Almost every little boy and girl in America has drunk Coca-Cola at least once in their lives.

It is a popular fizzy drink found in restaurants, stores, vending machines, and cafeterias around the world.

Dr John Pemberton, an American pharmacist invented Coca-Cola in May 1886 in a three legged brass kettle in his backyard.

Dr Pemberton’s bookkeeper Frank Robinson gave it its name, which he wrote in a beautiful flowing handwriting all those years ago. The logo still carries the same name.

The first year that Dr Pemberton introduced the soft drink to his customers at the pharmacy he experienced a loss in sales.

The drink originally contained coca leaves kola nuts for flavouring, as well as, sugar, orange oil, lemon oil and vanilla.

The “kick” that people used to experience after drinking it was because of the natural formula of cocaine in the coca leaves and the caffeine in the kola nuts.

However, a little after the turn of the 20th century, the cocaine formula was removed from the coca leaves, and the amount of caffeine was reduced.

In 1887, another Atlanta pharmacist and businessman called Asa Chandler bought the Coca-Cola formula from Dr Pemberton, and three years later it was America’s most popular fountain drink.

Dr Chandler and Dr Pemberton formed The Coca-Cola Company promoted and marketed their brand extremely well and sales of the drink increased by leaps and bounds.

At first, Dr Chandler wanted to sell the drink as a medicine to cure headaches and toothaches, but he was unsuccessful.

During those days, Coca-Cola or any other drink was not available in bottles. They were found in the local soda fountain, or the ice cream saloon.

After the 1960s, bottled soft drinks replaced the local soda fountain and the ice cream saloon, making it easier for people to have a drink of Coca-Cola even in their own home.

The Coca-Cola log is seen in many movies, songs, and advertising campaigns around the world.

The company sponsors many events, including charity events, and sales of the drink continue to rise. Today, more than one billion drinks of Coca-Cola are taken for a day!

Today, the Coca-Cola Company produces many other types of soft drinks too, like, Fanta, Sprite and bottled water including different kinds of Coca-Cola, like Diet Cola.

The cola Pepsi-Cola is Coca-Cola’s biggest competitor although it was invented after Coca-Cola.

Many people believe that certain ingredients in the Coca-Cola drink like the caffeine cause problems like stomach acid and high blood sugar, and children at a very young age are usually not given Coca-Cola because it causes tooth decay.