from Trung Phan | by Trung Phan

It's true. There used to be some cocaine in Coca-Cola. That formula dates back to the 1880s. But how much and for how long? Here's a breakdown🧵

As most people know: Cocaine is extracted and chemically processed from coca leaves. The plant has mild stimulant effects and has been used by indigenous people in South America for thousands of years (traditional method of consumption is by chewing the leaf or steeping as tea).

By the mid-1800s, Europeans were using cocaine recreationally. A popular way to consume it was in a drink called Vin Mariani (combo of cocaine and red wine). Famous fans of the beverage included Pope Leo XIII and President Ulysses S. Grant (when the drink made it to the States).

After the end of the Civil War, pharmacists in America started cranking out "patent medicines" to provide a buzz as well as relieve headaches and bodily pains. These unregulated concoctions contained hard drugs like morphine, opium, heroin and cocaine.

Enter John Stith Pemberton, a Confederate veteran turned pharmacist who wanted to create his own patent medicine. Pemberton borrowed Europe's Vin Mariani formula. To mix it up, he added kola nuts — which have caffeine — to the red wine and cocaine. The name: Pemberton Red Wine.

To repeat: red wine, caffeine and cocaine (technically it was ecgonine, a precursor to cocaine) Predictably, Pemberton Red Wine was a big hit. However, by early 1880s, the state of Georgia restricted alcohol sales. Pemberton was based in Atlanta and had to pivot the formula.

Pemberton dropped the wine and reformulated a drink around the coca leaves and kola nuts. Hence the product "Coca-Cola", which was launched in 1886. He sold the formula — which included a ton of sugar — as syrup to fountain soda shops.

By 1891, Atlanta businessman Asa Candler had bought the formula for only $2,300. Candler’s teamed revved up marketing and Coca-Cola blew up over the next decade (including a bottling business). However, the drink's cocaine content was a major issue at the turn of the century.

In the early 1900s, there was only 1/400th of a grain (65mg) of cocaine per oz of Coca-Cola syrup. But critics blamed the drink for cocaine addiction and stirred racist fears that it was leading to Black crime. To deal with the bad PR, Candler took out the cocaine in 1902.

While cocaine was out, Candler wanted to protect the "Coca-Cola" trademark and the name had to remain "descriptive" (the drink needed traces of the coca leaf). So, he created a powder for the formula with "decocainized" coca leaves and kola nuts and called it "Merchandise #5".

The US soon banned cocaine and, in 1922, it blocked coca imports. Coca-Cola was ready and its lobbyist negotiated a special exemption. A New Jersey-based firm called Maywood Chemical Works was permitted to import coca leaves (mostly from Peru) Maywood's #1 customer? Coca-Cola.

In 1988, Coca-Cola confirmed its relationship with Maywood (then owned by Stepan Co). As recently as 2003, it imported 385,000 lbs of coca leaves to "decocainize" as extract for Coca-Cola. The street value as cocaine was $200m (some sold for medical use and the rest destroyed).

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Sources NYT: t.co/x60VHWNHs9 Business Insider: t.co/vbgfCXCoHk Eater: t.co/45jxIxiENC Snopes:

Instead of bringing back the 1886 Coca-Cola, the Pemberton Red Wine might be an even bigger winner:

There’s a ~100 year old diner shop in Manhattan that serves Coca-Cola the old-fashioned way.

That dividend!

they fumbled the ball by not making the “cocaine in coke” movie

Glen & Friends re-created the 1886 Coca-Cola drink (minus coca leaves). Sounds very sugary: t.co/IOxBKa4CiI