Post #576267 by jingleheimerschmidt on Tue, Feb 15, 2011 3:03 PM

per wikipedia:

Despite the name, the primary flavoring ingredients in a cola drink are sugar, citrus oils (orange, lime, or lemon fruit peel), tamarind, cinnamon, vanilla, and an acidic flavorant. Manufacturers of cola drinks add other trace ingredients to the drink in addition to these flavorings in order to create distinctively different tastes for each brand. Trace flavorings may include nutmeg, lavender, and a wide variety of ingredients, but the base flavorings that most people identify with a cola taste remain vanilla and cinnamon. Kola nuts, which have a bitter taste, although giving their name to the product contribute little or no flavor to most cola recipes, as they are rarely actually used as an ingredient. Acidity is often provided by phosphoric acid, sometimes accompanied by citric or other isolated acids.