Monday, May 14, 2007
News Pemberton's secret?
Posted by Alyssa Abkowitz on Mon, May 14, 2007 at 4:46 PM
Last week, the World of Coca-Cola unveiled a statue of Atlanta druggist and Coke inventor John Pemberton. The statue will "welcome" visitors to the World of Coke’s new location across from Centennial Olympic Park. The museum opens May 24.
Sculptor Russ Faxon says the statue, which stands about 6 feet 4 inches tall, weighs around 800 pounds. As of now, there’s no plaque attached to bronze behemoth, but Faxon hopes they’ll "wind up doing something."
Part of Pemberton’s world-famous concoction was made from the coca leaf, the same plant that produces cocaine. When CL asked the company about the use of coca leaves in Coke, here’s the response we received from a spokesman:
Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on the Internet, and, even in the media regarding the history of Coca-Cola. Rumors about cocaine in Coca-Cola when it was invented in 1886 still circulate today. Neither Coca-Cola nor any other product of The Coca-Cola Company has ever used cocaine as an added ingredient.
We never asked about cocaine. Just coca leaves.
Comments (3)
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Yeah they did. It's a proven fact. At the time Coca-cola was invented, coca leaves were considered as having broad theraputic properties. That stuff was readily available all over the place in the 1880s, and gave the drink that extra zing it had until caffeine was discovered. Granted, you'd have had to drink hundreds of gallons of the original formula to overdose. Why are they trying to preemptively shoot down the criticism? Just say the truth: "Yes, there were coca leaves. No, there wasn't enough cocaine to get you high. Yes, we took it out a long time ago." Jesus, just look at their damn name.
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That doesn't mean it had cocaine in it, Ray. Both cocaine and Coca-Cola are/were made from coca leaves.
I used cocaine for lack of a better word. My apologies to Amber Rhea if that created any confusion. Chewing the coca leaves does release a form of stimulant similar in effect to caffeine. Hence why it was used until caffeine became preferrable. It is only when this stimulant is enhanced and refined that you get cocaine. It was because people were refining and enhancing this substance, and subsequently dying from it, that Coca-Cola switched to caffeine to distance themselves from it. It's a paltry attempt, however. The company name is the two original key ingredients: Coca leaves and Cola nuts.
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