This is the first time in Israel that Coca Cola will be manufactured as a popular drink without preservatives or artificial food coloring. It seems that more and more Israelis are becoming health conscious these days.

Coca-Cola Israel will actually be the first to produce a healthier version of the drink, while at the same time maintaining its taste, shelf-life, and of course, kashrut. Our thanks to Muzi Werthiem, Cola-Cola Israel's owner who initiated the change. The move, as they say, commenced after receiving market surveys which clearly showed the Israeli consumer's preference of products without preservatives and artificial colorings. I am hoping that other countries will follow this motion after all, people worldwide are becoming environmental oriented.

So for those Coca Cola lovers....you could now drink much to your gusto! And for those who still wants to know more about their favorite drink, read on to some interesting details.


Coca Cola was actually invented as a patent medicine, called cocawine, in the late 19th century by a certain John Pemberton in Covington, Georgia. It's first name was Pemberton's French Wine Coca. But then it was sold to a businessman, named Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft drink market throughout the 20th century.

The beverage was named Coca-Cola because, originally, the stimulant mixed in the beverage was coca leaves from South America. In addition, the drink was flavored using kola nuts, also acting as the beverage's source of caffeine. Pemberton called for five ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup, a significant dose, whereas, in 1891, Candler claimed his formula (altered extensively from Pemberton's original) contained only a tenth of this amount. Coca-Cola did once contain an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine per glass but after 1904 Coca-Cola started using, instead of fresh leaves, "spent" leaves - the leftovers of the cocaine-extraction process with cocaine trace levels left over at a molecular level. However, as cocaine is one of numerous alkaloids present in the coca leaf, it was nevertheless present in the drink. Today, the flavoring is still done with kola nuts and the "spent" coca leaf. In the United States, there is only one plant (in New Jersey) authorized by the Federal Government to grow the coca plant for Coca-Cola syrup manufacture.

Coca-Cola was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents a glass at soda fountains, which were popular in the United States at the time thanks to a belief that carbonated water was good for the health. Mr. Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured a myriad of diseases, including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence. The first sales were made at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886, and for the first eight months only nine drinks were sold each day.

Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time on March 12, 1894, and cans of Coke first appeared in 1955.

The first bottling of Coca-Cola occurred in Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the Biedenharn Candy Company in 1891.

The original bottles sold were Biedenharn bottles, very different from the much later hobble-skirt design that is now so familiar.

In 1995, after the success of the double-blind taste tests indicating that most consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi (which had more lemon oil, less orange oil, and used vanillin rather than vanilla) to Coke, Coca Cola changed it's formula and created the "New Coke". It seems that the drinkers prefer more the taste of Pepsi because of it's sweeter taste. Follow-up taste tests revealed that most consumers preferred the taste of New Coke to both Coke and Pepsi.

The commercial failure of New Coke as a grievous blow to the management of the Coca-Cola Company. Because of some protests, it has caused the company to return to the old formula under the name Coca-Cola Classic on July 10, 1985.

The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest consumer of natural vanilla extract.

On February 7, 2005, the Coca-Cola Company announced the launching of a Diet Coke, product sweetened with the artificial sweetener sucralose ("Splenda"), the same sweetener currently used in Pepsi One.

On March 21, 2005, it announced another diet product, "Coca-Cola Zero", sweetened partly with a blend of aspartame and acesulfame potassium. Recently Coca-Cola has begun to sell a new "healthy soda," Diet Coke with Vitamins B6, B12, A, and C added.

The original copy of the formula of Coke (which is a secret, by the way) is held in SunTrust Bank's main vault in Atlanta. A popular myth states that only two executives have access to the formula, with each executive having only half the formula.[18] The truth is that while Coca-Cola does have a rule restricting access to only two executives, each knows the entire formula and others, in addition to the prescribed duo, have known the formulation process.

A certain Earl Dean made the famous Contour Coca-Cola Bottle.The famous Coca-Cola logotype was created by John Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885. It was Robinson who came up with the name, and he also chose the logo’s distinctive cursive script, known as Spencer.

In January 2007, Coca-Cola Canada changed "Coca-Cola Classic" labelling, removing the "Classic" designation, leaving only "Coca-Cola". Coca-Cola stated this is merely a name change and the product remains the same.

Pepsi is often second to Coke in terms of sales, but outsells Coca-Cola in some localities.

In the 1970s, a song from a Coca-Cola commercial called "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", produced by Billy Davis, became a popular hit single.

Selena was a spokesperson for Coca-Cola from 1989 till the time of her death. She filmed three commercials for the company. In 1994 to commemorate her 5 years with the company, Coca-Cola issued special Selena coke bottles.

Coca-Cola was the first-ever sponsor of the Olympic games, at the 1928 games in Amsterdam and has been an Olympics sponsor ever since.

Coca-Cola is the official soft drink of the Georgia Bulldogs.

In England, Coca-Cola is the main sponsor of The Football League, a name given to the three professional divisions below the Premier League in football (soccer).

There are some consumer boycotts of Coca-Cola in Arab countries due to Coke's early investment in Israel during the Arab League boycott of Israel (this contrasts sharply to Pepsi which stayed out of Israel).[51] Mecca Cola has been successful in the Middle East as an alternative.

The Coca-Cola Company has produced and have been marketing other cola drinks such as Sprite, Fanta, Pibb, Powerade, and others.

Types of Coke
Coca-Cola
New Coke (renamed Coke II)
Diet Coke (also known as Coca-Cola Light)
Caffeine free Coca-Cola Classic
Caffeine free Diet Coke
Diet Coke Plus
Coca-Cola C2
Coca-Cola Zero
Coca-Cola Cherry Zero
Coca-Cola Cherry
Diet Coke Cherry
Coca-Cola with Lemon
Diet Coke with Lemon
Coca-Cola Vanilla
Diet Coca-Cola Vanilla
Coca-Cola with Lime
Diet Coke with Lime
Coca-Cola Raspberry
Diet Coke Raspberry
Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla
Diet Coke Cherry Vanilla
Coca-Cola Blāk
TaB (original Diet Coke, still available in some countries)


Things You Don't Know About Coca Cola
1. Slogans Coca Cola Company had used since 1886
1886 - Drink Coca-Cola.
1904 - Delicious and refreshing.
1905 - Coca-Cola revives and sustains.
1906 - The great national temperance beverage.
1908 - Good til the last drop
1917 - Three million a day.
1922 - Thirst knows no season.
1923 - Enjoy life
1924 - Refresh Yourself
1925 - Six million a day.
1926 - It had to be good to get where it is.
1927 - Pure as Sunlight
1927 - Around the corner from anywhere.
1928 - Coca-Cola ... pure drink of natural flavors.
1929 - The pause that refreshes.
1932 - Ice-cold sunshine.
1938 - The best friend thirst ever had.
1938 - Thirst asks nothing more.
1939 - Coca-Cola goes along.
1939 - Coca-Cola has the taste thirst goes for.
1939 - Whoever you are, whatever you do, wherever you may be, when you think of refreshment, think of icecold Coca-Cola.
1942 - The only thing like Coca-Cola is Coca-Cola itself.
1948 - Where there's Coke there's hospitality.
1949 - Coca-Cola ... along the highway to anywhere.
1952 - What you want is a Coke.
1956 - Coca-Cola ... makes good things taste better.
1957 - Sign of good taste.
1958 - The Cold, Crisp Taste of Coke
1959 - Be really refreshed.
1963 - Things go better with Coke.
1969 - It's the real thing
1975 - Look Up America.
1976 - Coke adds life.
1979 - Have a Coke and a smile
1982 - Coke is it!
1985 - America's Real Choice
1986 - Red White & You (for Coca-Cola Classic)
1986 - Catch the Wave (for New Coke)
1987 - You Can't Beat the Feeling.
1989 - Can't beat the real thing.
1993 - Always Coca-Cola.
2000 - Enjoy.
2001 - Life tastes Good.
2003 - Real.
2003 - Japan No Reason.
2005 - Make It Real.
2006 - The Coke Side of Life.

Every Memorial Day of Soldiers in Israel (Yom Zicharon as they call in Hebrew)we get the chance to know the real heroes of this country. And who are these soldiers...these are the young soldiers, whose age ranges from 18-25, and whose lives where offered for the liberation of the zionist idealism. And considering the statistics of fallen soldiers here since 1947, when the United Nations accepted the partition thus mandating the creation of a Jewish State, there had been 22,526 dead soldiers and more than half of them are younger than age 25. That is quite a big amount considering how tiny Israel is and whose population is only 6M (that is even smaller than the amount of people living in Manila, Philippines).

It was a somber day for all Israelis. They view the warriors who fall in battle as those who sprout forth life. The life of a nation grew out of this blood... This day must be more than mourning and they expect everyone to remember and grieve. They grieve and yet refuse to believe. They refuse to be consoled because there is no consolation. The price is so heavy to bear for the establishment of the State of Israel.

I watched television and I see parents, wives, children and friends cry for the lost of their love ones. I cried also for their lost and all I could say was that these soldiers were amazing. One of the stories that touched my heart deeply was the story of Michael Levin, a young American who deliberately chose the hard, dirty, dangerous work of the IDF by coming to Israel to enlist in the IDF as a 'lone soldier' and died during the Lebanon war last year.

Many soldiers in Israel are trying to escape the hardships and shit of military life but these man tried and pushed himself to the edge to be in the front line to defend this county. That was unbelievable and noble in spirit.

Well according to the story, "Levin's 'crazy' passion for Israel was ignited during his years at Camp Ramah. While many campers became enthusiastic Zionists, Michael was unique - he never let go of passion for Israel. Levin said that her parents - both Holocaust survivors - had a major impact on Michael's Jewish identity. Their stories, she said, motivated him to leave his family and friends behind in the US, immigrate to Israel and enlist in the elite Paratroopers Brigade.

Michael's decision didn't come easily. His parents tried to convince him to stay in the US, go to college first and then move to Israel. His Holocaust-survivor grandfather offered to buy him the most expensive sports car if he stayed home. "Just pick one and you'll get it," was what Michael was told.

His love for Israel proved to be stronger, and while he partially acceded to his parents' wishes and before enlisting spent a year in Ulpan studying Hebrew and volunteering on a kibbutz, he ultimately enlisted in the IDF.

After arriving in Israel, Michael practically didn't waste his time adjusting to the Israeli way of life before starting IDF training. Michael fought for -- and received -- special permission to join the IDF almost right away. Once in, he fought again to get into the elite Paratroopers Brigade, becoming one of the few former Americans ever to do so. He had to fight against another disadvantage: he was so slightly built, so thin, that the first time he parachuted, he drifted off course. After that, they attached weights to his parachute.

Michael was an overachiever in everything he did. Not only was he an A+ student during his 2001 term at the Alexander Muss High School in Israel, but everyone who knew him came away with a greater love for Israel themselves. "Michael always ran ahead of everyone else," Yael Ariel recalled. "No matter what it was, he volunteered to do it. When he come back to rejoin his unit, they tried to send him to Hevron, but again he fought -- he wanted to serve in Lebanon.

Michael was more than brave. Courage was part of his character.

"Was that brave?" Ariel asked. "That word doesn't really fit Michael - he was more than brave. Michael wasn't a person who did brave things. Instead, courage was part of his character. Like his coming alone to Israel to enlist in the IDF - that wasn't 'brave', so much as it was a reflection of who he was."

"In anything he did, we worked harder than anyone else," Rachel Tova Rott added. "When he was training, he weighed about 125 pounds, but part of the regimen was to run carrying a 120-pound pack. The pack weighted almost as much as he did, but he did it anyway."

Many of Michael's friends and family believe he had some premonition of his fate. "It upset me at the time," Rott says. "He'd say things like, 'if I come back', and 'if I get out of this'. I begged him to stop, not say that, but it wasn't as though he was depressed -- exactly the opposite. It was as though he knew what his job was, what he was supposed to do in this world. And -- just as he did with everything else -- he ran ahead to do it with enthusiasm, happy to be able to serve Israel. He was just the most remarkably upbeat, positive, kind and caring person I've ever met."

"Mike was a very spiritual guy," said Yitzhak Meir, another Jerusalem friend. "Shabbat will never be the same without him. Michael loved to sing zemirot, Shabbat songs. No matter how many we sang, he always wanted to sing one more. One time there was someone at the Shabbat table that wasn't really getting into it, and Mike was encouraging him, 'You gotta sing!' he said. 'You can't feel Shabbat unless you sing!' Then he'd start another song."

"Michael had a unique way of relating to everyone as their best friend," Meir said. "No matter who he was talking to, he made them feel special. In everything he did, he gave his all, whether it was listening to a friend, cheering at a football game, singing on Shabbat, or serving in the IDF."

There are no doubt hundreds of people all over the world who thought of Michael as his or her best friend. "I always knew that if there was ever a time when I needed help, for anything, I could call Michael and he'd come," Yael Ariel said. "If he was anywhere in the area, not on a mission, he'd be there, right away. It would never occur to him that it was too late, that it was a long way, or that he was exhausted himself. If someone needed him, he was there.

"The one thing that comforts me now is that Michael knew we loved him," Ariel said. "Sometimes when people pass away, you feel you should have told them more how much they meant to you, how much you loved them. But with Michael, he knew. He knew how much we all loved him, trusted him and appreciated him. That helps -- to know that he died understanding how much he meant to all of us."

Our Sages tell us that when a righteous person leaves this world, his presence can be felt more strongly in all the worlds than it was during his lifetime. Freed from his physical body, his influence will be even greater.

Michael himself may have understood that. About a month ago, he and a friend from a kibbutz were talking, lamenting the many losses Israel has suffered.. 'Why is it that all the good ones, the stong ones, die first?' the friend asked. Michael thought a moment, then said, "Maybe the real war is up there, and G-d needs them there."

Michael died On Tuesday, August 1, the day his unit, Battalion 101, had been clearing a building in Aita al-Shaab, a southern Lebanese town, when Hezbollah scored a direct hit with an anti-tank missile. Levin was laid to rest in Mount Hertzl Cemetery and was given a hero's ceremony and tribute.

To memorialize Michael's death, Levin's family have established the Michael Levin Memorial Fund for Israel, with the money designated to helping lone soldiers in Israel.

When the day would come when my son will be called to serve the army, should I feel proud of this exceptional sublimity or should I curse this country for taking my son out instead of leading a stable, quiet life? I don't want to see another mother crying again...that could be me. And what if my son would say, "I'd love to serve and give my life for Israel." Should I say no? Wherever Michael's parents got the strength to let him join the army, such depth was admirable and very inspiring. Could I do the same thing....only God knows. I think I'll cross the bridge when I get there!