Question: is cream soda the same as soda water

Answer: Yes, Alexander C. Howell, of Vienna, New Jersey, was granted a patent for ``cream soda-water'' on June 27, 1865. Howell's cream soda-water was made with sodium bicarbonate, water, sugar, egg whites, wheat flour, and ``any of the usual flavoring materials--such as oil of lemon, extracts of vanilla, pine-apple, to suit the taste'' before drinking, the cream soda water was mixed with water and an acid such as tartaric acid or citric acid. In Canada, James William Black of Berwick, Nova Scotia was granted a U.S. patent on December 8, 1885, and a Canadian patent on July 5, 1886, for ``ice-cream soda''. Black's ice-cream soda, which contained whipped egg whites, sugar, lime juice, lemons, citric acid, flavoring, and bicarbonate of soda, was a concentrated syrup that could be reconstituted into an effervescent beverage by adding ordinary ice water.