50 Fun Facts About Coca-Cola

Who invented Coca-Cola in 1886?

John Stith Pemberton, a Confederate veteran and morphine addict, adapted his French Wine Coca into a non-alcoholic syrup when Atlanta went dry in 1886.

Where was Coca-Cola first sold, for five cents a glass, on May 8, 1886?

Jacobs' Pharmacy in Atlanta served the first glass at its soda fountain on May 8, 1886, in the year Fulton County went dry.

Who created the Coca-Cola logo in its flowing Spencerian script?

Frank Robinson, the bookkeeper, both suggested the name Coca-Cola and penned its Spencerian script logo, which has changed little since the 1880s.

Which drink, launched in 1963, was The Coca-Cola Company's first diet soft drink?

Tab, launched in 1963 and sweetened first with cyclamate and later saccharin, was the company's first diet soft drink.

In which year were fresh coca leaves removed from the formula?

In 1903 the company switched to 'spent' coca leaves stripped of cocaine; the Stepan Company in New Jersey later became the licensed supplier of cocaine-free coca extract.

Which businessman bought the rights to Coca-Cola from its inventor in 1888?

Asa Griggs Candler acquired full control for a total of about $2,300 and incorporated The Coca-Cola Company in 1892.

Where was Coca-Cola first bottled, in March 1894?

Joseph Biedenharn first bottled Coca-Cola at his candy company in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1894; Chattanooga got the first bottling franchise five years later.

For how much did the company sign away control of bottling in 1899?

The company sold the bottling rights to Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead for one dollar, in a contract that fixed the syrup price with no end date.

What picture inspired the contour bottle designed by Earl R. Dean in 1915?

Earl Dean modelled the bottle on a cocoa pod in an encyclopaedia illustration, after the Root Glass Company team failed to find the drink's real ingredients pictured.

What choice was Earl Dean offered as a reward for designing the bottle?

Offered a $500 bonus or a job for life, Dean chose the lifetime post at the Root Glass Company; his contour bottle was the standard by 1920.

Who became president of The Coca-Cola Company in 1923 and took the drink worldwide?

Robert W. Woodruff, president from 1923, pushed Coca-Cola overseas and introduced the six-pack carton so people would drink Coke at home as well as at the fountain.

In which year did Coca-Cola officially adopt the nickname 'Coke'?

In 1941 the company first used 'Coke' in its own advertising, having long fought the nickname; the word was registered as a trademark in 1945.

In which year did Coca-Cola first appear in cans?

Coca-Cola first appeared in cans in 1955, supplied to U.S. troops overseas; cans reached the general public in 1960.

On what date was New Coke introduced?

New Coke launched on April 23, 1985, after its sweeter formula beat both the old Coke and its main rival in taste tests.

How many days after New Coke's launch did the company announce the return of the original formula?

The original formula's return was announced 79 days later, after the hotline went from 400 calls a day to more than 1,500.

Under what name did the returning original formula go on sale in July 1985?

The old formula returned as Coca-Cola Classic in July 1985, and kept that name until 'Classic' began to be dropped from the label in 2009.

Which Netflix series prompted a limited return of the New Coke formula in 2019?

Stranger Things' third season is set in the summer of 1985, and Coca-Cola brought back New Coke for a limited run tied to its release.

Which rival's blind taste tests, launched in 1975, pushed Coca-Cola toward reformulating?

The Pepsi Challenge, begun in 1975, had consumers preferring Pepsi in sips, which is not the same as preferring it by the can; Coke's answer was reformulation.

Diet Coke, launched in 1982, was notable as what?

Diet Coke was the first new brand to use the Coca-Cola trademark since 1886; by 2010 it had become America's second-best-selling soda.

How much caffeine is in a standard 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola?

A 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola contains 34 mg of caffeine, roughly a third of a typical cup of coffee, alongside 39 grams of sugar.

Where has the written secret formula been kept on public display since December 2011?

The formula moved in December 2011 to a vault at Atlanta's World of Coca-Cola after 86 years in an Atlanta bank vault; company lore holds that only two executives know it in full.

What is the name given to the secret flavouring ingredient in the formula?

Merchandise 7X is the code name for the formula's secret flavouring; the recipe published in 2011 listed oils of orange, lemon, nutmeg, coriander, neroli and cinnamon.

Which radio programme announced in 2011 that it had found what might be the original recipe?

This American Life aired the claim in February 2011, drawing on a 1979 Atlanta Journal-Constitution photograph of a handwritten recipe in a notebook passed down from the inventor's friend.

Which illustrator painted Coca-Cola's Santa Claus from 1931 onward?

Haddon Sundblom painted Coke's Santa from 1931 to 1964; he first modelled him on his friend Lou Prentice and later on himself, though he did not invent the red suit.

Which elfin mascot did Coca-Cola introduce in its advertising in 1942?

Sprite Boy, a pixie-like figure, appeared in Coke print ads for about two decades before the company reused the name for its lemon-lime drink.

Where was the 1971 'Hilltop' commercial, I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke, filmed?

Hilltop was shot on a hill outside Rome, Italy, near Manziana, after rain washed out a first attempt in England; at $250,000 it was then the costliest commercial ever.

Which group took the full-length version of the Coke jingle to number one in the UK?

The Hillside Singers had a competing US hit; the New Seekers' version reached number seven in America.

Which television drama used the Hilltop commercial to end its final episode in 2015?

Mad Men's 2015 finale cut from a meditating Don Draper to the Hilltop ad, implying he went on to create it.

As of 2012, which two countries were the only ones with no official Coca-Cola sales?

Cuba and North Korea were the two holdouts once Myanmar came off the list in 2012; U.S. sanctions kept Coca-Cola from selling officially in either.

What does a yellow cap on a bottle of Coca-Cola indicate?

A yellow cap means it is kosher for Passover: the batch is made with sucrose instead of corn syrup; Atlanta's Rabbi Tobias Geffen first certified Coke kosher in 1935.

What does Coca-Cola's Chinese name roughly mean?

The name Kekoukele, adopted after shopkeepers' improvised phonetic signs produced readings like 'bite the wax tadpole', means roughly to allow the mouth to rejoice.

Fanta was created in 1940 in which country, when Coca-Cola syrup could no longer be imported?

Fanta was born in Germany in 1940, when Max Keith's Coca-Cola GmbH, cut off from syrup by the war, made a drink from whey and apple pomace; orange Fanta followed from Naples in the mid-1950s.

Where does the name Fanta come from?

Fanta comes from the German word for imagination, Fantasie: Keith told his team to use theirs, and salesman Joe Knipp shouted back 'Fanta!'.

In which year did Coca-Cola launch its lemon-lime rival to 7 Up?

The lemon-lime drink launched in the United States in 1961 as the company's answer to 7 Up and went on to become one of its best-selling brands.

Which Hollywood studio did The Coca-Cola Company own from 1982 to 1989?

Coca-Cola owned Columbia Pictures from 1982 to 1989, releasing Tootsie and Ghostbusters in that time, before selling the studio to Sony for about $3.4 billion.

Which British café chain did Coca-Cola agree to buy for £3.9 billion in 2018?

Coca-Cola agreed in August 2018 to buy Costa Coffee from Whitbread for £3.9 billion, its first big move into hot drinks.

As of 2024, which company was The Coca-Cola Company's largest shareholder?

Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett's company, held about 9 percent of Coca-Cola's shares in 2024, a stake first bought in 1988; Buffett says he drinks five Cokes a day.

What is The Coca-Cola Company's ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange?

The Coca-Cola Company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker KO; Coca-Cola Consolidated, a separate bottler, uses COKE on the Nasdaq.

In which year did the original World of Coca-Cola museum open in Atlanta?

The original World of Coca-Cola opened in 1990 beside Underground Atlanta and drew about nine million visitors before the museum moved next to the Georgia Aquarium in 2007.

Which bitter aperitif-style soda is the notorious dare in the World of Coca-Cola's tasting room?

Beverly, a bitter non-alcoholic aperitif Coca-Cola sold in Europe from 1969, is the tasting room's notorious dare, famous for its grimace-inducing taste.

The 'Share a Coke' campaign, printing first names on bottles, began in 2011 in which country?

Share a Coke began in Australia in 2011 with the country's 150 most popular first names printed on bottles, and later spread to more than 80 countries.

Which Pittsburgh Steeler tosses his jersey to a boy in the 1979 'Hey Kid, Catch!' commercial?

Mean Joe Greene, the Steelers' defensive tackle, tosses his jersey to a boy who offers him a Coke; the ad won a Clio and aired during Super Bowl XIV in 1980.

The Coca-Cola Freestyle fountain's dispensing technology was designed by the inventor of what?

Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, designed Freestyle's microdosing system through his firm DEKA, in return for Coca-Cola distributing his Slingshot water purifier.

Cherry Coke was first tested on visitors to the 1982 World's Fair in which city?

Cherry Coke was trialled at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, and reached stores three years later as the first flavoured Coke.

In which year did Coca-Cola Zero launch in the United States?

Coca-Cola Zero launched in the United States in 2005, pitched as tasting like regular Coke without the sugar; it was rebranded Coca-Cola Zero Sugar from 2016.

Clear 'White Coke' disguised as vodka was made after World War II for which Soviet marshal?

Georgy Zhukov, who liked Coke but could not be seen with an American symbol, received a clear version in plain bottles with a red star on the cap, arranged through Eisenhower.

Coca-Cola became the first commercial sponsor of the Olympics at which city's 1928 Games?

Coca-Cola first sponsored the Olympics at the 1928 Amsterdam Games, shipping 1,000 cases of Coke with the U.S. team; the partnership was later extended to run through 2032.

Which local soft drink outsold Coke in Peru, leading The Coca-Cola Company to buy the brand in 1999?

Inca Kola, the yellow, bubblegum-flavoured Peruvian soda, outsold Coke at home, so The Coca-Cola Company bought a 50 percent stake in the brand in 1999.

Who was Coca-Cola's first advertising spokeswoman, a young Boston actress featured from 1895?

Before Santa Claus, Coke sold itself with smartly dressed young women. The red-suited Santa came in the 1930s, and White Rock ginger ale had used him first anyway.

A Coca-Cola fountain dispenser first flew aboard the Space Shuttle on mission STS-63 in which year?

STS-63, flown by Discovery in February 1995, carried the Fluids Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus, a Coke dispenser built to test mixing fizzy drinks in orbit without foaming.