7 remarkable facts about Coca-Cola: did you know these?
That first hissing sound when the bottle or can is opened, those ice-cold tingles in your throat and that distinctive taste: cola remains an iconic drink. These facts about Coca-Cola are surprising or familiar, and offer a glimpse into one of the world’s most recognisable success products…
Because there are plenty of nonsense stories about Coca-Cola, from exploding stomachs to dissolving teeth, but that also shows just how much the drink captures the imagination of so many people. And some exciting stories are true, or at least confirmed by Coca-Cola itself or by news sources. Did you know this, for example?
Red Alert
The logo’s distinctive red colour was originally intended to make Coca-Cola barrels easy to distinguish in trade from barrels containing alcohol. John Stith Pemberton, the drink’s inventor, marketed it partly as an alternative to alcohol. And because a hefty tax had to be paid on alcohol in nineteenth-century America, the cola barrels were red so tax agents could quickly identify them during transport. The rum and cola probably wasn’t quite so popular back then…
The iconic bottle
That distinctive glass bottle, with its rounded belly, embossed name and pronounced ridges, was designed in that shape to distinguish it from copycats such as Toka-Cola and Koka-Nola. The idea was that even in the dark, by touch alone, you could tell a Coca-Cola bottle from a fake.
The OG six-pack
When you think of a six-pack, you probably immediately picture six cans of lager, nice and cold and taken along to a festival or picnic. But according to Coca-Cola, they invented this way of buying and transporting several bottles of cola in 1923.
Secret recipe
This recipe isn’t just secret; it’s genuinely under lock and key in a vault. The recipe for the complex drink is kept at the World of Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta, in a locked vault in a permanent exhibition. It used to be kept in a local bank vault, but is now part of the museum.
Among the stars
In 1985, astronauts drank Coca-Cola aboard the Challenger space shuttle. According to the company, this was the first time a soft drink had been consumed in space. These days, you can bake cookies in a rocket, but thirty-five years ago this was obviously a very big deal!
Distinctive typography
No one is allowed to touch that iconic typeface. The font is called ‘Spencerian Script’ and has been fully patented since 1983.
Espionage stories
This story could be the basis for a TV series, but it really happened: a former Coca-Cola employee tried to sell trade secrets to Pepsi, the major competitor. Secretary Joya Williams was sentenced to eight years in prison for attempting to pass on confidential documents and product samples. Pepsi did not go along with it, and instead alerted the FBI, which promptly and successfully launched an undercover investigation into Williams and two co-defendants.
Read also:
- 6 unexpected kitchen hacks (and more!) with… cola
- Why mixing red wine with cola is a really good idea
- Why you’re better off drinking Diet Coke than a glass of fresh orange juice
Source: Eat This
