Transcription
Translator: Walaa Mohammed
In 1910, the Nimrod expedition in Antarctica was in dire straits. Led by Ernest Shackleton, the team had set a record for the furthest point south ever reached. But after miscalculating how long it would take to return to the nearest supply depot, the crew ran out of food. They resorted to their medical kit after being overcome by exhaustion and despair. It contained a medicine called "Forced March tablets," which promised to alleviate hunger and prolong endurance, thanks to the potent combination of its two ingredients: cocaine and African kola nut extract. After taking the pills, the team was able to press on and reach safety.
So how did the kola nut, a sacred West African ingredient, end up in Shackleton's emergency kit? And how did this very combination of kola nut and cocaine make its way into the original recipe for a drink consumed by billions of people daily?
The kola nut is the seed of the kola tree, a small evergreen native to the tropical forests of West Africa, where it has long been an integral part of the cultural fabric of many communities. Among the Igbo, the bitter nut is known as the food of the gods. In Igbo homes, it is customary to greet and honor guests by breaking the seed and sharing the lobes. Within Yoruba communities, kola plays a central role in many religious ceremonies, such as weddings, funerals, and divination.
Kola nuts can contain up to 2.5% caffeine, or about twice the concentration found in coffee beans, along with trace amounts of the structurally similar compound theobromine. Both molecules stimulate the central nervous system, causing effects such as alertness and increased blood flow to the muscles and lungs. It is these properties that likely led to the long-standing use of kola in traditional West African medicine.
But there is also a bitter side to the history of the kola nut. As early as the 10th century, it was used by various groups in West Africa as currency to purchase captives across the Sahara. In the 16th century, Portuguese and Afro-Portuguese traders in the region similarly exchanged the seeds for people, then sold them into slavery across the Atlantic. By the 17th century, the kola nut had made its way to the Americas. Brazilian oral histories tell of enslaved people smuggling the seeds across the Atlantic in their clothing and hair. Enslavers who learned of the nut's stimulant properties often weaponized it, providing it to subjugated laborers to spur on more arduous work. However, in places like Jamaica, Cuba, and Brazil, many enslaved communities managed to cultivate kola on their own, allowing them to maintain and continue practicing their cultural and religious traditions.
In the late 19th century, the kola nut captured the attention of pharmacists in Europe and North America. Many, with little evidence, claimed the nut held myriad medicinal and even mind-altering properties. Tonics, chocolates, and lozenges containing kola soon lined pharmacy shelves. They were combined with extracts from coca leaves, the source of cocaine, to create Chackleton's Forced March tablets, which were also supplied to British soldiers during World War I.
In 1886, Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton used this same potent combination to create the original recipe for Coca-Cola, which he claimed could cure ailments such as headaches, indigestion, and impotence. By the 1920s, African kola nut exports had slowed, thanks in part to the introduction of another stimulant seed from the region: the cocoa bean. Around this time, Coca-Cola is also said to have significantly reduced the kola nut in its recipe, but no one knows for sure—the exact ingredients remain a closely guarded trade secret. We do know, however, that the company had removed all traces of cocaine by 1903.
Today, the kola nut can still be found in many beverages and dietary supplements, such as Bissy tea, a staple in many Jamaican households. Believed to have first been brought to the region on slave ships in the 17th century, this tea is just one example of how the kola nut, despite its bitter past, continues to serve as a powerful symbol of cultural preservation and remembrance.