Coca-Cola drink is often associated with America. But the first version of this famous drink was invented in France.
It contained cocaine !
Coca-Cola is the symbol of American junk food. And yet… The first version of the most popular drink in the world has been invented in France. In Corsica to be exact. It was in 1863 that a Corsican pharmacist, Angelo Mariani invented Mariani wine, 20 years before the creation of the Coca-Cola brand. Originally, the drink is made from red wine and coca leaf. It was to give strength to those who drank it. On top of that, it would have had pain-relieving properties, which makes sense since coca leaves contain cocaine. Well-known personalities such as Emile Zola have praised the properties of this beverage.
Inspired by a Corsican wine
The first ancestor recipe of Coca-Cola, the French Wine Coca, was invented by John Pemberton in 1885. It is an alcoholic drink made from coca, kola nuts and damiana. Pemberton was probably inspired by the recipe for Mariani wine (hence the name French Wine Coca). This new recipe would give Coca-Cola a few years later. In 1885, a period of prohibition was passed in the city of Atlanta. Pemberton developed a non-alcoholic version of his drink, prefiguring the soda we know today. The famous drink also got rid of its traces of cocaine before becoming famous.
