Coca-Cola recipe leaks (again), but this time captures China
by bettytian
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The Coca-Cola recipe has been a closely-guarded trade secret for more than 120 years, but whether that remains the case after last weekend’s “This American Life” radio show broadcast is now up for contention. Show host Ira Glass claims to have found the original recipe to “merchandise 7X,” the super secret ingredient in Coca-Cola, and had posted evidence on the show’s official website. News of this traveled fast to China, triggering an enormous degree of intrigue from Chinese netizens. Within just 24 hours since news broke at home, the keyword “Coca Cola recipe” has shot up to number one on Baidu’s most popular event search list.
The century-old recipe has “leaked” more than a few times within in the past few decades. In fact, the “This American Life” version of the recipe was just the newest addition to the already existing three versions listed under the ‘Coca-cola formula’ entry in Wikipedia. The latest attempt claims to be the real deal, using a photo (see right) of an aged recipe published in a newspaper in Coke’s very own hometown, Atlanta-Journal Constitution (on page 2B of the February 18, 1979), as proof. Apparently, a columnist a few decades ago had stumbled across the billion-dollar scribbles in a 130-year old recipe book that belonged to a close friend of John Pemberton, the original Coca-Cola recipe inventor.
While the latest unraveling of the mysterious concoction was really just a repackaging of old news published some 30 years ago, it is nevertheless made sensational. Thanks to decades of American soft drink exports and the Internet, the 2011 version of the story that ran in 1979 now has global appeal.
