Atlanta, GA - The Coca-Cola Factory

I didn't know what to expect from the Coca-Cola Factory. I had no idea what would be inside or what we would see. Was it going to be a big assembly line of coke products being put together? Would it be a guided tour? All I knew for sure was that there was a coke tasting at the end. We went Sunday morning, and it was pleasantly less crowded than the aquarium (but still crowded nonetheless). I'm not a big soft drink person, but the guys in the group all were so they were super excited.

The pricing of tickets to get into the factory was half of that of the aquarium. Once inside, you're greeted by a plethora of Coca-Cola propaganda. (Not that I minded the pretty colors and designs of countless marketing campaigns). There were ads and Coca-Cola memorabilia everywhere!

After a while, I discovered that this place was more like a museum for Coca-Cola than anything. I learned a lot while going through it. The place was filled with Coca-Cola history and scandals. I had no idea how much trouble people went through at the beginning to hide the recipe for this fizzy, sweet drink! There were different exhibits to see. One where they showed you all quirky ads that Coca-Cola put out across the world. Another gave you the history and upheaval of the public when the company tried to change their recipe.

What surprised me was an exhibit labeled "The Vault". There was so much secrecy behind this recipe that they created an entire pseudo-vault which allegedly held the one copy of the recipe for this super popular drink! It was a pretty fun exhibit and was probably my favorite because it was so interactive.

Afterwards was the long awaited moment of tasting. Yummmmy! I thought, at first, that it would be a tasting of various Cokes from around the world (because I heard different regions had different preferences for ingredients and different gradients of sweetness). But I found out that it was a tasting of all the Coca-Cola products from around the world. I was a little sad because I was hoping to compare North America's preferences of Coke versus Asian countries or Latin American countries. I was still happy with their kiosks of continents and various Coca-Cola drinks.

Asia focused on sweet fruity flavors like melon.
Africa (my favorite) had a lot of sweet tropical flavors like banana and coconut (mmmm).
Europe had a lot of lemon flavors and bitters.
North America (home sweet home) was, well, very sweet!

And at the end of the tour, you get to take home a cute little glass bottle of Coke!

World of Coca-Cola
121 Baker St NW, Atlanta, GA 30313