[Lee Stewart]

It's a well-known fact that the original formula for the world's most popular soft drink featured cocaine, but did you know that the original also contained alcohol? The carefully guarded secret formula for Coca-Cola is derived from 'Pemberton's French Wine Coca,' a concoction of coca leaf, kola nut, and damiana, a fragrant flower often used to make a stimulating tea. Its creator was Atlanta pharmacist Dr. John Pemberton, who touted the wine coca's medicinal qualities for anyone who was 'devoted to extreme mental exertion.'

However, in 1886, when temperance laws went into effect in Atlanta and Fulton County, Pemberton had to change the tonic’s formula so it was alcohol-free, although it still contained cocaine and would until 1905.