Secret Ingredients
The physician later admitted to a reporter at Atlanta newspaper, that the drink was based off on Vin Mariani. This Italian French beverage was once endorsed by Pope Leo XIII. It also used stimulating cocoa beans as an ingredient. But Pemberton took a different approach to his drink and decided to add extracts from other tropical plans, including caffeine-containing kola nut from African trees.
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He also added the Central American damiana shrub leaf, which was speculated to contain aphrodisiac components. As soon as rumors started swerving about the alcohol prohibition in 1886, Pemberton was worried that his drink would be banned. Even though the law came into play later that year, the prohibition in the city only lasted one year. By that point, the shift from Pemberton’s French Wine to Coca-Cola began.