Since 1886, Coca-Cola has been tickling the taste buds of soda lovers everywhere. Although it might be one of the most popular soft drinks on the market today, few are aware of the strange (but true!) facts hiding behind that red and white label. Now, we’re popping open the vault of Coca-Cola facts, and you won’t believe some of the truths we’re about to tell you.
Many Coke fans are aware that Coca-Cola was first intended to be a medicinal tonic.
It was invented by Dr. John S. Pemberton, a chemist in Atlanta, Georgia, who marketed the beverage to locals at Jacobs’ Pharmacy in the late 1880s. It only took about three years before the production of Coca-Cola became a lucrative business. Atlanta businessman Asa Griggs Candler bought the rights to the beverage and by 1895, Candler had build syrup plants in Dallas, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Coca-Cola has remained the king of carbonated beverages for over 100 years and is doing big things in the world of soda.
In 2009, The Coca-Cola Company launched Live Positively, a commitment to sustainability and making Earth-conscious choices. Almost a decade later, the company is still promoting healthier lifestyles by reducing sugar in its drinks, and has cut carbon emissions and established a sustainable water operation.
Keep doing your thing, Coca-Cola! And while you’re at it, produce some more insane fun facts like the ones below.
1. More than 10,000 Coca-Cola soft drinks are consumed per second.
That massive tally includes Fanta, Dr. Pepper, and Sprite. And, of course, Coca-Cola and Diet Coke varieties.
2. Coca-Cola introduced the first bottles made with recycled material.
All the way back in 1991! Go, Coke!
3. We can thank Coca-Cola for giving us Santa Claus. Yes, seriously.
Well, at least the image of Santa Claus (and it’s still highly debated — but come on, let’s have some fun here).
In 1931, the Coca-Cola Company commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom to put a face to the Santa Claus legend. Sundblom drew inspiration from the classic 1822 Clement Clark Moore poem, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” It’s Sundblom’s Santa illustration, plump, jolly, and red-coated, that we recognize as the quintessential Santa Claus.
4. Yes, during its early days Coca-Cola did have some cocaine in it.
It’s unclear how much cocaine was in the fizzy drink, but after consumer fears about “cocainism” or a “cocaine habit” were vocalized, Coca-Cola reduced the amount of cocaine in their beverages to a “mere trace,” former Harper’s Magazine editor Frederick Allen previously stated.
See, the original recipe was derived from coca leaves, and that does, in fact, contain small amounts of cocaine.
Founder Asa Griggs Candler and marketer Frank Mason Robinson”were anxious to continue promoting the supposed benefits of the coca leaf, but there was no reason to risk putting more than a tiny bit of coca extract in their syrup.” They removed even the slightest trace of cocaine, and the drug was reportedly removed from the beverage altogether in 1903.
5. Coca-Cola was the first soft drink in space.
It got there in 1985 and beat Pepsi by a whopping 8 hours. Listen, the 1960s Space Race was one thing. But this is the only Space Race that really mattered.
6. Coca-Cola still uses the script logo that Frank Robinson crafted in 1891.
Robinson was Coke founder John S. Pemberton’s bookkeeper. But it looks like he was quite the artist as well.
7. Only a handful of people know the Coca-Cola recipe.
According to the Coca-Cola website, the concentrate is made centrally and then exported to over 900 bottling plants around the world. If they told us what makes Coke so great, they’d have to kill us. Sorry. We don’t make the rules.
8. However, it supposedly contains this specific nut.
The “Cola” part of Coca-Cola’s name reportedly comes from the kola nut, a West African nut that is packed with caffeine.
The kola nut, part of the cacao family, was supposedly used in the original Coca-Cola recipe. Of course, we’re not completely sure if it’s still used. But chances are it’s been replaced with synthetic chemicals.
9. Mexicans are the largest consumers of Coke annually.
Business Insider reports that on average, Mexicans drink 745 Coke beverages a year in comparison to Americans who drink 401 Coke products per year. Mexican Coke IS far superior, so that makes sense (that’s an opinion, not a fact — but it might as well be one).
10. The drink was first sold as a nerve tonic that “relieves exhaustion.”
It was also marketed as an “Intellectual Beverage” and “Temperance Drink” in 1886. It was said to cure headaches, “neuralgia,” hysteria, and melancholy.
11. If all the Coca-Cola bottles in the world were laid end to end, they’d reach the moon and back more than 1,677 times.
That’s just lunacy.
Make sure to recycle your Coke bottles so we don’t have to actually send them to the moon. Go green, kiddos.
12. “Coca-Cola” is the second most-known phrase in the world after “OK.”
OK? OK. Except in 2019, it’s all about the okurrrr thanks to Cardi B. But she’s paired up with Pepsi, so, um, never mind.
13. There are only two countries in the world that don’t sell Coca-Cola.
Guess. Yup, you’re right — Cuba and North Korea. Perhaps tensions would ease if everyone just popped open a can of the good stuff.
14. Coca-Cola claims to have invented the coupon.
In 2012, Marketing Week talked to Coca-Cola’s archives manager Ted Ryan.
Ryan claimed that Coca-Cola became popular so soon after its invention in 1886 because the company offered sample coupons. In 1890, Coca-Cola sent sample coupons to town and city bigwigs, who would then distribute them amongst their friends, thus growing Coke’s popularity
15. Coke makes $1 billion a year off each of its 20 brands.
Woah. You could buy a lot of Coca-Cola with all that money. We’d be swimming in the fizz.
16. Coca-Cola has had a major glow-up in regards to daily sales.
In 1886, Dr. Pemberton was selling just nine drinks per day. Now, over 1.9 billion servings of Coca-Cola products are served daily.
17. Coca-Cola was the first-ever Olympic sponsor.
In 1928, Coca-Cola became the first Olympic sponsor for the Summer Games hosted in Amsterdam.
This was also the first year that the Olympic Flame was lit, and it was the first time the Olympics presented the parade of nations. It was a year of firsts for everyone involved.
18. A special Coke was made for a Communist Russian general.
During World War II, Red Army General and Coca-Cola-lover Georgy Zhukov was gifted a transparent version of the fizzy drink by the company — similar to Coca-Cola Clear.
Zhukov did not want to be seen drinking a soda linked with capitalist America. So, an ally American commander in Austria ordered Coca-Cola to create a special beverage for Zhukov, who helped drive the Nazis out of Stalingrad. The clear Coke was more vodka-like in appearance, and therefore more acceptable among his fellow Russians. It was caramel-free and packaged in a straight-edged bottled marked with a red star. In return, Coca-Cola was given “free passage to the Soviet-controlled parts of Vienna without any bureaucratic minefields,” according to Russia Beyond.
19. Coca-Cola has always produced some rad commercials.
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VM2eLhvsSM"]If you haven’t seen the 1971 Hilltop “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” commercial, it’s time.
It was supposedly inspired by an incident where passengers on a delayed plane ultimately got their frustrations out by laughing over a bottle of Coca-Cola. We love a feel good story with Coke at the center.
We love you, Coke. Don’t ever change.
Love Coke just as much as we do?
Well, you’ll dig this Coca-Cola bottle cake recipe the So Yummy team created!
And if you have some Coke hanging around your kitchen when you’re baking a chocolate cake, don’t be scared to pour a few teaspoons in your cake mix.
The soda’ll make your cake super moist and bring out its chocolate-y flavor.
