Is it an added ingredient or a by-product of the other ingredients? Why is it added? taste? stability? why is it not in sprit or rootbeer?
In: Chemistry
The answer is in the history of Coca-Cola. **TL:DR; Coca Cola was an 1890’s version of Monster Energy Drinks.**
The Coca Cola recipe was first developed in the late 1800’s, At the time, one of the most popular ‘energy drinks’ was something called ‘Vin Mariani’, which was wine with coca leaves. In today’s world, it would be like having a Vodka/Red Bull cocktail, with enough cocaine to keep you going. Note that it was actually real cocaine, just not strong like today’s purified powder. Put another way, it was like taking a couple of Sudafed, but not a big hit like crystal meth, even though it’s a similar chemical.
So Coca Cola was a non-alcoholic alternative to Vin Mariani. It was literally designed to be an energy drink, like modern day Monster and Red Bull. So the ‘Coca’ was from the coca leaves, and the ‘Cola’ was from the kola nut, which is a plant that was used for flavor, and because it contained a really good dose of caffeine.
Over the years, we’ve discovered that cocaine in the soda isn’t a good idea, so the formula for these types of drinks were changed to eliminate the cocaine (though supposedly an amount that is too small to matter is still in the formula as part of the flavorings!) But caffeine is still very acceptable in today’s world, and so it’s still in the drinks!
Latest Answers