Cocaine obtained from the South-American Coca bush was certainly one key to the success of Coca Cola.

The Spanish conquerors had discovered that Native Americans chewed Coca leaves to curb hunger and overcome tiredness. In the mid-19th century, a French chemist took advantage of these properties and mixed Coca extract with wine. This product, named “Vin Mariani” after its inventor, soon became very popular.

And just like every successful product it was soon copied. The American John Stith Pemberton began producing a mixture around 1880 that he marketed under the name “Pemberton’s French Wine Coca“. Due to growing resistance from the American temperance movement he later eliminated the contentious wine and created a cocaine drink without wine that he called “Coca-Cola“. The name Cola is derived from caffeine-containing Cola nuts.

When cocaine was made illegal it seemed as if the end had come for Coca-Cola. However, the producers found a way to remove the cocaine from coca leaves and preserve the original taste of the drink.

The lost target group was replaced by that of youngsters, who were attracted by the persisting notorious image of Coca-Cola. This was the birth of a soft drink that became successful even without alcohol and cocaine.