Scroll down for full ingredients list

It’s supposed to be one of the most closely guarded trade secrets on Earth – so secret that only two employees know it at any one time.

The recipe of Coca Cola contains a list of ‘secret’ ingredients known as ‘7X’ – herbal extracts which give the drink it’s unique flavour, which the company has guarded for a century.


But a book by author Mark Prendergast, recently republished on Amazon’s Kindle, actually has the whole recipe in the appendix.

Prendergast claims to have found the recipe in a ‘formula book’ owned by the company’s founder.



Oddly, that unique taste is actually herbs more familiar from curries and massage oils – including coriander, cinnamon and neroli.

Coriander is an important ingredient (Photo by Food and Drink/REX)

Alchohol is used to extract the flavours from the ingredients to create the ‘7X’ flavour, then they’re added to a mix of Coca Cola’s more widely known ingredients. On the can, they’re just listed as ‘Vegetable extracts’.

Before you ask, there isn’t any cocaine in there – it was removed in the early 20th century.

The list is below:

Ingredients Citrate Caffeine 1 oz. Extract Vanilla 1 oz. Flavouring 2.5 oz (detailed below) F.E. Coco 4 oz Citric Acid 3 oz Lime Juice 1 quart Sugar 30lbs Water 2.5 Gallons Caramel sufficient

Favourings - known as 7X Oil Orange 80 Oil Lemon 120 Oil Nutmeg 40 Oil Cinnamon 40 Oil Coriander 20 Oil Neroli 40 Alcohol 1 quart (let stand for 24 hours)