Agua de Carabaña
Agua de Carabaña advertisements illustrated by Enrique Gil Guerra under the pen name "Nike"; the archive holds 2 pieces.
1883 – 21st century (reduced production since c. 2010)
The Carabaña spring, in the municipality of the same name in the Community of Madrid, was commercially exploited from 1883 by the Biscayan pharmacist Ruperto Jacinto Chávarri, who commissioned the chemist Gabriel de la Puerta to analyse its waters; that year it was declared a mineral-medicinal water and bottling began under the initial name “La Favorita”. The brand “Agua de Carabaña” was registered in October 1907 and became the best-selling in Spain in its category thanks to its high concentration of sodium sulphate, which gave it laxative, purifying and antibilious properties recognised even by Santiago Ramón y Cajal. In the 1920s and 1930s millions of bottles were sold each year and the product was exported to France and other countries; the brand's advertising was ubiquitous in the press, on posters and on ceramic tiles installed in Madrid metro stations (c. 1920-1924) bearing the slogan “El mejor purgante: aguas minerales naturales de Carabaña, depurativas, antibiliosas y antiherpéticas” (“The best purgative: natural mineral waters of Carabaña, purifying, antibilious and antiherpetic”).
Sources: La mentira del agua de Carabaña, el purgante «milagroso» más famoso de España — El EspañolCarabaña — Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libreFicha del punto de interés hidrogeológico TM032 — Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME)
