Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
9 questions No timer
47 free Dr Pepper trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free Dr Pepper trivia questions with answers. Dr Pepper is a year older than Coca-Cola, is legally not a cola, and in 2024 overtook Pepsi to become the second best-selling soda in America. This Dr Pepper trivia quiz covers all of it: pharmacist Charles Alderton mixing it at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, the customers who ordered a 'Waco', the national debut at the 1904 World's Fair, the full stop that vanished from the logo, the two Dallas banks that supposedly hold half the recipe each, and the prune-juice rumour the company still has to deny. It also gets into the advertising (10-2-4, 'Be a Pepper', the Dr Pepper Girl, hot Dr Pepper with lemon), the lawsuits (Peppo becoming Mr. Pibb, the end of cane-sugar Dublin Dr Pepper), the products (Diet, Ten, Cherry, Zero Sugar, Strawberries and Cream, Creamy Coconut) and the corporate story from Cadbury Schweppes to Keurig Dr Pepper. Easy questions suit anyone who drinks the stuff; the later ones are for Texans and soda historians. Every answer was checked against a reference page and shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 47 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Dr Pepper was created in the 1880s in which Texas city?
Waco
Waco, Texas, is where Charles Alderton mixed the first Dr Pepper in the mid-1880s at a downtown drugstore soda fountain; the city's Dr Pepper Museum opened in 1991.
Q 02What was the profession of Charles Alderton, who formulated Dr Pepper?
Pharmacist
Alderton, born in Brooklyn in 1857, was a young pharmacist who also ran the soda fountain at a Texas drugstore; he experimented with fruit syrups until he hit on the blend that became Dr Pepper.
Q 03Which American Idol alumnus plays the tiny crooner 'Lil' Sweet' in Diet Dr Pepper commercials?
Justin Guarini
Justin Guarini, runner-up in the first season of American Idol in 2002, has played the pint-sized, purple-suited Lil' Sweet in Diet Dr Pepper ads since 2015.
Q 04The name 'Dr. Pepper' was first used commercially in which year?
1885
1885 is the year the US Patent Office recognises as Dr Pepper's first commercial sale, dated 1 December 1885; the drink had been served at a Texas soda fountain before it was named.
Q 05Which rival soft drink went on sale exactly one year after Dr Pepper?
Coke
Coke went on sale at Jacobs' Pharmacy in Atlanta the year after Dr Pepper's debut; decades later the two companies fought in court over the Atlanta giant's Dr Pepper imitation, 'Peppo'.
Q 06Why may Wade Morrison have named the drink after Virginia doctor Charles Pepper?
He had given him his first job
He had given him his first job: Morrison had worked for Dr Charles T. Pepper in Rural Retreat, Virginia, before moving to Texas; the rival tale that Morrison courted Pepper's daughter founders on her young age.
Q 07Dr Pepper was introduced to a national audience at which 1904 event?
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, better known as the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, gave Dr Pepper its first national showcase; the same fair is often credited with popularising ice-cream cones and hot dogs in buns.
Q 08The full stop after 'Dr' in the Dr Pepper logo was permanently dropped in which year?
1950
The period after 'Dr' was dropped in 1950, when a new slanted logo typeface made 'Dr.' look like 'Di:'; the dot had been used only intermittently before then.
Q 09According to the brand, Dr Pepper is a proprietary combination of how many flavors?
23
Dr Pepper markets itself as a blend of 23 flavors that it has never officially listed; the formula is said to be kept in two halves in safe-deposit boxes at two separate Dallas banks.
Q 10A persistent rumour since the 1930s claims Dr Pepper contains what ingredient?
Prune juice
Prune juice is the long-running rumour, which the company's FAQ flatly denies; the drink's flavour has been likened to cherry and almond, and some blame a rival's deliveryman for starting the tale.
Q 11According to one famous promotion, 'Dr Pepper Time' came at which three times of day?
10, 2 and 4
During World War II a syndicated radio show called The 10-2-4 Ranch aired across the South.
Q 12Which unusual winter serving suggestion did Dr Pepper promote in the early 1960s?
Hot, with lemon slices
Hot, with lemon slices: the company urged drinkers to heat Dr Pepper to about 180 degrees and pour it over a thin slice of lemon, a winter promotion meant to lift cold-month sales.
Q 13Which singer was chosen in a 1963 nationwide search to be the 'Dr Pepper Girl'?
Donna Loren
Q 21The 2018 merger that created Keurig Dr Pepper was valued at how much?
$18.7 billion
$18.7 billion was the cash paid to Dr Pepper Snapple shareholders as a special dividend of $103.75 a share when the coffee-pod maker and the soda group combined in July 2018.
Q 22In 2024, Dr Pepper drew level with which brand as America's second best-selling soda?
Pepsi
Pepsi had held second place for decades; Beverage Digest's figures for 2023, published in 2024, put Dr Pepper and Pepsi level at about 8.3 percent of US retail sales, behind only the Atlanta market leader.
Q 23Which firm makes and sells Dr Pepper in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Japan?
Coca-Cola
Donna Loren won the 1963 search and served as the Dr Pepper Girl until 1968, appearing in the brand's ads while also singing in the Beach Party films alongside Annette Funicello.
Q 14Which songwriter wrote the lyrics to the 1977 'Be a Pepper' jingle?
Jake Holmes
Jake Holmes, a jingle writer also behind the US Army's 'Be All You Can Be', wrote the 'Be a Pepper' lyrics; the campaign built around them ran from 1977 to 1985.
Q 15Which actor fronted the dancing 'Be a Pepper' commercials of the late 1970s and early 1980s?
David Naughton
David Naughton sang and danced as the lead Pepper from 1977; he went on to star in An American Werewolf in London in 1981 while the campaign kept running until 1985.
Q 16What was the Atlanta rival's 1972 Dr Pepper imitation 'Peppo' renamed after Dr Pepper sued?
Mr. Pibb
Mr. Pibb was the new name, adopted in 1972 after the trademark lawsuit; the drink was reformulated in 2001 as Pibb Xtra with a stronger cinnamon note.
Q 17Diet Dr Pepper's long-running slogan claims it tastes more like what?
Regular Dr Pepper
Diet Dr Pepper's slogan insists it 'tastes more like regular Dr Pepper', a line the brand built into its advertising from the 1990s onward.
Q 18Which acquisition-hungry British confectioner bought Dr Pepper/Seven Up in 1995?
Cadbury Schweppes
Cadbury Schweppes, formed by the 1969 merger of the Cadbury chocolate firm with Schweppes drinks, paid about $1.7 billion for Dr Pepper/Seven Up in 1995 during a decade-long buying spree.
Q 19In which year was the Dr Pepper Snapple Group spun off as an independent company?
2008
The spin-off from its British parent was completed on 7 May 2008, when Dr Pepper Snapple Group began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker DPS from its Plano, Texas, base.
Q 20Which coffee-pod company acquired the Dr Pepper Snapple Group in July 2018?
Keurig
The deal created Keurig Dr Pepper, headquartered in both Burlington, Massachusetts and Texas.
Suntory handles most of the rest of Europe, while Keurig Dr Pepper covers the US, Canada and Mexico.
Q 24The Dr Pepper Museum occupies a 1906 Texas building that was originally what?
The first plant built to bottle the drink
The first plant built to bottle the drink, the 1906 Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company building, bottled Dr Pepper until 1965; the museum opened there in 1991.
Q 25Dublin Dr Pepper, made in Dublin, Texas, was famous for refusing to switch from cane sugar to what?
Corn syrup
Corn syrup replaced cane sugar in most Dr Pepper after the 1970s, but the Dublin plant kept using Imperial Pure Cane Sugar, which made its bottles a cult item for collectors and tourists.
Q 26In which year did a lawsuit settlement end Dublin Dr Pepper, the oldest surviving bottler?
2012
The settlement came in January 2012, seven months after Dr Pepper Snapple sued for trademark dilution; the plant carried on as Dublin Bottling Works, making its own cane-sugar sodas.
Q 27Franchise agreements limited the Dublin bottler to selling within what radius of the town?
44 miles
Fans drove from across Texas anyway, which was part of what annoyed the parent company.
Q 28Dr Pepper Ten, launched in 2011, blended a little sugar with which two artificial sweeteners?
Aspartame and Ace-K
Aspartame and Ace-K (acesulfame potassium) were paired with a little real sweetener to reach 10 calories a can; the 2011 'It's not for women' ad campaign is remembered better than the drink.
Q 29Dr Pepper Cherry was first released in some areas around February of which year?
2009
Dr Pepper Cherry arrived in February 2009, rolled out region by region, and unlike earlier flavour experiments such as Red Fusion and Berries & Cream it stayed in the permanent line-up.
Q 30Which flavour was launched as a Valentine's Day limited edition and then made permanent?
Strawberries and Cream
Strawberries and Cream appeared in early 2023 as a Valentine's Day tie-in, then joined the permanent line-up the same year, one of the brand's few lasting new flavours since Cherry.