The Coca-Cola formula is The Coca-Cola Company's secret recipe for Coca-Cola. As a publicity, marketing, and intellectual property protection strategy started by Robert W. Woodruff, the company presents the formula as a closely held trade secret known only to a few employees, mostly executives.
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Published versions say it contains sugar or high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, caffeine, phosphoric acid, coca extract, kola nut extract, lime extract, vanilla and glycerin. Alleged syrup recipes vary greatly. The basic “cola” taste from Coca-Cola and competing cola drinks comes mainly from vanilla and cinnamon; distinctive tastes among various brands are the result of trace flavorings such as orange, lime and lemon and spices such as nutmeg.[1] Some natural colas also include cola nut; Coca-Cola does not, and chemical testing reveals none.[2]
Because cocaine is naturally present in coca leaves, today's Coca-Cola uses "spent," or treated, coca leaves, those that have been through a cocaine extraction process, to flavor the beverage. The coca leaves are imported from countries like Peru and Bolivia, and they are treated by chemical company Stepan, which then sells the de-cocainized residue to Coca-Cola.[3] Some contend that this process cannot extract all of the cocaine alkaloids at a molecular level, and so the drink still contains trace amounts of the stimulant.[1][4] The Coca-Cola Company currently refuses to comment on the continued presence of coca leaf in Coca-Cola.[5][6] To this day, Coca-Cola uses a United States license to purify the coca leaf for medicinal use.[7]
There is question as to whether the company uses cochineal dye in Coca-Cola , but the company denies that it currently uses the dye. [8]
In the United States, Coca-Cola normally uses high-fructose corn syrup instead of sugar as its main sweetener, due to the combined effect of corn subsidies and sugar import tariffs making HFCS substantially cheaper. There are two main sources of sugar-based Coca-Cola in the United States:
Kosher Coca-Cola produced for Passover is sold in 2-liter bottles with a yellow cap marked with an OU-P, indicating that the Orthodox Jewish Union certifies the soda as Kosher for Passover, or with a white cap with a CRC-P indicating that the certification is provided by the Chicago Rabbinical Council.
While the usual Coca-Cola formula is kosher (the original glycerin from beef tallow having been replaced by vegetable glycerin), during Passover Ashkenazi Jews do not consume Kitniyot, which prevents them from consuming high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).[9]
Even sugar-based formulas would still require certification of both the formula and the specific bottling plant, as the strictures of Kashrut on Passover are far higher and more complicated than usual kosher observance.
In the United States, there is strong demand from Latin-American immigrant customers for the Coke they drank "back home", so Mexican sugar-based Coca-Cola in traditional contour bottles is sold in ethnic markets. In recent times, a cult following has emerged amongst younger Coke drinkers who believe this to be the pre-New Coke original formula. The company advises people seeking a sugar-based Coca-Cola to buy "Mexican Coke".[10]
On January 23, 2011, during an NFL commercial, Coca-Cola teased that they would share the secret formula only to flash a comical "formula" for a few frames. This required the use of DVR to freeze on the formula for any analysis, which ultimately proved to be a marketing ploy with no intention of sharing the full official formula. Ingredients listed in the commercial: Nutmeg Oil, Lime Juice, Cocoa, Vanilla, Caffeine, "flavoring", and a smile.
On Dec. 8, 2011, Coca-Cola opened a permanent interactive exhibit at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta making the vault of secret formula visible to the public for the first time in history. The secret formula was moved to the exhibit from a SunTrust Banks vault in downtown Atlanta where it had been housed since 1925. [11]
After Dr. John S. Pemberton invented Coca-Cola in 1886, the formula was kept a close secret, only shared with a small group and not written down. In 1891, Asa Candler became the sole proprietor of Coca-Cola after purchasing the rights to the business. Then, in 1919, Ernest Woodruff and a group of investors purchased the Company from Candler and his family. To finance the purchase Woodruff arranged a loan and as collateral he provided documentation of the formula by asking Candler's son to commit the formula to paper. This was placed in a vault in the Guaranty Bank in New York until the loan was repaid in 1925. At that point, Woodruff reclaimed the secret formula and returned it to Atlanta and placed it in the Trust Company Bank, now SunTrust, where it remained until its recent move to the World of Coca-Cola. [12]
This recipe is attributed to a diary owned by Coca-Cola inventor, John S. Pemberton, just before his death in 1888. (U.S. measures).[13]
This recipe does not specify when or how the ingredients are mixed, or 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.
This recipe is attributed to pharmacist John Reed.[14][15]
Recipe is from Food Flavorings: Composition, Manufacture and Use. Makes one 1 US gallon (3.8 l; 0.83 imp gal) of syrup. Yield (used to flavor carbonated water at 1 US fl oz (30 ml) per bottle): 128 bottles, 6.5 US fl oz (190 ml).[16]
On February 11, 2011, Ira Glass revealed on his PRI radio show, This American Life, that the secret formula to Coca-Cola had been uncovered in "Everett Beal's Recipe Book," reproduced in the February 28, 1979, issue of the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The formula found basically matched the formula found in Pemberton's diary.[17][18][19] The recipe revealed contains:[20]
The secret 7X flavor (use 2 oz of flavor to 5 gals syrup):