Coca Cola Invented In Spain? Town Of Ayelo Claims It Created Soft Drink

Is the Coca-Cola company's secret recipe just a bunch of hot fizz?

A Spanish town claims that the most famous soft drink in the world was invented not by an Atlanta-based pharmacist, but in a 126-year-old liquor factory across the Atlantic, Public Radio International reports.

Town of Ayelo resident JuanJo Mica, fourth-generation operator of the Fabrica de Liquores, or the Liquor Factory, says that his family's invention, Cola-Coca, is the "real thing."

"My great-great uncle took his cola coca syrup to America that same year, 1884, and won a prize at a fair in Philadelphia," he said. "Supposedly, the Americans tried it, liked it and two years later their soft drink, Coca-Cola, was born."

If the Mica family elders did in fact whip up the dark syrupy beverage in 1884, that would put the Ayelo concoction two years ahead of John Pemberton, the pharmacist popularly credited with inventing Coca-Cola.

Not surprisingly, the Coca-Cola historian in Atlanta, Phil Mooney, begs to differ.

"We have had, at various points in time, claims from places like Scotland and India that the formula originated there," he said in a phone interview. "One of the great things about having a secret recipe is that these sorts of stories pop up periodically."

This isn't the first time Coke has been the object of a public radio investigation. Last February, Ira Glass and "This American Life" claimed that the program discovered the recipe on page 2B of the Feb. 18, 1979, edition of theAtlanta Journal-Constitution.

Comments

[theroundearth]

11:33 AM on 06/04/2011

BUT! Talking of beverages, it was an Italian who invented the Espresso in 1901 http://www.javatimescaffe.com/index.php/news/653-luigi-bezzera-milanese-inventor-of-the-espresso-machine. Don't you ever believe it was Starbucks.
By the way, if you want an espresso in Italy you simply order a 'caffè'. Only a tourist would say 'espresso'.

[bobnabq]

07:55 PM on 06/03/2011

I'll stay with Dr Pepper, thank you.

[illustratorblog]

09:51 AM on 06/06/2011

I'm stay with Dublin Dr Pepper.

[sugarcreekchile]

05:40 AM on 06/03/2011

This guy's family didn't invent Coca Cola. His great-great-uncle may have taken a cola coca syrup to a Philadelphia fair but such concoctions were nothing new at the time. The use of cola as a flavoring for beverages dates to the 1870s when mixtures of cola and sugar vanilla were served as tonics for people who were invalid.
The prototype Coca-Cola recipe was formulated by John Pemberton, originally as a coca wine called Pemberton's French Wine Coca. He may have been inspired by the formidable success of Vin Mariani, a European coca wine. Vin Mariani which was to be exported contained 7.2 mg per ounce of coca in order to compete with the higher cocaine content of similar drinks in the United States. The coca wine was a medicinal drink.
In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a non-alcoholic version of French Wine Coca. Soda fountains had been around since 1806, since drinking soda water was considered healthy as it imitated the waters of natural springs so it was nothing new to mix medicinal syrups with soda. In 1876, root beer began to be mass produced which led to mass production of other sodas. The successes were Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper and Pepsi. Who knows what this guy's old uncle's soda tasted like but it sure wasn't the CocaCola recipe and was not a new idea.

[andysrsm]

11:32 PM on 06/02/2011

Coca-Cola was first bottled in Vicksburg, Mississippi at the Biedenharn Candy Company on Washington Street. There is a museum there now. Check it out.

[LRAdams]

09:59 PM on 06/02/2011

I think they are confusing Coca-Cola * with *Coke Cane*. The only thing Spain ever invented was *Bull Fighting*. Everything else with Hispanic origin was invented in Mexico. Burritos and Tortillas for everyone Amigos*

[Lupernikes]

05:47 PM on 06/03/2011

I lived a ling time in Spain and I choose to just dismiss your comments as ignorant....Spanish steel, sailing ships, damasc silver and gold.....

never mind lol

[mbestfrnd]

09:42 PM on 06/02/2011

Just like Al Gore invented the internet and man-made global warming. Oh, wait, he did invent the latter.

[chadramey]

09:21 AM on 06/04/2011

where did you get your degree in meteorology??????

[mwood33333]

09:36 PM on 06/02/2011

SCAM

[dmarrs7077]

08:52 PM on 06/02/2011

dont believe everything you read in history books or what we were taught in school for instance george washington was not our first president , it was john hanson simply look it up

[timsalive]

09:03 PM on 06/02/2011

IDIOT! You are not talking about the United States of America which the Government established through the Constitution. You are talking about the Articles of Confederation. You think you are being funny but you are not. BTW did we land on the moon?

[oldesouth1]

08:47 PM on 06/02/2011

The Coke museum is now next to the GA Aquarium in Centennial Park (Downtown Atlanta), Two great places to visit if you have a layover in Atlanta. It’s the number one drink in the world and number one Trade Mark. It a southern business, much like AFLAC. I wish them the best in Spain in the upstart drink Biz.

[rjackson2a]

08:15 PM on 06/02/2011

Why would anyone want to be know for inventing such a horrible tasting cola? Pepsi please

[Al Schrader]

08:20 PM on 06/02/2011

Coke is not horrible. What's actually in it ? Extracts from the Coca leaf

[Al Schrader]

08:20 PM on 06/02/2011

and extracts from the Cola Nut...Al-

[Al Schrader]

08:12 PM on 06/02/2011

My dad was amazing. My oldest sister, Cynthia, was born in Peurto Rico as a result. My dad was born in Germany in the same town as Einstein...Alfie

[Al Schrader]

08:09 PM on 06/02/2011

and it curdled. So they gave up. My dad suggested use powdered milk, and it worked

[Al Schrader]

08:08 PM on 06/02/2011

I don't know who invented Coke, but I do know who invented Yoo Hoo Chocolate Drink...my dad.
This is how it went down. When my uncle Henry found he could get labor for 10 cents on the dollar, he moved his soft drink bottling operation from New York to Puerto Rico. My uncle wanted to sell a bottled chocolate drink, so they ran a batch using whole milk, but the product has to be heated for safety reasons

[paul12peter12]

07:37 PM on 06/02/2011

Listen Chico, you need to go milk your goat in your backyard, and leave the real thing to us Americans. Coke is American and is as American as you can get. Invented by John Pemberton period! And besides, I own stock in coke....LOL!!!

[Bill Barbour]

07:37 PM on 06/02/2011

If you look in the history books you will find that John Pemberton the pharmacist credited with inventing Coca-Cola was a Civil War soldier also.

[timsalive]

09:05 PM on 06/02/2011

Invented it as a headache cure with plain water, then one day at a soda fountain they accidently used soda water with it and boom history. But the company in Spain needs to drum up business so here it goes to the courts and wasting everyones time.