# Did Coca-Cola really used to be green? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2002, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834 "2002-03-24T07:28:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boudicca13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@boudicca13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boudicca13)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/1 "2002-03-24T07:28:31Z")
I received one of those forwarded emails today called “Expendable Facts” and one of the facts was that Coca-Cola used to be green. I’ve never heard this before. Does anyone know if this is really true? And if so, why did the Coca-Cola company decide to change the color? It’s hard to imagine anything different than the classic reddish-brown Coca-Cola color. Oh, and if case anyone is interested, here is the list of “Expendable Facts” – I don’t know about the accuracy, but they are interesting anyway: "Expendable Facts… Coca-Cola was originally green. Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury. Hershey’s Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it’s kissing the conveyor belt. 1/4 of LA is taken up of automobiles The state with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska 2 out of 5 people live in China or India Average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000. The city with the most Rolls Royce’s per capita: Hong Kong The most commonly used password on computer systems is “password.” The youngest pope was 11 years old. The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments Q. What separates “60 Minutes,” on CBS from every other TV show? A. No theme song. Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what? A. Their birthplace. Q. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common? A. All invented by women. Q. This is the only food that doesn’t spoil. A. Honey Q. What trivia fact about Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) is the most ironic? A. He was allergic to carrots." ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/2 "2002-03-24T07:37:52Z")
I was drinking Coke in the 1940’s and it wasn’t green then and I have never heard of it being green. However, back then Coke came in one size bottle and it was green. ---
**Author:** ![boudicca13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@boudicca13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boudicca13)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/3 "2002-03-24T07:46:52Z")
I was wondering if they may have been thinking of the color of the bottle…but, then again, cokes been around for a really long time. I suppose that it may have been green for it’s first year of production or something. Another interesting Coca-Cola tidbit: I DO know that it also used to have an extract of the coco plant - the same plant that you get cocaine from - which is why it is called Coca-cola. Then they replaced the cocaine with caffeine. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/4 "2002-03-24T08:09:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by boudicca13 \* > \*\* > Coca-Cola was originally green. > \*\* Snopes ([www.snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com)) says its false. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by boudicca13 \* > \*\* > Hershey’s Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks > like it’s kissing the conveyor belt. > \*\* I happen to live fairly close to Hershey PA. I’ve seen movie images of the original machine, and it did look like it was kissing them, I suppose. The machines they use now don’t operate on the same principle. They are basically put into a mold. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/5 "2002-03-24T08:37:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by boudicca13 \* > Coca-Cola was originally green. [Nope.](http://www.snopes2.com/cokelore/green.htm) > [@](#): > > Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury. If they’re referring to the _dollar amount_, then I wouldn’t be surprised. Monopoly prints 500s, while the Treasury doesn’t print anything above 100. > [@](#): > > Hershey’s Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it’s kissing the conveyor belt. I believe this is true, but I can’t find a cite right now. > [@](#): > > 1/4 of LA is taken up of automobiles One-fourth of area? Or do they mean that if you count up all the people and cars, 1/4 will be cars? I don’t understand what this one means. > [@](#): > > The state with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska Unemployment in Alaska is above the national average. [Cite.](http://epinet.org/datazone/states/usmap/ak.html) > [@](#): > > 2 out of 5 people live in China or India There about 1 billion people in China and another billion in India. There are 6 billion people in the world. Therefore, 1 out of 3 people live in China or India. > [@](#): > > Average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000. Don’t know how to check this. > [@](#): > > The city with the most Rolls Royce’s per capita: Hong Kong Don’t know how to check this. > [@](#): > > The most commonly used password on computer systems is “password.” There’s no way they could find this out. People would have to give out their (utterly stupid) passwords to a survey. > [@](#): > > The youngest pope was 11 years old. Can’t find any evidence of this, but little is known about many of the popes. > [@](#): > > The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments The cable cars were designated a “historic landmark” ([cite](http://www.sfcablecar.com/history.html)), but I can’t find any evidence they were declared a national monument. > [@](#): > > Q. What separates “60 Minutes,” on CBS from every other TV show? > A. No theme song. Not every other TV show. Every other _prime time_ TV show. The distinction is important. If you make the distinction, it’s true. > [@](#): > > Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what? > A. Their birthplace. I seriously doubt this. I have _very few_ adult relatives who live anywhere near their birthplace. > [@](#): > > Q. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common? > A. All invented by women. Bullet proof vests and windshield wipers were invented by women. However, according to [this](http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcomputer_printers.htm), the laster printer was invented by Gary Starkweather. I can’t find anything on the inventor of fire escapes. > [@](#): > > Q. This is the only food that doesn’t spoil. > A. Honey Well… I think it does (look [here](http://www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/ff9-swee.htm)). However, sugar does not, so it’s a moot point. > [@](#): > > Q. What trivia fact about Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) is the most ironic? > A. He was allergic to carrots." I believe this is true, but I can’t find a cite right now. I heard it on a TV special on Mel Blanc once. I’ll admit, this was truer than most Internet lists. -Loopus ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/6 "2002-03-24T08:40:21Z")
> [@](#): > > The state with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska Ach, I read this as “The highest percentage of people who work.” Please disregard my meaningless answer. I better go to bed now. :o -Loopus ---
**Author:** ![tronvillain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@tronvillain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tronvillain)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/7 "2002-03-24T10:26:49Z")
Loopus: > [@](#): > > I seriously doubt this. I have _very few_ adult relatives who live anywhere near their birthplace. That is like responding to “2 out of 5 people live in India or China” with “I know _very few_ people from India or China.” I’m not sure that the statistic is correct, but it doesn’t some implausible when you think about the number of people who live in cities - New York only has an area of 321 square miles, so essentially everyone born who doesn’t move away will live within fifty miles of their birthplace. Extend that to every other U.S. city and you end up with a lot of people living within fifty miles of where they were born. ---
**Author:** ![boudicca13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@boudicca13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boudicca13)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/8 "2002-03-24T10:41:51Z")
Cool - I thought most of these were fairly innaccurate. But, I wasn’t sure how much. I get emails with lists and things like that all the time, and it drives me nuts. They’re usually interesting and all, but they’re also usually full of it. I wonder who starts them?? Thanks for your answers, guys. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/9 "2002-03-24T14:51:46Z")
This one has been covered pretty well before [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=97652&highlight=green+honey+monopoly](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=97652&highlight=green+honey+monopoly). ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/10 "2002-03-24T14:54:07Z")
The link I just gave only provides some of the answers. This link [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=97652&highlight=green+honey+monopoly](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=97652&highlight=green+honey+monopoly) adds a few more. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/11 "2002-03-24T18:07:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by boudicca13 \* > \*\*I was wondering if they may have been thinking of the color of the bottle…but, then again, cokes been around for a really long time. I suppose that it may have been green for it’s first year of production or something. > > Another interesting Coca-Cola tidbit: > I DO know that it also used to have an extract of the coco plant - the same plant that you get cocaine from - which is why it is called Coca-cola. Then they replaced the cocaine with caffeine. \*\* Actually, Cocaine comes from the coca plant, not the coco. The coca leaf was (and is?) used to make coca-cola, and coke did used to contain cocaine. The name came from the coca plant and the cola nut(which containes caffiene). So they actually just removed the cocaine, the caffiene was already in there. ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/12 "2002-03-24T20:23:51Z")
Honey doesn’t spoil. They packed Alexander the Great’s body in it on his return. There have also been jars of honey found in pharoh’s temples that have provided interesting insights into the climate of Ancient Egypt. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/13 "2002-03-24T20:44:26Z")
Evidently, the flavoring agent found in the coca leaf is still used in Coke. > [@](#): > > Moreover, at least one of the ingredients called for in the recipe would be next to impossible to secure in the U.S. (or to bring into the country): decocainized flavor essence of the coca leaf. As it now stands, only Stepan Co.'s New Jersey plant possesses the necessary DEA permit to import the leaves and remove the cocaine from them. Anyone looking to reproduce the drink would have to go to Stepan to get one of the key ingredients, and Stepan would refuse to sell to them. [http://www.snopes2.com/cokelore/formula.htm](http://www.snopes2.com/cokelore/formula.htm) Which naturally raises the question: “What on earth does Stepan Co. do with all that extracted cocaine?” -David ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/14 "2002-03-24T21:20:05Z")
**SoulFrost** , cocaine is still widely used as a topical anasthetic in facial/eye surgery. Cocaine creams and eyedrops would sell pretty well in any area with a large proportion of, say, plastic surgeons. (Guess what Nova **caine** is an emulation of? The Andes Wonder Drug has spawned knockoffs! :D) (topical = applied directly to the area you want to numb) ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/15 "2002-03-24T23:01:22Z")
Coca-Cola was originally green. Not sure. I do know that nowadays it tastes nothing like it did originally Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury. no idea Hershey’s Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it’s kissing the conveyor belt. Probably 1/4 of LA is taken up of automobiles An odd one. It doesnt make sense! Think of all the buildings etc that are also in LA. Seems highly unlikely that cars take up a quarter of it. The state with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska No idea 2 out of 5 people live in China or India Correct. About 800 million in India and 1.5 billion in China = 2.3 billion. 2.3 divided by 6 = 0.38333 = 38.3333% which is almost 2 fifths. Average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000. God knows. Probably. The city with the most Rolls Royce’s per capita: Hong Kong Not sure. I always thought it was some arabic country. The most commonly used password on computer systems is “password.” Fuck(can I say that?) knows. The youngest pope was 11 years old. Wouldnt surprise me. There was one who died buggering his page boy so anything’s possible. The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments Who cares??? Q. What separates “60 Minutes,” on CBS from every other TV show? A. No theme song. Not American so I dont know. Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what? A. Their birthplace. Probably. Q. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common? A. All invented by women. Someone invented fire escapes? Q. This is the only food that doesn’t spoil. A. Honey Probably Q. What trivia fact about Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) is the most ironic? A. He was allergic to carrots." Possibly. ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/16 "2002-03-25T00:23:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _Denver Rocky Mountain News, November 22, 1994_ > \*\*[John] O’Brien [the chemist who runs Stepan’s Maywood, N.J. plant] runs a network of agents in Peru and Bolivia who get coca leaves from some of the same farms that supply the drug cartels. When a shipment arrives in the U.S., a high-security convoy of trucks ferries the leaves from the docks of Manhattan to Maywood. After production, armored cars leave the building loaded with barrels of high-quality cocaine. > > What is a $ 400 million American Stock Exchange company doing in the drug trade? Satisfying two big markets that need regular fixes of coca-leaf products in large quantities. > > Their cravings offer Stepan a lucrative niche as the nation’s only legal cocaine dealer. And the two markets end up sending Stepan’s products into virtually every bloodstream in America.\*\* The hypocrisy of the U.S. government never ceases to amaze me. It spends billions of dollars destroying the lives of peasants who grow coca as they have for thousands of years, only to turn around and give this corporation a license to import it. Rich pharmaceutical companies are allowed to profit, but poor South American farmers can go to hell. Sorry for getting off-topic. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/17 "2002-03-25T02:01:57Z")
1.) > [@](#): > > Honey doesn’t spoil. They packed Alexander the Great’s body in it on his return. There have also been jars of honey found in pharoh’s temples that have provided interesting insights into the climate of Ancient Egypt. No, honey doesn’t spoil, which is one reason it was prized in the ancient world. And it’s true that it will preserve things placed in it. But, unless that item is small enough to be completely engulfed nd saturated by the honey, it won’t do much preserving. Lots of folks in he ancient world were “preserved” wth honey – but only the outsides got preserved. Inside the body, where no honey reached, it still rotted. see Larry Gonick’s **Cartoon History of the Universe** and references therein. 2.) Coke looks green under UV light, as I think I pointed out in an earlier thread. Otherwise, it doesn’t and, I believe, never has. See Cunningham’s book **For God, Country, and Coca-Cola** ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/18 "2002-03-25T02:28:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\* > 2.) Coke looks green under UV light, as I think I pointed out in an earlier thread. Otherwise, it doesn’t and, I believe, never has. See Cunningham’s book **For God, Country, and Coca-Cola** \*\* Really? I am SO going to test this. I do a Display room for the Chem department at school for the university open house, and currently we show that tonic water fluoresces under UV. But no one cares about tonic water. Kids don’t know what it is. But coke…great idea! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/19 "2002-03-25T02:45:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mnemosyne \* > \*\* > > Really? I am SO going to test this. I do a Display room for the Chem department at school for the university open house, and currently we show that tonic water fluoresces under UV. But no one cares about tonic water. Kids don’t know what it is. But coke…great idea! 🙂 \*\* I just now tested this myself using my black light as I just happened to be drinking a Coke that had been poured into a clear glass upon reading this post. With the glass close to the light source the liquid does take on sort of a greenish-brown hue. At a distance it appears black. In any case I didn’t see that it really fluoresced. ---
**Author:** ![gaeila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@gaeila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaeila)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834/20 "2002-03-25T05:52:02Z")
I’ve seen it myself. Maybe it depends on your definition of “spoil.” I translate this instance as meaning as "To become unfit for use or consumption, as from decay. Used especially of perishables, such as food. " (1) I, personally, have opened a jar of honey and discovered the honey well-permeated with a nasty looking and foul smelling mold-type substance. Admittedly, the honey was at least three years old. Honey is a significant risk factor for infant Botulism; it is a bad idea to ever feed babies any honey during the first year of life. (2) Furthermore, I have found mentions of spoiled honey due to fermentation (3) The ancient Romans included a test for spoiled honey in a cookbook (4) However, I think it may be true that pure, dry, crystallized sucrose (table sugar) does not spoil, in that it’s chemically intert and no known bacteria or mold have yet figured out how to eat it. Honey does appear to have some antibacterial properties which help give it a long shelf life. But it just isn’t in the same league as sugar (or salt, for that matter.) Interestingly, it appears the stuff may actually help reduce scarring for certain types of wounds in certain circumstances. However, sugar paste may do just as good a wound-healing job as honey. (5,6.) 1. [http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=spoil](http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=spoil) 2. [http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/peds/pidl/neuro/botulism.htm](http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/peds/pidl/neuro/botulism.htm) 3. [http://www.clemson.edu/psamedia/1998REL.DIR/Bee2.txt](http://www.clemson.edu/psamedia/1998REL.DIR/Bee2.txt) 4. [http://www.lewis-kappes.com/LK/Pompeiiana/TheRomanCookery/TheCarefulCook\_dir/TheCarefulCook\_9.htm](http://www.lewis-kappes.com/LK/Pompeiiana/TheRomanCookery/TheCarefulCook_dir/TheCarefulCook_9.htm) 5. J Wound Care 2002 Feb;11(2):53-5 Why do some cavity wounds treated with honey or sugar paste heal without scarring? Topham J. 6. Br J Nurs 2001 Dec;10(22 Suppl):S13-6, S18, S20 The use of honey in the treatment of infected wounds: case studies. Kingsley A. North Devon District Hospital, Barnstaple, Devon. (and about 100 more on Pubmed) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-coca-cola-really-used-to-be-green/99834.md?page=2)