Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company and is often referred to simply as Coke or (in European and American countries) as Cola or Pop. Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft drink market throughout the 20th century.
The company produces concentrate, which is then sold to various licensed Coca-Cola bottlers throughout the world. The bottlers, who hold territorially exclusive contracts with the company, produce finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate in combination with filtered water and sweeteners. The bottlers then sell, distribute and merchandise Coca-Cola in cans and bottles to retail stores and vending machines. Such bottlers include Coca-Cola Enterprises, which is the largest single Coca-Cola bottler in North America and western Europe. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for fountain sales to major restaurants and food service distributors.
The Coca-Cola Company has, on occasion, introduced other cola drinks under the Coke brand name. The most common of these is Diet Coke, which has become a major diet cola. However, others exist, including Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free, Cherry Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, Vanilla Coke and special editions with lemon and with lime and even with coffee.
In response to consumer insistence on a more natural product, the company is in the process of phasing out E211, or sodium benzoate, the controversial additive linked to DNA damage and hyperactivity in children, of Diet Coke. The company has stated that it plans to remove the controversial additive from its other products - including Sprite, and Oasis - as soon as a satisfactory alternative is discovered.
History
The first Coca-Cola recipe was invented in Columbus, Georgia at a drugstore by John Stith Pemberton, originally as a cocawine called Pemberton's French Wine Coca in 1885.He may have been inspired by the formidable success of European Angelo Mariani's cocawine, Vin Mariani.
In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a non-alcoholic version of French Wine Cola. The original recipe was made without carbonated water, but was added later when Pemberton was mixing the drink for friends without the carbonated water and accidentally added it to a glass. His friends loved it more and he decided to continue making his drink with the carbonated water instead. The first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886.It was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents a glass at soda fountains, which were popular in the United States at the time due to the belief that carbonated water was good for the health. Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured many diseases, including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence. Pemberton ran the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29 of the same year in the Atlanta Journal. For the first eight months only nine drinks were sold each day.[citation needed]
By 1888, three versions of Coca-Cola — sold by three separate businesses — were on the market. Asa Griggs Candler acquired a stake in Pemberton's company in 1887 and incorporated it as the Coca Cola Company in 1888. The same year, while suffering from an ongoing addiction to morphine, Pemberton sold the rights a second time to four more businessmen: J.C. Mayfield, A.O. Murphey, C.O. Mullahy and E.H. Bloodworth. Meanwhile, Pemberton's alcoholic son Charley Pemberton began selling his own version of the product.
In an attempt to clarify the situation, John Pemberton declared that the name Coca-Cola belonged to Charley, but the other two manufacturers could continue to use the formula. So, in the summer of 1888, Candler sold his beverage under the names Yum Yum and Koke. After both failed to catch on, Candler set out to establish a legal claim to Coca-Cola in late 1888, in order to force his two competitors out of the business. Candler purchased exclusive rights to the formula from John Pemberton, Margaret Dozier and Woolfolk Walker. However, in 1914, Dozier came forward to claim her signature on the bill of sale had been forged, and subsequent analysis has indicated John Pemberton's signature was most likely a forgery as well.
Old German Coca-Cola bottle opener.In 1892, Candler incorporated a second company, The Coca-Cola Company (the current corporation), and in 1910, Candler had the earliest records of the company burned, further obscuring its legal origins. Regardless, Candler began marketing the product, although the efficacy of his concerted advertising campaign would not be realized until much later. By the time of its 50th anniversary, the drink had reached the status of a national icon for the USA. In 1935, it was certified kosher by Rabbi Tobias Geffen, after the company made minor changes in the sourcing of some ingredients.
Coke concentrate, or Coke syrup, was and is sold separately at pharmacies in small quantities, as an over-the-counter remedy for nausea or mildly upset stomach.
可口可樂
1886年，可口可樂在美國喬治亞州亞特蘭大市誕生，自此便與社會發展相互交融，激發創新靈感。現在，它每天為全球的人們帶來怡神暢快的美妙感受。
目前，全球每天有17億人次的消費者在暢飲可口可樂公司的產品，大約每秒鐘售出19,400瓶飲料，在2016年10月，可口可樂公司排2016年全球100大最有價值品牌第三名? ；可口可樂為中國消費者提供超過15個品牌50多種飲料選擇，其系列產品在華的每天享用量達到1.5億杯，? 可口可樂自1979年重返中國市場至2014年底，已累計投資超過90億美元，目前在華建有43家工廠，系統員工約45,000人，其中99%為本地員工，? 可口可樂及其裝瓶廠在中國長期以來不遺余力地支持教育及公益事業，推廣環境保護以及幫助當地社區的發展，捐資總額超過2.7億元人民幣，另外，可口可樂亦是唯壹壹個全方位贊助在中國舉辦的特奧會、奧運會、殘奧會、世博會、大運會及青奧會的企業。
來歷
1885年，美國佐治亞州的<Dr.John.Stith.Pemberton>（約翰·彭伯頓），發明了深色的糖漿稱為彭伯頓法國酒可樂（Pemberton's French Wine Coka）1885年政府發出禁酒令，因此彭伯頓發明無酒精的Pemberton's French Wine Coka。
1886年5月8日他想發明壹種飲料，壹種讓很多需要補充營養的人喜歡喝的飲料。那天，他正在攪拌做好了的飲料，發現它具有提神、鎮靜的作用以及減輕頭痛，他將這種液體加入了糖漿和水，然後加上冰塊，他嘗了嘗，味道好極了，不過在倒第二杯時，助手壹不小心加入了蘇打水（二氧化碳+水）這回味道更好了，合夥人羅賓遜（Frank M.Robinson）從糖漿的兩種成分，激發出命名的靈感，這兩種成分就是古柯（Coca）的葉子和可拉（Kola）的果實，羅賓遜為了整齊劃壹，將Kola的K改C，然後在兩個詞中間加壹橫，於是Coca-Cola便誕生了，第壹份可口可樂售價為五美分。