Atlanta: The World of Coca-Cola

With everyone presumably enjoying their KFP Coca-Cola this week, I thought I would give everyone a little tour of the World of Coca-Cola, the musuem dedicated to everyone’s favorite soft drink in downtown Atlanta.

The World of Coca-Cola is a large, Soviet-style building that looks kind of like a huge crypt or mausoleum, which is fit for holding the remains of a figure of history.

The Atlanta capitol building sits right across the street.

Here’s the main entrance, with a huge spinning metal globe, complete with lighted Coke emblem.

Coca-Cola is not just a soft drink, its a part of our history. Have a look at the World of Coca-Cola by clicking on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below.

One of the first exhibits you get to see is the Bottling Fantasy, which is supposed to evoke what people think the Coca-Cola bottling process looks like, in sort of a Rube Goldberg-ish fashion.

Very early examples of soda bottles.

Early 20th Century Coca-Cola ephemera.

A Coca-Cola bottle prototype from 1915, along with mold.

A beautiful antique Coca-Cola lamp from the 1900’s.

The museum features a mock up Soda Fountain, as it would have been seen in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

An original luncheonette menu fom the 1930’s.

A vintage juke box.

A Coca-Cola employee demonstrates “Soda Jerking” for an appreciative crowd.

The many languages of Coca-Cola.

Thats equal to uh, how many calories?

Classic Coca-Cola ads from around the world.

Thanks Mean Joe Greene! One of his original football jerseys is preserved here behind glass.

An original “New Coke” can from 1985. The year it all changed.

Classic vending equipment and store signage.

A coke-themed Harley Davidson.

The most popular part of the exhibit is the tasting room, where you can try unlimited amounts of Coca-Cola products. This is the domestic tasting area where all the American products are featured.

Here is my favorite part, the international tasting area, where you can try all different kinds of sodas that Coke sells in foreign markets. Some of these I think would sell pretty well here.

I really liked the exotic fruit flavored Fanta drinks.

Even the Orange Fanta tastes different in different countries.

I particularly like Mezzo Mix from Germany and the Fanta Tropical from Kenya.

Noticeably absent from the tasting room was actual foreign versions of Coca-Cola, which as we all know, taste different from what is sold here in the US.

The exhibit ends with the the Everything Coca-Cola store at the ground level.

They’ve even got a Coca-Cola cookbook for sale.

And some pretty cool glassware, although I didn’t buy any.

After you are done with the museum you can head over to the Underground, which is a large shopping mall complex.