On March 29, 1885, Dr. John Pemberton brewed up the first batch of Coca-Kola in his backyard.
In 1886, Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton was working on a non-alcoholic “nerve medicine” to sell in his drug store. He boiled a concoction of herbs, coca leaves, and kola nuts (caffeine) in his back yard. He then added tap water to the “syrup”. (Cocaine was not added to the ingredients until the 1890’s.) Pemberton’s bookkeeper Frank Robinson suggested the name Coca-Kola (quickly changed to Coca-Cola). The syrup was sold to the local Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta. One day a customer asked for the “fizzy water” to sooth his stomach ache. It soon caught on as a cure for other ills, including head aches. Although the beverage was a modest success, Pemberton was in poor health so he sold the recipe for the syrup to a collection of drug store owners for $350. He died in 1888. Asa Candler bought out his fellow druggists and registered the Coca-Cola trademark. He was great at marketing and would give gifts like clocks and calendars with the Coca-Cola logo to stores that bought the syrup. By 1892, he was selling over 35,000 gallons of the syrup per year. Candler resisted bottling the drink for years for fear of lawsuits from exploding bottles. He changed his mind after a Mississippi candy store owner had success with bottles. Candler opened Coke’s first bottling plant five years later. In 1915, Coke hired an Indiana glass company to design a distinctive bottle. It was loosely based on the shape of the cola nut.
Uncle 4 pp. 207-208
https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-coca-cola-1991477
0 Comments