Which plant pod inspired the Coca-Cola contour bottle shape?

The Coca-Cola contour bottle was inspired by a cocoa pod. In 1915, designers at the Root Glass Company searched for a distinctive natural form that could give Coca-Cola a recognizable package shape.

Earl R. Dean and Clyde Edwards reportedly consulted an illustrated reference book while researching Coca-Cola’s ingredients. They found an image of a cocoa pod, whose elongated, ribbed form suggested the curves and vertical fluting that became the bottle’s signature silhouette. The designers had initially expected to find images of coca leaves or kola nuts, but the cocoa pod provided the more useful shape.

This is a frequent source of confusion because “cocoa” and “kola” both appear in Coca-Cola’s early ingredient history. Kola nuts contributed to the drink’s name and flavor tradition, but the bottle’s shape was modeled after a cocoa pod, not a kola pod, coffee pod or vanilla pod.

The resulting design was patented in November 1915 and adopted by Coca-Cola in 1916. Its distinctive contours later became so closely associated with the brand that the bottle shape received U.S. trademark protection in 1961.