Coca-Cola Formula Discovered?

Producers of the radio show This American Life are claiming they’ve discovered the safely-guarded recipe for Coca-Cola in an interesting way: A direct picture of the recipe in a 1979 newspaper article within Coca-Cola’s hometown newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. According to the radio producers, the picture used for the article is a hand-written copy of the original recipe for the beverage, supposedly written in a leather-bound recipe book by one of creator John Pemberton’s friends, and passed down for generations.

The recipe consists of a base formula, and the famously secret “7X flavor.” From Time’s article:

Recipe:

• Fluid extract of Coca: 3 drams USP
• Citric acid: 3 oz
• Caffeine: 1 oz
• Sugar: 30 (though it is pointed out that it is 30 of an unclear quantity)
• Water: 2.5 gal
• Lime juice: 2 pints, 1 quart
• Vanilla: 1 oz
• Caramel: 1.5 oz (or more for color)

7X Flavor:

• Alcohol: 8 oz
• Orange oil: 20 drops
• Lemon oil: 30 drops
• Nutmeg oil: 10 drops
• Coriander: 5 drops
• Neroli: 10 drops
• Cinnamon: 10 drops

After making a brew with the above formula, the This American Life team held a taste test, with experts (though their qualifications weren’t mentioned) and regular people as participants. Supposedly, the brew was so close to Coca-Cola that some people couldn’t differentiate between the two, though the overall verdict is that the recipe is fairly similar to Coca-Cola, but not quite there.

(Time via Hacker News)