US historian plans to unveil Coca Cola's secret recipe

A historian has threatened to lift the veil of secrecy of Coca Cola's recipe this week, as he claims to publish a copy of the original formula in a new book.

Historian Mark Pendergrast said that the recipe was handed down through the family of Frank Robinson, the commercial partner of chemist John Pemberton, who first produced the drink in the summer of 1886, the Independent reported.

In the third edition of his book, 'For God, Country and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It,' Pendergrast reproduces what he claims to be the same recipe that Pemberton devised over 125 years ago.

Among the ingredients in the book are sugar, lime juice, nutmeg and coriander.

Pendergrast first came across the recipe when researching his first edition of the book, via Frank Robinson II, the great-grandson of the original Frank Robinson, though Robinson Jnr refused to show it to him.

After a legal battle over the ownership of the formula during Robinson Jnr's divorce, it eventually went to his sister laura Robinson-Vanwagner when he died, who passed a photocopy on to the historian.

While working as Pemberton's partner, Frank Robinson came up with the drink's name and the label's distinctive italic script, according to Pendergrast.

Changes have been made since the original recipe was written down. In 1903, traces of cocaine were removed after the drink became more widely available.