The secret formula of Coca-Cola is in a safe of a town in Valencia. The same one that claims its authorship

The history is written by the victors (Or that’s what we think). Perhaps the phrase would have to be changed to the story being written who has the best story and, in the commercial world, which knows how to sell its product better. And if there is a universal product that is the same image of globalization and proper name of one of the most powerful corporations in the worldthat’s the Coca-Cola.

The story that John Stith Pemberton He is the father of the Coca-Cola and who, after some failed attempts, in 1886 found the formula of the drink Based on coca leaf, kola nut and carbonated water. It is not that it would bring him good luck, since shortly after he died in absolute poverty, taking a secret more powerful than that of his drink itself.

The secret of whether he invented it or whether Coca-Cola is a plagiarism of a Spanish drink that was presented in the United States in 1985.

Do not say Coca-Cola: Say Kola Coca

In its origins, Coca-Cola was not a soda: it was a tonic. In fact, a “miraculous tonic” who cured headaches, relieved exhaustion and calmed his nerves, like Pemberton himself promoted. It was everything, also a “delicious, refreshing, cheerful, stimulating and vigorizing” drink. With cocaineIt wasn’t for less.

It was not a success and its creator never saw the real potential of the drink. It was after selling his product to businessman Asa G. Gamdler when the brand exploded and The Coca-Cola Company became the giant that is today. But there are those who think that this position in history does not belong to Gandler or, above all, Pemberton: it belongs to the Valencian people of Malferit’s.

In 1880, Bautista Apartici, Ricardo Sanz and Enrique Ortiz founded the Liquor Factory of Aielo. They began to create products and to present them at fairs in Europe. APARICI was the ‘commercial’ of the company and the person in charge of showing its products by the different countries, being the coca kola one of them.

Your ingredients? Coca leaf, Kola nut and water. Very similar to those of the subsequent Coca-Cola. In 1885, Appear took the Kola Coca to a fair in Philadelphia, where he presented it and distributed some samples to local commercials. At present, that would be done with a product already patented so that no one can raise your idea, but it was not the practice more than a century ago.

A year later, Pemberton presented in Atlanta its coca leaf formula, kola and water nut. Carbonated, where appropriate. Chance or plagiarism? Ayelo distillers itself leaves the question on its website.

“In 1885, the Kola-Coca travels to the United States and, just a year later, the pharmacist John Steve Pemberton launched in the United States the famous Coca-Cola

Answering the question is complicated, especially when we talk about an era in which the information was not transmitted with the same speed as now and it should be assumed that the connection between Pemberton and some of the commercials that received the cola coca sample. From Ayelo distilleries, they are clear.

Juan Micó is the last owner of Ayelo distilleries and, as we read in ABC Newsconsiders that Coca-Cola was invented in Aielo. “At that time it was easy to copy a drink. The patents were only recorded if the product was successful,” he says, stating that when they patented the Kola Coca formula in Spain in 1903, the Coca-Cola already had a way won to become an icon.

And Coca-Cola appeared

Decades after patenting the drink, it was Coca-Cola who was interested in the one prepared in Aielo. The multinational wanted to enter Spain with a factory in the 40s, but could not do it directly due to the laws of registered trademarks because there was already a registered tail. That of Aielo.

As we read in SpiegelCoca-Cola executives visited Malferit in 1953 and closed an agreement to acquire the rights of the name to Joaquín Juan Sanchis, who was the owner of the factory at that time. And, that same year, Coca-Cola began the conquest of the territory from its bottling company in Barcelona.

There are no official records of the agreement, but there is talk of a sum between 30,000 and 50,000 pesetas to exploit the brand in Spain. A lot of money for the time, as Micó said, but a misery if compared to how things would have been, instead of money, they had accepted shares or a small percentage of sales. “We would be millionaires,” says Juan.

And at that time of the firm it was when Distillerías Ayelo stopped preparing his ‘syrup’. At least the alcohol without alcohol, since that market belonged to Coca-Cola. The one they continued preparing was Kola coca nut With alcoholic content. 21st, specifically, and in Your description A “will” be or not be the origin of the Coca-Cola? “

Today, Micó’s family directs the business, and does so for a romantic issue, so as not to let that curious story die that will survive forever. The Valencian municipality is clear that Coca-Cola was invented there and, as we read in The countryIn 2018, Mayor José Luis Pinter commented that they had sent a letter to the multinational to use the link between Malferit and Coca-Cola’s year to take advantage of it.

“Our goal is to see this project willingly, so that the people are known. We do not pursue anything else,” said the mayor of the town. Therefore, economic rights were not requested, but to take advantage of that link to underpin the story about the relationship between the municipality and the Coca-Cola.

From the company they responded, but surely not the way in which the neighbors would have liked. They just said that the brand has transcended so much that “It is property of everyone” and that it is a pride that there are similar stories in different parts of the world. I do not know if in other parts of the world there were people who presented a drink so similar just before the launch of Coca-Cola …

In whatever, or not, the link between Kola Coca and Coca-Cola, the 4,500 inhabitants of Ayelo de Malferit, is recognized that the authentic formula is stored in a safe box of Ayelo distilleries.

Images | Ayelo distilleries, Marco Schmidt

In Xataka | Despite never winning, England always had to have invented football. It is possible that now not that