Who invented cola?
Cola as we know it began with John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist, whose syrup was first sold at Jacobs' Pharmacy on 8 May 1886. It cost five cents a glass and sold about nine glasses a day.
ColaCan (330 ml)139kcal
A pharmacist in Atlanta
John Stith Pemberton was born in 1831 in Knoxville, Georgia, and worked as a pharmacist in Atlanta. The New Georgia Encyclopedia says his earlier product was French Wine Coca, a health drink that did moderately well. His new syrup, Britannica explains, was built on two plant extracts: cocaine from the coca leaf and caffeine rich extracts of the kola nut. Those two plants are where the name comes from, coca and kola, and the second one gave the whole family of drinks its name.
The first glass
On 8 May 1886 Pemberton took his syrup to Jacobs' Pharmacy in Atlanta. According to the company, it was mixed with carbonated water at the soda fountain, sold for five cents a glass and was pronounced excellent. Sales in the first year averaged nine drinks a day. His partner and bookkeeper Frank Robinson suggested the name, because he thought the two Cs would look good in advertising, and he wrote it in the flowing script still used today. The first newspaper advert ran in The Atlanta Journal.
The cocaine question
People often ask if there was really cocaine in it. The sources say yes. Britannica says the original formula used cocaine from the coca leaf, and that it was removed in about 1903. The New Georgia Encyclopedia says the drink was reformulated before the Pure Food and Drugs Act passed in 1906. Pemberton himself never saw the success. He sold his share bit by bit and died in 1888. Asa Griggs Candler had full control by 1891, for $2,300 and the exchange of some rights, says Britannica.
Bottles and the world
Under Candler the drink grew fast. Britannica counts about 9,000 gallons of syrup sold in 1890 and 370,877 gallons in 1900. In 1899 two men, Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead, got the rights to bottle it across most of the United States. A curved bottle became the standard package in 1916. In 1919 the Candler family sold the company for $25 million to a group led by Ernest Woodruff, and in 1923 his son Robert, aged 28, became president.
From a fountain to everywhere
Robert Woodruff looked abroad. The Coca-Cola Export Corporation was formed in 1930, and during the Second World War the company promised a five cent bottle to every American in uniform, wherever they were. By the early 21st century, the New Georgia Encyclopedia says, it operated in more than 200 countries. Many other colas came and went along the way, but the basic idea never changed: a sweet syrup and fizzy water. Today a portion is a can or a glass, much like that first one in Atlanta.