A-Treat Bottling Co. Information

About A-Treat: A-Treat still produces sodas virtually the same way they made them almost a century ago. Making the best sodas in the widest variety of flavors is still what A-Treat Bottling Company does. It started in 1918, three generations ago, by the founder of the company Joseph Egizio, who formerly owned a neighborhood soda fountain. Back then fountain sodas were made by taking carbonated water and mixing flavoring. Many different flavors were mixed, and 28 of them are bottled to make the same treat as then. Nestled in the Lehigh Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania just south of the Pocono Mountains and about 1 1/2 hours from New York City and Philadelphia, the same methodology is followed by descendants of the founder. Only triple-filtered water and sweetener is mixed with "essential oils" for flavoring. An essential oil is the real basis for flavor and is not an extract. For example the birch beer soda is made with real oil of the birch tree. Recipes for Orange, Pineapple, Red Cream Soda, Birch Beer and dozens like them are virtually unchanged from their original soda fountain predecessors. As sweetener there is an obvious difference between diet and non-diet sweeteners. However there is a more subtle difference between non-diet types of sweeteners. A-Treat prefers using liquefied pure cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup, but uses both. The taste test shows liquefied cane sugar is mellower and lasts longer. The lasting part is important because you taste the flavor as long as the sugar sweetness lasts. With high fructose corn syrup, at first there is a stronger taste but it doesn't last as long and so the flavor doesn't last. With subtle or lighter flavors, you can see why liquefied cane sugar is preferred. The cost difference between liquefied pure cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup is substantial with the former costing about twice the price. The majority of soda companies have stopped using liquefied cane sugar for that reason. A-Treat is one of a few soda processors in the country ...