It's the Real Thing

This great article about coca and cola is good for more than just a laugh (though quotes like "I always say a town without coca is a town which has died" is sure to get a snigger out those "in the blow").

Way down in the story comes the biggest surprise of all--Coca-Cola is still made with the coca leaf (though not with actual cocaine, as in days of yore):

When asked about coca leaves, a spokeswoman at Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta said the drink's ingredients are secret, although she was careful to add that it does not contain cocaine.

However, it is pretty easy to follow the trail of legal coca exports from South America to the United States. And Coca-Cola itself has occasionally owned up to using coca -- as it did in an interview with the New York Times back in 1988.

Pressed by Reuters about the evidence regarding the company's use of coca leaf, the spokeswoman, Kirsten Witt, suffered from a slip of the tongue.

"It's just part of I guess you would say our marketing, in that it's the secret ingredient," she said.

Of course anyone hoping to get a cocaine hit from Coca-Cola will be disappointed -- the only "buzz" the drink gives comes from sugar and caffeine. For 100 years, the company has used a flavour extract derived from the leaf in a process that removes traces of stimulant.