Re. How can Grape-Nuts cereal contain no grapes or nuts? - The Straight Dope
Looking at the back of a coke bottle, I note that it does not contain either coca beans or kola nuts (or any derivatives of these) these days :dubious:. Lies, damn lies, and marketing, eh?
Doesn’t the label list “natural flavor” as an ingredient? That would be your coca and cola extracts.
Yeah, tiny amounts of kola nuts and decocainized coca leaves are included in the natural flavors. They’re not used in amounts to affect the flavor of the product much, if at all. William Poundstone (he of the Poundstonian heresey) has the details in one of his “Big Secrets” books.
Coca doesn’t have beans. It’s a completely different plant from cacao, from whose beans we get cocoa powder and chocolate.