Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain is a time capsule that ticks with a mean egg cream

CARROLL GARDENS, BROOKLYN -- Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain is the egg cream of the crop when it comes to the milky, effervescent New York beverage. The sibling-owned-and-operated shop is the National Egg Cream Invitational's reigning champion.

Brother-sister duo Peter Freeman and Gia Giasullo took over the space in 2009 after it was shuttered for many years, a dusty time capsule of its days as a drug store and neighborhood staple in Carroll Gardens, dating to the 1920s.

"Nothing really ever left here. So, the place was just filled with old-time drugs, and medical equipment, and just wild stuff," Freeman said.

The siblings repurposed the antiques as eye-catching interior design for their old-timey soda fountain. The decor gives the shop a uniquely cohesive and curious demeanor.

Freeman calls himself the "head jerk" and won the contest using his special egg-cream recipe. He also has his own theory about the egg cream's origin, a controversial topic and one that's perpetually unsettled, but always fascinating to discuss.

Freeman suggests it was all about ingenuity.

"What I focus more on when I think about the history of the egg cream is, what was the motivation? What was the egg cream born out of?' And what it was born out of is financial gain?"

Freeman says that back in the late 1800s, cream was a luxury product. He thinks merchants whipped egg whites, almost like a meringue, to imitate cream, then put the "cream of an egg," on top of chocolate sodas. Peter suugests the drink caught on with locals because it was just plain delicious.

Of course, the egg creams we all know and love don't involve eggs or cream, and there are as many theories about how they came to be as there are soda jerks.

For his part, Freeman had his first egg cream when he was 5-years-old, at Ray's Candy Store in the East Village, well-known for its version of the beverage.

For the record, an egg cream is made of seltzer water, milk and flavored syrup, often chocolate.

Freeman and Giasullo are working to keep the art of the soda fountain and egg cream alive and popular for the next generation of soda jerks.

"We didn't open a new place. In fact, we opened an old place. In some ways it does feel new because everyday somebody has it for the first time," Freeman said.

Learn more about Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain

Executive producer: Rolando Pujol