Coca-Cola formula

The Coca-Cola Company's formula forCoca-Colasyrup, which bottlers combine withcarbonated waterto create the company's flagshipcolasoft drink, is a closely guardedtrade secret. Company founderAsa Candlerinitiated the veil of secrecy that surrounds the formula in 1891 as apublicity,marketing, andintellectual propertyprotection strategy. While several recipes, each purporting to be the authentic formula, have been published, the company maintains that the actual formula remains a secret, known only to a very few select, and anonymous, employees. The claim that the recipe is only known to two people and that they cannot fly on the same plane due to the chance they may die, and the recipe will become unknown, is wrong and has been fact-checked and proved as such multiple times.
Coca-Cola inventorJohn Pembertonis known to have shared his original formula with at least four people before his death in 1888.In 1891,Asa Candlerpurchased the rights to the formula from Pemberton's estate, founded the Coca-Cola Company, and instituted the shroud of secrecy that has since enveloped the formula. He also made changes to the ingredients list, which by most accounts improved the flavor, and entitled him to claim that anyone in possession of Pemberton's original formula no longer knew the "real" formula.
In 1919,Ernest Woodruffled a group of investors in purchasing the company from Candler and his family. As collateral for the acquisition loan, Woodruff placed the only written copy of the formula in a vault at theGuaranty Trust Company of New York. In 1925, when the loan had been repaid, Woodruff relocated the written formula to theTrust Company Bank(Truist Financial) inAtlanta. On December 8, 2011, the company placed it in a vault on the grounds of theWorld of Coca-Colain Atlanta, with the vault on public display.
According to the company, only two employees are privy to the complete formula at any given time and they are not permitted to travel together. When one dies, the other must choose a successor within the company and impart the secret to that person. The identity of the two employees in possession of the secret is itself a secret.However, the company's "secret formula" policy is more of a marketing strategy than an actual trade secret: any competitor in possession of the genuine Coke recipe would be unable to obtain key ingredients such as processed coca leaf, and even if all components were available, could not market the product as Coca-Cola.
During the late 19th century, Coca-Cola was one of many popularcoca-based drinks with purported medicinal properties and benefits to health; early marketing materials claimed that Coca-Cola alleviated headaches and acted as a "brain and nerve tonic".Coca leaves were used in Coca-Cola's preparation; the small amount ofcocainethey contained – along withcaffeineoriginally sourced fromkola nuts– provided the drink's "tonic" quality.In 1903, cocaine was removed, leaving caffeine as the sole stimulant ingredient, and all medicinal claims were dropped.By one account, as of 1983theFDAcontinued to screen random samples of Coca-Cola syrup for the presence of cocaine.
Some sources claim that coca leaf chemically processed to remove the cocaine remains part of the formula as a flavoring.According to these accounts, the company obtains the ingredient from theStepan CompanyofMaywood, New Jersey, which legally extracts cocaine from coca leaves for use in pharmaceuticals, then sells the processed leaf material for use in Coca-Cola.As of 2006the company would neither confirm nor deny this, deferring to the secret nature of the formula.
In 1911, the United States governmentsued the Coca-Cola Companyfor violations of thePure Food and Drug Act, claiming that the high concentration of caffeine in Coca-Cola syrup was harmful to health.The case was decided in favor of Coca-Cola, but a portion of the decision was set aside in 1916 by theSupreme Court.As part of a settlement, the company agreed to reduce the amount of caffeine in its syrup.
The company protects the secrecy of its syrup recipe by shipping ingredients to its syrup factories in the form of anonymous "merchandises", numbered 1 through 9. Factory managers are told the relative proportions of each numbered merchandise, and the mixing procedure, but not the ingredients in the merchandises, some of which are themselves mixtures of more basic ingredients. Merchandise no. 1 is known to be sugar, in the form ofhigh-fructose corn syruporsucrose(see variations, below); caramel coloring is no. 2, caffeine is no. 3, andphosphoric acidis no. 4. The identities of merchandises 5 through 9 are a matter of debate – particularly "merchandise 7X" (the "X" has never been explained), which is thought to contain a mixture of essential oils such asorange,lime,lemon, andlavender.
Despite the implications of its name, there is no evidence that the current version of Coca-Cola syrup containskola nutextract, which was originally included for its caffeine content. The modern source of that additive is probablycaffeine citrate, a byproduct of the decaffeination of coffee.
The primary taste of Coca-Cola is thought to come fromvanillaandcinnamon, with trace amounts of essential oils, and spices such asnutmeg.A 2014 study identified and measured 58aroma compoundsin the top three US brands of cola, confirming significant amounts of compounds found in the essential oils of cinnamon, lemon, orange,neroli, coriander, nutmeg and vanilla.
During the 1980s, most U.S. Coca-Cola bottlers switched their primary sweetening ingredient fromcane sugar(sucrose) to the cheaperhigh-fructose corn syrup. As of 2009, the only U.S. bottler still using sucrose year-round was the Coca-Cola Bottling Company ofCleveland, which serves northern Ohio and a portion of Pennsylvania.Many bottlers outside the U.S. also continue to use sucrose as the primary sweetener. Twelve-US-fluid-ounce (355 ml) glass bottles of sucrose-sweetened Coca-Cola imported from Mexico are available in many U.S. markets for those consumers who prefer the sucrose version (see "Mexican Coke", below).
Coca-Cola was certifiedkosherin 1935 by RabbiTobias Geffenafterbeeftallow-derivedglycerinwas replaced with vegetable glycerin. However, the high-fructose corn syrup used by most U.S. bottlers since the 1980s iskitniyot(derived from grain/seeds/legumes) by the definitions of Jewishkosherlaw, and therefore forbidden toAshkenazi JewsduringPassoveraccording to certain traditions. Each year, in the weeks leading up to Passover, bottlers in markets with substantial Jewish populations switch to sucrose sweetener in order to obtainKosher for Passovercertification.
In April 1985, in response to marketing research suggesting that a majority of North American consumers preferred the taste of rivalPepsito Coca-Cola, the company introduced a sweeter, less effervescent version of Coca-Cola in the U.S. and Canada. Although the new formulation had beaten both Pepsi-Cola and the old Coke formula in multiple blind taste tests, consumer response was overwhelmingly negative. The company quickly reintroduced the original beverage, rebranded as "Coca-Cola Classic", while continuing to market the new version as simply "Coke".
The new version remained on the market, in North America only, for 17 years—the last 10 as "Coke II"—until it was quietly discontinued in 2002.The "Classic" designation remained on the original product's label, its prominence gradually decreasing over the years, until it was removed entirely in 2009.
In the early 2000s, cane-sugar-sweetened Coca-Cola produced in Mexico began to appear inbodegasand Hispanic supermarkets in theSouthwestern United States; in 2005,Costcobegan offering it. All were obtaining the Mexican product—which was not labeled in accordance with U.S. food labeling laws—outside the official Coca-Cola distribution network.In 2009,the Coca-Cola Companybegan officially importing Coca-Cola produced in Mexico, with proper labeling, for distribution through official channels.
Coca-Cola inventor John Pemberton is said to have written the following recipe in his diary shortly before his death in 1888.The recipe does not specify when or how the ingredients are mixed, nor the flavoring oil quantity units of measure (though it implies that the "Merchandise 7X" was mixed first). This was common in recipes at the time, as it was assumed that preparers knew the method.
Ingredients:
Flavoring (Merchandise 7X):
Recipe is fromFood Flavorings: Composition, Manufacture and Use. Makes 1 US gallon (3.8 L; 0.83 imp gal) ofsyrup. Yield (used to flavor carbonated water at 1 US fl oz (30 ml) per bottle): 128 bottles, 6.5 US fl oz (190 ml).
In 2011,Ira Glassannounced on hisPublic Radio Internationalshow,This American Life, that show staffers had found a recipe in "Everett Beal's Recipe Book", reproduced in the February 28, 1979 issue ofThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that they believed was either Pemberton's original formula for Coca-Cola, or a version that he made either before or after the product was first sold in 1886. The formula is very similar to the one found in Pemberton's diary.Coca-Cola archivist Phil Mooney acknowledged that the recipe "could be a precursor" to the formula used in the original 1886 product, but emphasized that the original formula is not the same as the one used in the current product.
The secret 7X flavor (use 2 oz of flavor to 5 gals syrup):