Why did Edwin E. Perkins invent kool-aid?

Answer 1

With his characteristic flair as a marketer, Edwin made a “Personal Guarantee” that any hard worker with a $3.50 sample kit could succeed as a Perkins agent.
One of the most popular items in the sample kit turned out to be the summer soft drink “Fruit-Smack,” a liquid put up in four-ounce corked bottles. It came in six flavors and appeared about the same time that Coca Cola was gaining national acceptance. It was concentrated so that a family could make a pitcher full of the beverage for only pennies. But shipping it presented problems: breakage, leaking, and the weight of the glass when it was transported.
Perkins -- who still admired Jell-O and had already perfected fruit pectin powders to make jelly at home -- knew that it should be reduced to a dry, concentrated, easily-soluble form capable of being packaged in an envelope. He also had another motive; if he could come up with a national product which was attractive to food brokers, he could get out of the trust agent and mail order business. The concept was somewhat audacious for a product yet to be developed, but Edwin Perkins was the kind of man who didn’t let go of an idea once it entered his mind.
Despite later protestations that he “was not a chemist,” E.E. Perkins the “mixer” went to work with his assistants. Edwin’s objective was to dehydrate Fruit-Smack by tinkering with the recipe, focusing on the right mixture of dextrose, citric acid, tartaric acid, flavoring and food coloring. By 1927, he had Kool-Aid. In six delicious flavors--raspberry (Mr. Perkins’ favorite), cherry, grape, lemon, orange and root-beer. Strawberry was added later.
Perkins then turned to marketing the product. The name itself was clever and continued Edwin’s penchant for hyphenated spellings (another result of the boy chemist’s infatuation with Jell-O?). Perkins Products already sold Onor-Maid, Nix-O-Tine, Motor-Vigor, Glos-Comb and Jel-Aid. But the spelling was originally “Kool-Ade” (which was trademarked by Perkins in 1928). Family lore includes two versions of the story behind the name change. One says that government regulators complained that “Ade” was reserved for fruit juice products, so the name became “Aid.” The other states that “someone threatened to sue Edwin if he used the original name.” The “Kool-Aid” name was trademarked in 1934, again by Perkins Products.

Answer 2

I guess so we would have something to drink besides water.

Answer 3

Because it's good and it's easy to make.

Answer 4

he was thirsty.