Coca-Cola is no more "just chemicals" than the salt and vinegar on yer fish'n'chips is (sodium chloride and acetic acid from 4% to 8% by volume in water with trace amounts of tartaric, citric, and other acids).
Thats like describing a human being as 65% oxygen, 18% carbon, 10% hydrogen, 3% nitrogen, 1.5% calcium, 1.2% phosphorous with progressively decreasing traces of potassium, sulfur, chlorine, sodium, magnesium, iron, cobalt, copper, zinc, iodine, selenium fluorine and some others. Accurate, but not Angelina Jolie.....
Recipe attributed to a diary owned by Coca-Cola inventor, John S. Pemberton, just before his death in 1888.
Ingredients:
1 oz (28 g) caffeine citrate
3 oz (85 g) citric acid
1 US fl oz (30 ml; 1 imp fl oz) vanilla extract
1 US qt (946 ml; 33 imp fl oz) lime juice
2.5 oz (71 g) "Merchandise 7X"
30 lb (14 kg) sugar
4 US fl oz (118.3 ml; 4.2 imp fl oz) powder extract of cocaine (decocainized flavor essence of the coca leaf)
2.5 US gal (9.5 l; 2.1 imp gal) water
caramel "sufficient to colour/flavour"
[Merchandise 7X: = 80 oil orange, 40 oil cinnamon, 120 oil lemon, 20 oil coriander, 40 oil nutmeg, 40 oil neroli]
Recipe attributed to pharmacist John Reed.
30 lb (14 kg) sugar
2 US gal (7.6 l; 1.7 imp gal) water
1 US qt (950 ml; 33 imp fl oz) lime juice
4 oz (110 g) citrate of caffeine
2 oz (57 g) citric acid
1 US fl oz (30 ml; 1.0 imp fl oz) extract of vanilla
3/4 US fl oz (22.18 ml; 0.78 imp fl oz) fluid extract of kola
3/4 US fl oz (22.18 ml; 0.78 imp fl oz) fluid extract of coca
Recipe from "Food Flavorings: Composition, Manufacture and Use".
Makes one 1 US gallon (3.8 l; 0.83 imp gal) of syrup.
Yield (used to flavor carbonated water at 1 US fl oz (30 ml; 1.0 imp fl oz) per bottle): 128 bottles, 6.5 US fl oz (190 ml; 6.8 imp fl oz).
5 lb (2.3 kg) of sugar with just enough water to dissolve the sugar fully.
(High-fructose corn syrup may be substituted for half the sugar.)
11/4 oz (35 g) of caramel, 1/10 oz (3 g) caffine, and 2/5 oz (11 g) phosphoric acid.
Extract the cocaine from 5/8 drachms (1.1 g) of coca leaf (Truxillo growth of coca preferred) with toluol; dry the cocaine extract.
Soak the coca leaves and kola nuts (both finely powdered; 1/5 drachms (0.35 g) in 3/4 oz (21 g) of 20% alcohol.
California white wine fortified to 20% strength was used as the soaking solution circa 1909, but Coca-Cola may have switched to a simple water/alcohol mixture.
After soaking, discard the coca and kola and add the liquid to the syrup.
Add 1 oz (28 g) lime juice or a substitute such as a water solution of citric acid and sodium citrate at lime-juice strength.
1/2 drachms (0.89 g) lemon oil,
1/4 drachms (0.44 g) orange oil,
1/10 drachms (0.18 g) cassia (Chinese cinnamon) oil,
2/5 drachms (0.71 g) nutmeg oil, and, if desired, traces of coriander, lavender, and neroli oils,
Add to 1/4 oz (7 g) of 95% alcohol and shake.
Add 1/10 oz (2.8 g) water to the oil mixture and let stand for twenty-four hours at about 60 °F (16 °C). A cloudy layer will separate.
Take off the clear part of the liquid only and add the syrup.
Add 7/10 oz (20 g) glycerine (from vegetable source, not hog fat, so the drink can be sold to Jews and Muslims who observe their respective religion's dietary restrictions) and 3/10 drachms (0.53 g) of vanilla extract.
Add water (treated with chlorine) to make a gallon of syrup.
