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Did John Pemberton Invent Coca-Cola on March 29?

March 29th, 2012

Some people believe on this date, 126 years ago, an Atlanta pharmacist crafted one of the world’s most famous drinks. But experts aren’t sure of the date when Coca-Cola was officially created — and that’s not the only misconception.

The story goes that John Pemberton used a copper pot and boat oar in his Atlanta backyard to mix his first batch of Coca-Cola.

Well, maybe not, says Mark Pendergrast, who’s researched and authored a book on the company’s history.

“There’s this myth that Pemberton was sort of this ignorant root doctor who messed around in a kettle in his backyard,” he says. “He was a scholar and he was a trained pharmacist.”

Phil Mooney, an archivist at Coca-Cola, agrees that the soft drink probably wasn’t a “backyard” discovery.

“The story has been repeated so frequently that it takes on the aura of truth,” he says.

Pemberton did most experiments at his home lab, in a more controlled environment.

Despite when and how Coke was discovered, Mooney says there’s been nothing but growth since.

“In the first year of Coca-Cola’s introduction back in 1886, we sold about nine drinks a day,” he says. “Today, every 24 hours we sell about 1.7 billion servings of Coca-Cola.”