Coca-Cola

I'm not going to review Coca-Cola like I would other sodas... it's internationally known taste sort of makes it the default cola against which all others have to be compared. And if you can't tell the difference between the sugary Coca-Cola and the more acerbic Pepsi, you ought to scrape your taste buds. Therefore I am going to discuss the history of Coca-Cola here.

Coca-Cola was created by a druggist like so many other early sodas, for more detail on the evolution of sodas see my earlier post here. Dr. John Pemberton developed the drink in 1886 in a backyard kettle and was originally called Pemberton's French Wine Coca. Coca wine was as alcoholic drink made combining wine and cocaine. Due to the waning popularity of cocaine use at toward the end of the 19th century Pemberton created a non-alcoholic version of his drink and his bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, suggested the name Coca-Cola. First sold in Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia on May 8, 1886, it only sold about nine servings a day at five-cents a glass from the soda fountain.

There were three versions of the drink being sold by the year 1888, all sold by different companies. Asa Griggs Candler, an Atlanta businessman, bought into John Pemberton's company in 1887 and incorporated it as the Coca-Cola Company the following year. But Pemberton also sold to a small collective of businessmen and his son Charley started selling his own version. Because John Pemberton stated the name Coca-Cola belonged to his son, Asa Candler sold his drink as Yum Yum. This didn't catch on so Candler supposedly purchased the rights to the name Coca-Cola, the sale of which was later disputed, but by then Candler had changed the name of the company to The Coca-Cola Company and in 1910 had early records burned.

As lore states, the early formula of Coca-Cola did contain cocaine along with kola-nut extracts high in caffeine. It wasn't until 1905 that cocaine was removed from the drink by making a change to using spent coca leaves, which are the refuse after extracting the cocaine from the leaves. Today, the company uses a cocaine-free extract prepared by the Stepan Company in New Jersey, which is the only company in the US the government allows to import and process coca plant. Stepan acquires its plants from Peru and Bolivia. The cocaine the Stepan Company extracts from the leaves is then sold to Mallinckrodt in St. Louis, Missouri, and which is the only company in the US the government allows to process cocaine for medical uses.

Coca-Cola used marketing well and grew rapidly through the early 20th century. Although, first bottled in 1894, the company was worried it looked too much like other bottled drinks. The Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana presented a contour design, inspired by the shape of the cocoa pod, which was introduced in 1916 and is now an internationally recognized symbol. In the 1920's bottle sales exceeded fountain sales. By the time World War II began Coke was now selling in 44 different countries. Sales of canned Coke would not become available until 1960. In 1985, New Coke was introduced in an effort to combat Pepsi sales, causing an uproar from loyal Coca-Cola drinkers (even Fidel Castro voiced his dislike). In a major marketing debacle Coca-Cola reverted back to it's old recipe, now named Coke Classic.

Coca-Cola produces it's formulated syrups for Coca-Cola and subsidiaries like Fanta and Sprite for distribution to licensed bottled around the world in some 200 countries.