The image of Coke is youthful and modern. But Coke is not new. It is more than a century old. It was invented in 1886 by a pharmacist(藥劑師) called John Styth Pemberton. Pemberton had a drugstore in Atlanta，where he sold liver pills，hair restorer(生發劑)，cough mixtures(止咳藥水) and other medicines. He made these preparations(制劑) to his own recipes but people could buy similar products at any drugstore. They loved his Indian Queen hairdye(染發劑)，but there was nothing special about it. Pemberton wanted to make a product that people could buy only from him. He wanted them to have a reason to choose his shop rather than any other. Tonic(補藥) is a drink that is supposed to do you good. In the old days，many chemists made and sold their own tonic wine. In 1885 Pemberton came up with French Wine Cola. It must have tasted rather like Coke. At first Pemberton put a little alcohol in it，but later he left it out. He is said to have mixed his brew(釀造的飲料) in the backyard in a three-legged brass pot like a witches’cauldron(女巫的大鍋). Pemberton sold the new drink as a quick cure for headaches. But headaches or no headaches. his staff were soon watering down5 the syrup(含藥糖漿) and drinking it to slake6 their thirst on hot days. Maybe he really had invented a new soft drink(軟飲料) product.
On saturday 8 May 1886 Pemberton took a jug(壺,罐) of syrup down the street to another drugstore,Jacobs’Pharmacy(藥店)—to do a test. Jacobs’pharmacy had a soda7 fountain. This machine adds carbon dioxide to water to make fizzy(冒氣泡的) soda, and then mixes it with syrup to make a refreshing8 drink. Stalls(貨攤,攤位) selling ice cream and fizzy drinks made by soda fountains became known simply as soda fountains.
The staff and customers of Jacobs’ pharmacy tried Pemberton’s headache cure mixed with soda and loved its taste. it was excellent,but it did not have a name.
One of Pemberton’s partners,his book-keeper(記賬人) Frank Robinson,suggested Coca-Cola Syrup and Extract—which became Coca-Cola for short. He thought the two Cs would go well in advertising. He wrote down the name in the simple flowing handwriting that he used in his account books(賬簿). His script(筆跡,手跡) became the product’s trademark. Coca-Cola went on sale immediately at five cents a glass.
可口可樂的形象是有青春活力而時髦的，但可口可樂並不是新事物，它已經歷壹個多世紀的歲月，是１８８６年由藥劑師約翰·斯蒂思·彭伯頓發明的。
彭伯頓在亞特蘭大開了壹家藥店，他在那裏賣利肝丸、生發劑、止咳藥水和其他藥品。他按自己的配方配制藥劑，但人們可以在任何壹家藥店買到類似的產品。他的“印第安皇後”染發劑很受歡迎，但也沒有什麽獨到之處。彭伯頓想要制作壹種產品，人們只能在他這裏買到，他想要大家有理由選擇他的商店而不是其他商店。
補藥是壹種被認為對妳有益的飲料。過去，許多藥劑師自己制作並出售補酒。１８８５年，彭伯頓制作了法國可樂果酒，它的味道壹定頗像可口可樂。壹開始彭伯頓往裏面放了點酒精，但他後來又不放了。據說他將釀造的飲料在後院的壹口３條腿的黃銅鍋裏混合，那口鍋就像女巫的大鍋。
彭伯頓把他的新飲料當成頭痛速效藥來賣。但不久之後，他的職員不管頭痛與否，都願意將這種糖漿攙水沖淡，在熱天解渴。也許他真的發明了壹種新的軟飲料產品。
１８８６年５月８日，星期六，彭伯頓拿了壹罐糖漿到街上另壹家藥店（雅各布藥店）去做試驗。雅各布藥店有個帶龍頭的汽水桶。這種機器把二氧化碳加到水裏制成起泡的汽水，然後加入糖漿制成清涼提神的飲料。那些出售用汽水桶制出的冰激淩和汽水飲料的冷飲小賣部被人們簡稱為“汽水吧臺”。
雅各布藥店的職員和顧客試嘗了彭伯頓的頭痛藥和汽水的混合物，很喜歡這種口味。那東西太棒了，但還沒有名字。
彭伯頓的壹個合作夥伴，他的記賬員弗蘭克·羅賓遜建議叫可口可樂濃縮糖漿——後來簡稱可口可樂。他認為用兩個“Ｃ”開頭的單詞更有利於廣告宣傳。他用他在記賬本上那種簡單流暢的筆跡寫下了這個名字。他的字跡成了這個產品的商標。可口可樂很快以每杯５美分的價格上市了。