At first, Coca-Cola was sold as a cure for headaches. Back in the day, it was made using coca leaves, which are leaves from the plant that cocaine is also made from. And even though there was only a small amount of the drug in the drink—9 milligrams per drink—it was cocaine all the same. As early as 1903 however, this cocaine was replaced with caffeine which is known for having equally exciting and powerful effects on the brain. Ever since, it has been referred to simply as ‘Coke.’
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Coca Cola is available in every country in the world… except 2
Unsurprisingly, the two countries who don’t stock it are North Korea and Cuba. Outside of these two countries, you can get a Coke anywhere. According to estimations, humans consume around 350 billion litres per day, or 10,000 litres every second. According to the Coca Cola website, Coke was even the first non-alcoholic drink to travel into space in 1885.
Santa Claus is red because of Coca Cola
Although we can’t say for sure that the brand is solely responsible for this, it is a very plausible guess indeed. In 1930, Coca Cola decided to run its largest advertising campaign in history. Santa Claus, with his jolly, merry face, was dressed in red and white (the company’s colours) and was drinking… a Coke, what else? The campaign was a worldwide success and the image of Santa Claus has remained this way ever since.
Coke arrived quite late to the UK
Coke was first sold in the UK on 31st August 1900 when Charles Candler, the son of the company’s founder Asa Candler, Brough five gallons of syrup over on a trip to London. However, the drink didn’t go on sale regularly until the early 20s, almost thirty years after it was invented, when it started appearing it outlets around London.
The Coca Cola recipe was originally kept locked in a vault
Many legends exist surrounding the cola recipe. The World of Coca-Cola website says:
The company transferred the secret formula to the World of Coca-Cola from a vault at SunTrust Bank in downtown Atlanta where it had been housed since 1925.
Apparently only two or three employees, chosen from an elite few, know the exact wording of the recipe, which perfectly maintains the magic. In 2011, the recipe was moved from the vault to Atlanta’s World of Coca-Cola museum to mark the company’s 125th anniversary. Nowadays though, chromatography would easily allow us to identify the ingredients in Coke, so in theory, we could all make it at home, at the risk of possibly becoming addicted however…
Watch the video above to see some of the positive side effects of drinking Coke.
