The original Coca Cola formula is a heavily guarded trade secret which is securely locked in a vault in Atlanta, USA. From a variety of different sources, we think we may have found the original Coke recipe that contains the energy-boosting Coca leaf extract.
Pay close attention to the following article and you too might be enjoying a refreshing glass of Coca Cola very shortly.
What most people don’t realize is that many ingredients of the recipe are well-known as they are printed right on the Coke can, but it is a fact that only a handful of experts know the detailed formula of the primary flavoring agent.
However, there are reports that the original Coca Cola recipe which was created by John Pemberton back in the year of 1886—may have been revealed in a newspaper photograph, hiding in plain sight since 1979.
Original Coca Cola
The actual story covering the original recipe was released all the way back on February 11th, 2011.
This American Life had a podcast with Ira Glass. There, Ira talks about a photograph from an old pharmaceutical journal. The actual photograph was printed in a local Georgia newspaper in 1979. The photo displays a title, “Coco-Cola Improved” and features every ingredient, precise quantities and how to combine the ingredients. It’s apparent that in 1886 when John Pemberton created the Coca Cola drink in Atlanta, Georgia, he also sold the original recipe to some of his colleagues.
This recipe book belonged to one of these colleagues and some time later it was explored again which is why there was a whole article about it in 1979.
Coca Cola Archives
An avid Coca Cola historian Mark Pendergrast, confirmed that while researching his book in the Coca Cola Company hidden archives, he was able to go through Pemberton’s notebook. What he discovered in the notes, was Pemberton’s own, exact same recipe. It’s best to listen to the pod-cast yourself to understand how it all comes together. It’s a really interesting story.
You’ll need to make up your own mind because the Coca Cola Company will never release the original recipe and will never argue for or against these findings. Coca Cola will not file a lawsuit because in doing so they would need to release their trade secrets of the original formula.
You also need to realize that this is the real, original Coca Cola with cocaine alkaloids recipe, not the modern day Coke.
Coca Cola since has changed many ingredients to make the production much cheaper and more in line with high-scale production. It’s a well-known fact that in the United States, Coke no longer has cane sugar, as they use high fructose corn syrup. Fresh lime juice has also been omitted, in favor of lime oil. Phosphoric acid has replaced citric acid.
What About Coca Extract?
Coca leaf extract aka the “natural cocaine” was indeed part of the original Coca Cola recipe. In this article, we will add an ingredient called Coca Extract. What you should know is that by 1903 the cocaine content in Coke was removed, and coca leaf became just another flavor component. Today, Coca Cola still has coca in the recipe, but the coca leaves are decocainized, meaning there are no alkaloids present. You can purchase coca leaf powder in our on-line store which has full alkaloids.
What About Caffeine?
Originally, kola nut was used for caffeine, it is a natural source of caffeine that grows in Africa. Caffeine citrate replaced the kola nut in modern times. This is probably one of the “improvements”. This recipe will leave the caffeine component out as it has been known to create undesired bitterness. You can however, add it if you want to.
7X (Essential Oils)
Coca Cola is one of the most complicated soda drinks, and it’s key lies in the use of natural essential oils. Oil and water just doesn’t mix, and since Coca Cola is mostly water, you need the oils to emulsify with water. Mixing potent essential oils with pure alcohol, you form the oil drops into flavoring solutions that will mix well with the water-based ingredients. Back when Coca Cola was first invented, mixing ingredients wasn’t an issue as it was meant to be consumed right away.
Cola Syrup
Besides the full alkaloid coca leaf extract, you need lots of lime juice and sugar. To make your own syrup, you need these 5 steps:
1. Create a coca leaf extract
2. Make 7X
3. Create syrup with coca extract
4. Combine 7X flavoring with syrup
5. Mix syrup with carbonated water
Creating Coca Leaf Extract
Buy some coca tea powder at Coca Tea Express store. For the coca leaf extract, get a percolator or a Clever Coffee Dripper!
Coca Leaf Extract
1 pound of coca tea powder
6 oz diluted alcohol (60%)
Have more alcohol handy to saturate and rinse when straining the coca powder
Get a glass jar, fill it with coca tea powder and cover it all with alcohol. Make sure it’s all mixed through. Let it sit for 2 days.
It’s best to use ethanol alcohol at 60% strength: 120 proof vodka. If you can’t find it, get some Everclear and add enough water to create the right strength. To create a proper ratio, the extract of coca leaf needs a pound of the leaf powder and 6 ounces of alcohol, plus extra alcohol to saturate the leaf matter and more later to rinse when you strain the coca powder.
If you have less coca powder, then just scale down to match the ratios, you don’t need 1 pound if you just want to create a small sample to try.
Cover it
Put some glad wrap to cover it and to stop evaporation. Leave it for 2 days.
After 2 days, place the Clever Coffee Dripper over a glass jar and let the entire solution drip down. You may want to squeeze the remaining wet powder to extract more of the goodies. You really don’t need to add more alcohol to rinse it, as it will simply dilute the coca leaf extract. If you are using around 100 coca teabags, you should have about about 6 ounces of the extract.
Making 7X (Secret Recipe)
Here is where you need an almost pure alcohol like Everclear. Get the 95% (190 proof) ethanol. The hard part is sourcing all the essential oils and they may be quiet expensive. The good news is that this is the easiest part of the process.
7X Secret Flavor
8 oz alcohol
20 drops orange oil
30 drops lemon oil
10 drops nutmeg oil
5 drops coriander oil
10 drops neroli oil
10 drops cassia cinnamon oil
The main idea is to use FOOD-SAFE and PURE ORGANIC oils. Make sure it’s food-grade and organic otherwise you can end up sick. Make sure it’s full strength as well, no diluted products. You probably won’t need to make another batch of either ingredient for a while. This is because an eight ounces of 7X will last for a lifetime.
Making The Basic Syrup
If you are making a gallon, reduce everything by a factor of 5. You need to dissolve sugar in water. Add the caramel color. Play around with the ratios as you may need to add significantly more coloring to make it look like Coca Cola. Now you need to add the coca leaf extract. Finally, add vanilla extract, caffeine (if you like), lime juice and citric acid… all in that order, one by one.
Cola Syrup
.375 oz FE Coca (3/8 oz) or 180 drops
30 pounds sugar
3 oz citric acid
1 oz citrate caffeine
2.5 gal water
1 quart lime juice
1 oz vanilla
1.5 oz caramel color
Add 7X
This is the last step, add 7X flavor to the cola syrup. You need to add roughly .5 oz of 7X per 5 gallons of cola syrup. We added 48 drops. If you are making the full 5 gallons of syrup you can measure a half ounce. If you’d like to make less, adjust the ratios and add 7X with a glass pipette.
Mix Cola
This is where we mix the cola syrup with fizzy water. Mix 1 part syrup to 5 parts of fizzy water. You’ll be surprised that if you follow this recipe correctly, your Coke will be delicious. Many will say that it’s better than regular Coke. When you first mix the syrup, you may notice a strong lime smell, if you put it in the fridge for a few days, this will reduce dramatically.
Cheers!
To your health and success,
Alex