Like most Americans, you've probably been enjoying the sweet, fizzy nectar of the gods otherwise known as Coca-Cola for your entire life. You're likely also familiar with the tale of the soft drink's slightly shady beginnings, as a medicine invented by Atlanta pharmacist Dr. John S. Pemberton in 1885. You've no doubt heard that it once contained actual cocaine.
But there's also plenty you might not know about Coca-Cola from the course of its 132 history. So, before you crack open your next can, bottle, or pour yourself a glass, indulge in a bit of little-known Coca-Cola trivia courtesy of our friends at The Daily Meal:
1. It was created as an alternative to morphine.
A Confederate Colonel, John Pemberton developed an addiction to morphine after sustaining injuries in the Civil War. He ended up inventing the prototype for Coca-Cola's recipe in a search of an opium-free substitute. The end result, which he called a "brain tonic and intellectual beverage," was served for five cents a glass at his drugstore in Columbus, Georgia.
