A pharmacist, Dr. John Stith Pemberton, made a syrup that he sold to a local pharmacy on May 8, 1886. The Atlanta drug store, Eagle Drug and Chemical Company, mixed the syrup with carbonated water for an instant hit. They sold the new product for 5 cents a glass.

Dr. Pemberton's bookkeeper and partner, Frank M. Robinson, suggested the name "Coca-Cola" mostly because he thought the two C's would look well in advertising. He penned the two words in script and it is still the trademark seen today.

Coca-Cola was actually a mixture of coca leaves and kola nuts. Pemberton mixed five ounces of cocoa leaf with a gallon of syrup. It had approximately nine milligrams of cocaine per glass. It was marketed as a tonic and thus still had cocaine in the product. By 1905 the caffeine rich drink no longer had cocaine in the syrup. Although the drink still uses coca flavoring in the product.

The first year the small Atlanta pharmacy sold only an average of nine coca-cola drinks a day. This brought in about 50 dollars while it had cost Dr. Pemberton around 70 dollars to make. But by the late 1890's it was one of the favorite fountain drinks in the United States.

By 1894 Coca-Cola was being sold in bottles. It took several years to develop the contoured bottle associated with the popular drink. A few early models were used around 1916. But the bottle that became their standard was not used until 1920.