturally lower.

Simply put, the current carbonated water’s bubble content is equivalent to the bubble amount in posterity’s carbonated beverages after pouring into a cup and letting it sit for more than ten minutes.

Although there is carbon dioxide gas, the gas content and the stimulation felt in the mouth are not as intense as in posterity.

The leftmost of these three beverages can basically be eliminated. Not only is the taste lighter, but it also lacks sweetness, not good to drink.

As for the difference between the middle cup and the right cup, it is actually more like the difference between Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola.

The middle cup has more carbonation, the right cup is sweeter, each with its characteristics. If the two beverages had more bubbles, they would really be quite like Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola.

But unfortunately, the carbon dioxide content is a big problem, which makes these beverages not as refreshing to drink as imagined.

“Pour out the leftmost cup, keep the middle and right ones. These two flavors can be made richer, and more bubbles would be good.

Overall, they are not much different from what I imagined; I believe they will be welcomed after going on the market,” Carlo said with a smile.

Drinking the beverage can only make himself happy, but if these beverages are made into goods and sold throughout Spain or even all of Europe, then all Europeans will be happy.

Of course, Carlo would not deny that what he is eyeing is actually the huge beverage market. This most primitive cola is not troublesome to manufacture, and the cost is actually not high.

It is even no exaggeration to say that the cost of cola in glass bottles is mostly concentrated on the glass bottles; the cost of the cola in the glass bottles is actually not high.

But the birth of plastic bottles still needs a long time; before that, glass bottle filling is a relatively clean and convenient transportation method.

“Bring some more ice cubes; nothing else,” Carlo continued to instruct.

Carbonated beverages must definitely be enjoyed with ice cubes to complete the soul of carbonated beverages.

Butler Loren nodded and personally went to prepare the ice cubes Carlo needed.

Speaking of ice cubes, one cannot help but thank technology for the improvements it brings to daily life.

Before the ice maker was invented, people of course had other methods to make ice cubes. But such methods had various shortcomings in making ice cubes, the main one being low production volume and difficult preservation.

This also meant that in summer, only those high officials, nobles, and great nobles could enjoy ice cubes.

Since the ice maker was invented, ordinary people can also enjoy a cup of iced water in summer, which was unimaginable before.

For Carlo, the ice cubes made by the ice maker are of course purer and safer to drink.

In just a few minutes, Butler Loren brought a large basin of ice cubes, emanating cold vapor in the scorching summer.

Anna and Alice did not need to be told; they hurriedly stepped forward to take the ice cubes and added them to Carlo’s and Queen Sophie’s cups.

Watching the ice cubes being put into the cups one by one, refilling the beverages that were left half to a full cup, Carlo smiled and looked at Queen Sophie: “Try it; this is a newly made beverage, perfect for summer.”

Queen Sophie nodded. She had wanted to taste this unknown beverage earlier, but after hearing Carlo say it tastes better with ice cubes, she decided to wait for the ice cubes.

Seeing the cola with ice cubes emanating visible cold air, with a layer of frost on the outside of the cup, Queen Sophie no longer hesitated and picked up a cup of cola to sip slowly.

“It’s delicious! Carlo, what is this? How come I’ve never seen it before?” Queen Sophie’s eyes lit up instantly, looking at Carlo with curious eyes, asking eagerly.

“Cola, or call it Coca-Cola.” Since the Coca-Cola brand had not been born, Carlo naturally did not mind directly copying the name of cola.

The name Coca-Cola is very fitting. Cola tastes very delicious, and it is made from kola nuts; these four words completely explain the characteristics of Coca-Cola.

“Coca-Cola?” Queen Sophie nodded.

“How is it? Iced Coca-Cola, doesn’t it match summer better?” Carlo said with a smile.

“It’s fantastic. If this thing could be mass-produced, it should be welcomed by many people.” Queen Sophie nodded, expressing her affirmative attitude toward Carlo’s previous statement that Coca-Cola goes better with ice cubes.