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John S. Pemberton was born in 1831 in the town of Knoxville, Georgia. He attended pharmacy school, and owned a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia. He fought for the confederacy during the Civil War, where he became addicted to morphine after being wounded. After the war Pemberton moved to Atlanta. He was addicted to morphine and so he was searching for an alternative. Pemberton knew much about plants and was very interested in the coca-shrub and the kola nut.
He extracted the cocaine from the leaves of the coca-shrub and the caffeine from the kola nut and made "French Wine of Coca". It was one of his biggest selling items. French Wine of Coca was a drink very similar in nature to Vin Mariani, a cocaine based Bordeaux wine that was immensely popular through out the world. At that time cocaine was not thought of harmful, and doctors such as Sigmund Freud even praised its virtues. Pemberton's formula also contained caffeine from the kola nut. Pemberton sold hid French Wine of Coca and a cure for nervous disorders and impotency. In 1886 he began experimenting and decided to remove the wine. The cocaine and caffeine tasted very bitter, so plenty of sugar was added to mask this flavour. Essential oils of various fruits flavours were also used to improve the taste. On May 8th, 1886 in a laboratory in his house at 107 Marietta Street, Atlanta, John S. Pemberton created the syrup that would later become Coca-Cola. But Coca-Cola neither made him rich, nor healed him. In the age of 57 he sold the formula, without knowing that others would become very rich with it.
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