Coca Cola: The Real Thing, Whatever That Is

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This famous drink had very humble origins, dating back to 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia where a pharmacist named John Pemberton tinkering with ingredients came up with a syrup that when added to carbonated water, produced a refreshing drink. The new beverage sold for a modest five cents a glass. A bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, suggested the alliteration of the name Coca-Cola, and penned the famous brand name in his own unique script. The word, cola came from derivative of the kola nut and the coca, well, the coca came from the coca leaf, the root for the word cocaine.

One enduring myth about Coca Cola is that the company down through time has permitted only two executives to possess the formula and that each of them knows only half of it, so that they would be unable to reproduce the drink on their own. (I guess the company never heard of corporate lunches, which have been known to break down anyone’s memory and resolve!) In reality, two executives do have the complete formula.

In 1993, Mark Pendergrast published a book, For God, Country and Coca-Cola. He had come across a formula that appeared to be the original recipe among the papers of John Pemberton. It included fluid from the coca leaf, and citrate caffeine, or extract of the kola nut. The Coke company denied his find, claiming that the original recipe had gone through many ingredient changes by the 1920s, including the addition of glycerin and citric acid and the reduction of caffeine.

In 1985, executives of the Coca-Cola company committed one of the biggest commercial blunders ever, by introducing the "new Coke" and ceasing production of the "old" formula. Consumers protested in enormous numbers and demanded their real Coke back. And they got it, a bare 2-½ months later. So important was the news, that Peter Jennings of ABC, interrupted the popular soap "General Hospital" to announce Coke’s return.

The real thing rocks, or something like that.

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