Secret recipe of Coca-Cola discovered after 125yrs, claims website

London, Feb 15 (ANI): Ever since it was created in 1886, the exact ingredients that created Coca Cola have been shrouded in secrecy, guarded by those who own it but now, a website claims that it has uncovered that secret.

Invented by a medicinal chemist called John Pemberton, the only official written copy is supposedly held in a U.S. bank vault and only two company employees at any one time are said to know the whole formula that gives the fizzy drink its distinctive flavour.

Now, a website called thisamericanlife.org has said that it has uncovered a list showing the ingredients and quantities used to make the drink.

The list, it claims, was actually published without fanfare in a 1979 local newspaper article in Coca-Cola's U.S. home town of Atlanta, Georgia - but no one appeared to realise its significance.

According to the site, the 32-year-old article - buried on Page 28 of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution - shows a photograph of a recipe purported to be an exact replica of Coca-Cola creator John Pemberton's.

The recipe had apparently been written by a friend of pharmacist Mr Pemberton's then passed down through the generations and refers to Coca Cola simply as 'Natural flavourings including caffeine' alongside carbonated water, sugar, phosphoric acid and colour (Caramel E150d).

"I think that it certainly is a version of the formula," the Daily Mail quoted thisamericanlife.org consulted historian Mark Pendergrast as saying.

Asa Candler, one of the first presidents of the company, was so worried that the 'Holy of Holies' would fall into the wrong hands he made sure it was never written down.

A crucial part of the formula was also given the name '7X' to add to the mystique.

Pendergrast added, "At any given time only two people know how to mix the 7X flavouring ingredient. Those two people never travel on the same plane in case it crashes; it's this carefully passed-on secret ritual and the formula is kept in a bank vault."

The closest the company itself has come to divulging its recipe was the admission that it originally included cocaine, although the narcotic was removed in the early 1900s. (ANI)