Lemonade was first recorded in France in the 17th century. Early references describe a drink made from lemon juice, water and sweetener, placing lemonade among the fruit-based beverages that became fashionable in Europe during the 1600s.
The French term limonade developed from limon, meaning lemon, and originally referred to a lemon-flavored drink. Historical accounts connect lemonade’s early European popularity with the growth of cafés, street vendors and prepared refreshments. In Paris, vendors sold lemonade from portable containers, helping make the drink accessible beyond private households.
This history is easy to confuse with the later development of carbonated soft drinks. Early lemonade was generally still rather than fizzy, and carbonation became important much later as advances in mineral-water production and bottling spread. The drink also has older lemon-based precedents outside France, so “first recorded in France” refers to an early documented European record, not necessarily the invention of every lemon-and-water beverage.