Should Paeroa thank another town close by for their iconic Kiwi drink L&P?

Iconic Kiwi fizzy drink L&P is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year - but was it the first bubbly beverage we called our own?

TVNZ1's Seven Sharp received a tip-off that the 'Lemon and' part of the lemon-flavoured drink originally belonged to a town 15 minutes outside Paeroa - Te Aroha.

The small Waikato town, located near the Kaimai Ranges, is home to the world's only hot soda geyser - and one of New Zealand's biggest conspiracy theories.

In the late 1800s, water from the town's springs were bottled and mixed with a dash of lemon.

"If you got a teaspoon of baking soda mixed in it, it would taste like that," Te Aroha Museum's Janice Parsell said.

Years later, in 1907, Lemon and Paeroa was born - just 20 kilometres down the road.

However, despite the conspiracy theories, Te Aroha has a lot of aroha for their cousins down the road.

"It's a sibling rivalry. She is my sister council, but you know, this world could cope with two," Matamata-Piako District Mayor Jan Barnes said.