Tal Raban, former CEO of Coca-Cola Israel, posted a video on his Instagram account in which he revealed some of the behind-the-scenes secrets of one of the world's most popular beverages.
Raban held a series of senior management positions at the Central Bottling Company group, Coca-Cola's Israeli bottler, and later served as CEO of Tara Dairy and Kimberly-Clark Israel. This time, he decided to give his followers a glimpse behind the brand's famously tight secrecy.
"As a former Coca-Cola CEO, I can't believe I'm about to do this, but I'm going to reveal the secret formula to you," Raban said at the start of the video.
He discussed the flavoring mixture of the the Coca-Cola formula, known in the industry as 7X, or Merchandise 7X, explaining that it accounts for less than 1% of the drink.
According to Raban, the mixture's distinctive flavor and aroma come from essential oils, including orange, lemon and cinnamon. Similar ingredients have appeared in versions of the recipe purportedly leaked over the years, although Coca-Cola has never confirmed them.
Raban also said that only a small number of plants worldwide are authorized to manufacture the concentrate and that the plant supplying the Israeli market is in Ireland. Coca-Cola operates a major concentrate facility in Ballina, in western Ireland, which supplies concentrate for bottling operations in markets around the world.
Did Coca-Cola really contain cocaine?
One of the most intriguing questions in Coca-Cola's history is whether the original drink contained cocaine. Raban addressed the issue directly.
"The answer is yes, it did," he said. "In 1886, when Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, there was a small amount of cocaine in it."
He stressed, however, that there is no cause for concern today.
"Since 1929, they have taken it all out, and there is absolutely no cocaine in the drink anymore," he said.
Pharmacist John Pemberton invented the drink in Atlanta as a stimulating tonic made with coca leaves and kola nuts. In 1903, the company stopped using coca ingredients that contained appreciable amounts of cocaine and moved toward decocainized coca-leaf flavoring, leaving at most trace amounts. By 1929, improvements in the extraction process had made the flavoring completely cocaine-free.
Reports over the years have maintained that Coca-Cola continues to use an extract made from decocainized coca leaves for flavoring purposes. The company itself does not confirm the details of its secret formula and says Coca-Cola today contains no cocaine.
Raban concluded by offering a simple home experiment that he said evokes the drink's aroma.
"If you take a piece of lemon and sprinkle a little cinnamon on it, you'll discover that the taste is very similar to Coca-Cola," he said.
