To be honest, I never really cared what was in Coke. I had heard all the same things that you have like "Drinking Coke is like drinking paint thinner." or "Why would you want to put a liquid into your body that can dissolve a car battery?", but I didn't really care. But a Chicago radio show has claimed to have uncovered the secret recipe of Coke.
By Katie Leslie of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It's a secret arguably as closely guarded as the President: the recipe for Coca-Cola. And it may have been outed.
"This American Life," a nationally syndicated public radio show, claims to have uncovered the ingredients to one of the world's most cherished sodas, and they found it deep within the archives of a 1979 column in The Atlanta Journal. Ingredients include coca, of course, as well as such surprises as coriander, caramel, neroli oil and cinnamon.
The story has gone viral within days of the Feb. 11 broadcast. By Tuesday morning the public radio's website was shut down due to traffic.
"I think other people are having the same reaction to this when I had when I first saw this article in the AJC. This supposedly secret recipe has been hiding in plain sight for 30 years," said "This American Life" host Ira Glass Tuesday. ’“Our website has never gone down. We’re the biggest podcast in the country and we’re used to a lot of traffic."
Coca-Cola denies that "This American Life" cracked the code to their trademark soda. Coca-Cola's historian Phil Mooney participated in the broadcast and tasted their concoctions, according to Coca-Cola spokeswoman Kerry Tressler.
"American Life, along with many other third parties, have tried over time to crack our secret formula," Tressler said. "At the end of the day, there is only one "real thing".
Beverage analyst John Sicher wasn't surprised by the frenzied popularity of the story, but says anyone can replicate Coca-Cola, but not its brand.
"Today, anybody with access to a sophisticated chemistry laboratory could analyze the formula of Coke, but no one can call a product called Coke other than the Coca Cola Company," said Sicher, editor and published of "Beverage Digest." "The so-called 'secret formula' is a wonderful story of lure and mystery, but in reality, the value today is the brand, not the formula."
Ingredients for the recipe include:
Fluid extract of coca
Citric acid
Caffeine
Sugar
Water
Lime juice
Vanilla
Caramel
Alcohol
Orange oil
Lemon oil
Nutmeg oil
Coriander oil
Neroli oil
Cinnamon oil