The exact ingredients of the
popular soft drink, invented by a
medicinal chemist called John
Pemberton in 1886, have always
been shrouded in mystery
Ever since the creation of Coca-Cola in
1886, the precise recipe has been a
closely guarded secret.
The only official written copy is
supposedly held in a U.S. bank vault
and only two company employees at
any one time are said to know the
whole formula that gives the fizzy
drink its distinctive flavour.
But now, 125 years of near-total
secrecy look to be over, as a website
claims to have uncovered a list
showing the ingredients and
quantities used to make the drink.
The list, it claims, was actually
published without fanfare in a 1979
local newspaper article in Coca-Cola’s
U.S. home town of Atlanta, Georgia –
but no one appeared to realise its
significance.
The website, Thisamericanlife.org, said
the 32-year-old article – buried on
Page 28 of the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution – shows a photograph of
a recipe purported to be an exact
replica of Coca-Cola creator John
Pemberton’s.
The recipe had apparently been
written by a friend of pharmacist Mr
Pemberton’s then passed down
through the generations. A can of
Coca-Cola currently simply refers to its
specialist ingredients as ‘Natural
flavourings including caffeine’
alongside carbonated water, sugar,
phosphoric acid and colour (Caramel
E150d).
Thisamericanlife.org consulted
historian Mark Pendergrast, who has
written a history of the drink and
believes the recipe could be, as Coca-
Cola’s famous slogan goes, the real
thing.
He said: ‘I think that it certainly is a
version of the formula.’
Should he be right, it would unlock
the key to one of the world’s most
recognisable brands, which is sold in
more than 200 countries. In 2010
Coca-Cola became the first brand to
top £1billion in annual UK grocery
sales.
Thisamericanlife.org claims to have
uncovered a list, in a 1979
newspaper article, showing the
ingredients and quantities used to
make the drink
Teenagers sharing a bottle of Coke.
Coca-Cola contains a number of
essential oils and it is the precise
way that these are blended
together that is responsible for the
drink's unique flavour
So it is perhaps no wonder that the
firm has been eager to keep its recipe
from competitors.
Asa Candler, one of the first
presidents of the company, was so
worried that the ‘Holy of Holies’ would
fall into the wrong hands he made
sure it was never written down.
He removed all the labels from the
containers of the ingredients so they
were identified only by the sight, smell
and where they were put on the shelf.
Enlarge
A crucial part of the formula was also
given the name ‘7X’ to add to the
mystique.
Mr Candler even used to go through
company mail himself and remove
invoices for ingredients so no one in
the accounts department could sell
the recipe to a rival.
‘The company has always said, and as
far as I know it’s true, that at any given
time only two people know how to
mix the 7X flavouring ingredient,’ said
Mr Pendergrast.
‘Those two people never travel on the
same plane in case it crashes; it’s this
carefully passed-on secret ritual and
the formula is kept in a bank vault.’
In more recent times Coca-Cola has
defended a string of legal challenges
to force it to reveal its formula.
In 1977 it pulled out of India rather
than divulge it to the government.
The closest the company itself has
come to divulging its recipe was the
admission that it originally included
cocaine, although the narcotic was
removed in the early 1900s.
It is not clear whether, cocaine aside,
the discovered recipe would be the
same as that used today, or whether
the company has made any changes
to the formula since then.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356810/Coca-Cola-recipe-Top-secret-formula-uncovered-This-American-Life-website.html