Glass or plastic: how should a marble soda be bottled?
The marble bottle began as glass in 1872. Many are plastic now. What each one does to the drink, the ritual and the recycling bin, set out plainly.
By The Pop Journal4 min read
The 60-second sip
- The Codd-neck bottle was invented in glass, with a glass marble, and for decades it was washed and filled again.
- Plastic marble-soda bottles are lighter and do not shatter, which makes them cheaper to ship and easier to carry.
- Glass gives no taste of its own to the drink and gives the marble its clear clink. It is heavier, and it can break.
- Goli Pop Soda stays in glass, for the taste and for the sound of the marble.
A marble soda is the only drink whose bottle is also its closure. The bottle holds the pressure, seats the marble and gives the sound when it opens. So the question of what it is made of is not packaging trivia: it decides how the drink tastes, sounds and travels.
Why the first marble bottles were glass
When Hiram Codd patented his bottle in England in 1872, glass was the material that could do everything at once: hold the pressure of a fizzy drink, show what was inside, and be washed and filled again and again. The marble was glass as well, hard and smooth enough to seal against a rubber ring in the neck.
For most of the next century that is how marble sodas lived in India: the bottle went back to the bottler, was washed, and came out again full. The thick glass that made it heavy was also what made it last.
Why plastic came
Glass is heavy, and it breaks. Plastic marble-soda bottles, usually PET with a plastic neck that holds the marble, weigh a fraction as much and do not shatter when dropped. Some makers have moved to them: Packaging Europe notes that the classic glass design is becoming rarer as some replace it with cheaper, lighter PET bottles.
Glass and plastic, side by side
| Glass | Plastic (PET) | |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | Heavier | Much lighter |
| If dropped | Can break | Does not shatter |
| Taste | Gives nothing to the drink | Made not to flavour the drink |
| The marble's sound | A clear clink | A softer knock |
| Shipping | More weight per bottle | Less weight per bottle |
| After use | Goes with glass recycling; can be washed and refilled | Goes with plastic recycling |
What we chose
Goli Pop Soda is bottled in glass, sealed by a glass marble. Before soda meant cans and plastic, there was glass, and we think great soda deserves to be bottled the right way: glass is a clean, neutral vessel that keeps the taste and character of the drink. And only glass gives the marble its sound.
It costs more to ship, and we accept that. The bottle is the reason people pick it up.
Where this comes from
- Codd-neck bottle, Wikipedia
- Packaging Europe: what makes the ramune bottle so iconic
- Banta (goli soda), Wikipedia
Last checked against these sources on .