Many bottled beverages today are consumed largely because marketing convinces people they want yellow food coloring and brominated vegetable oil (Mountain Dew) as a source for sugar and caffeine. Other modern drinks are science-inspired products with b-vitamins and amino acids in addition to the old standby, caffeine. These provide the functional boost the old herbal beverages provided.

Before caffeine, amino acids, b-vitamins, et cetra, could be synthesized, humans got their performance-enhancing substances from plants: Kola, coffee, tea, coca leaf, etc.

I noticed this list of ingredients from the fine submission:

> The recipe calls for sassafras, sarsaparilla, hops, chamomile, cinnamon, ginger, green tea and molasses, said Belding. “I think it’s going to taste like a spicy root beer. [...]"

Wikipedia suggests most of these ingredients have properties beyond flavor:

Sassafras: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassafras#Traditional_medicina...

Sarsaparilla: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smilax_aristolochiifolia#Medic...

Chamomile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matricaria_chamomilla#Use_in_h...

Green tea (as a source of theanine & caffeine): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_tea#Theanine...

Cinnamon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon#Health-related_resear...

Ginger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger#Research

My comment on a previous submission on herbal beverages: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22958420