Even Coca-Cola Is Looking Into Chinese Herbal Medicines
Even though Coca-Cola’s "secret formula" is about 120 years old, they still are looking to push the boundaries of food and beverages can do for you. And if they can make a few bucks helping you get healthy, why not? Coca-Cola can be found in almost every country on the planet and is especially thirsty for the lucrative Chinese market. In order to be more Chinese, they are looking into the ancient system of Chinese herbal medicines.
Beijing Base
In mid October of 2007, Coca-Cola announced grand plans for its Beijing base, incorporating the modern taste and convenience of Coca-Cola with traditional Chinese herbal medicines. The plan is to have many combinations of these herb powders in the Coca-Cola, giving, what Coke’s vice president and chief scientific officer says, "the insights and benefits of [traditional Chinese herbal medicines to consumers all over the world."
The Beijing base was opened in 2004 in order to start research on how to make healthier Coke. Chinese herbal medicines contained the knowledge while Coke contained the marketing power and the money. In this way, Coca-Cola hopes to not only promote holistic health, but corner the market in it.
Is This A Good Idea?
Combining Chinese herbal medicines into Coca-Cola is theoretically possible. And it would make taking the Chinese herbal medicines a bit more palatable. It is hoped that the cost of the Chinese herbal medicine-formulated Coca-Cola can be much less than the small batches of pricey medicines currently available.
Most Chinese herbal medicines are distributed not as raw botanicals, but as a concentrated powder form made from extractions of the raw material. This not only makes the medicine last longer, but makes it easy to mix in water, applesauce or tea. Since the powders are already used in liquids to administer, why not stick it into Coca-Cola?
The question is whether the Chinese herbal medicines powders will still be as effective in the planned line up of Coke drinks than taken as it is now. Coke plans to do a lot more research before putting any drinks on the market. Unlike most governments, Coca-Cola has the money for intensive research.
Coca-Cola isn’t just limiting production ideas of a new Chinese herbal medicine drink line to just fizzy soft drinks. They are also looking at the possibility of marketing ready made teas, bottled water, juices and energy drinks. Coca-Cola knows that people are being more health conscious and might turn from carbonated soft drinks altogether in the near future. Perhaps Coke needs to survive with the help of Chinese herbal medicine.
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