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This reminds me of the time I went on vacation with my brother (solid coke only guy; ftr I don’t drink soda, I drink tea, that’s a whole other meltdown in similarity lol) and we wound up in a “1950’s” cosplaying shopping square. Coke memorabilia EVERYWHERE. My brother was dying cause all the stores and restaurants we’d been to were Pepsi only. He excitedly goes into the convenience store with a display window full of coca cola bottles, a coca cola fridge and a COCA COLA SOLD HERE sign.
Pepsi only lol. Next time we went on vacation I bought him a 24 pack ahead of time and made space for it in my suitcase.
Pepsi man!
“Is Pepsi okay?”
No. How dare you?The comic reminds me of a regionalism in American English. In many Southern dialects, “coke” is a generic term for soda. I personally only use the term for “brown” sodas like Dr. Pepper, root beer, Pepsi, and Coca Cola.
I’m not a soda drinker, though I do enjoy root beer occasionally. I’ve heard that the infamous New Coke disaster came about because taste tests showed consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi, so Coke changed the recipe to imitate Pepsi. However, the backlash may have been because these taste tests use small serving sizes, not full cans, so many may have enjoyed a small dose of Pepsi but not a full can.
I wonder if you just didn’t say anything, how many people would notice. They definitely taste different, but not so different everyone would immediately realize if told one way or the other.
I would be able to tell immediately. I’m not proud of it but I could probably name most American sodas by taste alone
A skill’s a skill!
I’ve actually been making various cola recipes in the meth lab I call a kitchen for the past ~2 years now, ranging from the leaked 1950s Coke recipe, Cube Cola, OpenCola, and a number of other variations, including my own sets.
In these experimentations I’ve started noticing the actual flavour differences between different colas. The issue is that these flavours are not something you’d recognise as they’re incredibly diluted. For example one recipe calls for a total of 15 MILLILITRES of various flavour oils, to make approximately 70-80 LITRES of cola. Yes you read that right, about half Oz of flavourings (sugar not included) to make 37-40 bottles of 64oz cola. In comparison, when I made my orange soda, I had to use approximately 60ml of flavourings to make TWO litres. 2oz of flavourings to make one bottle of 64oz orange soda.
And it’s insane how just a slight imbalance can alter the flavour. This recipe I mentioned calls for 0.7ml (about 6 drops) of cassia oil (basically, cinnamon). The cassia oil I sourced was so pure that that amount waaaay overpowered the other flavours and I had to tone it down to 0.25ml, nearly 1/3. Mind you that cinnamon coke wasn’t bad, just… incredibly cinnamony. Great for a bourbon mixer, pretty solid for a Long Island, but in itself it was just too strong.
Once I made it right I started experimenting, reducing it by 10-20-30%, and the flavour profile shifted a TON. We’re talking barely recognisable. under 0.2ml (so 20% reduction from baseline), the lavender (yes, lavender is part of the cola flavour ensemble!) started coming through real strong. Upping the coriander/cilantro oil from 0.02ml to 0.03ml shifted it into an incredibly spicy range - you could literally top it up with white rum and people would think you used spiced rum! Or reducing the amount of nutmeg to increase the warmth of the drink - with the slightly higher cassia oil ratio, and reduced nutmeg, this ventured into a hot choc drink made of Terry’s Choc Orange… Without the creaminess of the chocolate.
I’ve also experimented with about a dozen different citrus oils - bitter orange, sweet orange, bitter orange leaf, mandarin, tangerine, the list goes on. And they all subtly changed the flavour, like the transition between coke and pepsi. You can’t put your finger on it at first, because the main cola flavour - the same you’d get from any cola drink, including the cheap supermarket brand ones - was there, but the subtle background flavours were all so different, and again, they’re so dilute, you can’t name them proper. Just guess on what makes it different.
What’s your favorite recipe so far? I want to try it out
There really isn’t a favourite, I’d recommend you experiment yourself until you find the sweet spot for you.
Again, use the Cube Cola recipe as a basis for getting the amounts right, and try the various “leaked Coca Cola” recipes that utilise oils to get the right ratios.
For example, the ratios of the Cube Cola recipe are:
- 62 unit orange
- 50 unit lime
- 16 unit lemon
- 12 unit nutmeg
- 7 unit cassia
- 2 unit coriander
- 2 unit lavender
- 2 unit neroli
With unit being 0.01ml.
In contrast the ratios of the Pemberton recipe are:
- 40 unit orange
- 60 unit lemon
- 20 unit cinnamon
- 20 unit nutmeg
- 20 unit neroli
- 10 unit coriander
This will give you almost the same amount of oil (0.154ml vs 0.170ml), but a wildly different flavour result.
Playing with the ratios of the orange-lime-lemon will shift the base cola flavour. I personally found that mixing different orange oils instead of straight up “orange oil” (in my mix I used tangerine, clementine, blood orange, bitter orange, sweet orange, neroli, bergamot) provides a much deeper, richer cola base (think like the difference between a cheap store brand vs Pepsi). This is where you can do most of the experimenting, first try to shift around the internal ratios (e.g. Cube-Cola has it at 130 units total for the citrus oils, so keep it 130 units but feel free to go e.g. 70-46-12 on the orange-lime-lemon, or swap the lemon and lime, etc.), then the orange-to-all ratios can be tuned too (just, again, go in small steps).
Nutmeg, cassia and coriander define how “spicy” the cola tastes. They add a different kind of richness (more of a warmth really), and I can’t emphasise just how careful you have to be with these as even just a fraction more can seriously change (mostly ruin) the flavours. Especially cassia. Even in the Cube-Cola recipe I had to reduce it from 0.07ml to 0.025ml for it to not be overpowering - the Pemberton recipe on the other hand emphasises it to the point where it ISN’T overpowering (which is surprising, I know).
Neroli is optional but I found that like my previously mentioned orange base mix, it can add a subtle yet noticeable richness. Just like the spice oils, I recommend caution, move in VERY small increments when you change things.
I’d recommend you use the Cube Cola measures for unit base, as that wastes little to no oil if an experiment turns out bad.
You’re a wonderful human being, thank you for sharing!
I envy how much time you seem to have haha. Your comment was an education. Cheers!
It really doesn’t take much time though? Like, making 6-8 variants takes about an hour, and half of that is taking notes.
What leaked 1950s recipe? I don’t see one here… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_formula
It was the Pemberton recipe, not sure why I remembered 1950s though!
It sounds really interesting, BTW. Thanks for the writeup!
Hope I instilled some curiosity. Honestly it’s not even that expensive to get started with (you can get food grade oils for about $40, then all you need is gum arabic, citric acid, sweeteners and E150 for colour, and finally vanilla for a final touch), unless you want to go real fancy with adjustable pipettes and such.
The recipes are all down to ratios of the oils, so if you do begin to experiment I recommend:
- making a big batch of the base syrup (sugar, citric acid, water, vanilla, lime juice, E150, etc.) as this doesn’t change much, but ingredients can be fine-tuned at the end
- making small batches of the “7X” mix (the Cube-Cola recipe actually calls for minuscule amounts, we’re talking down to 0.05ml, so use that as a starting point and shift the ratios for the Pemberton recipe), mixing it with the gum arabic (again use the Cube-Cola recipe for ratios, this is basically to make the oils water soluble without using alcohol)
- taste test the batches, and make sure you take very strict notes (scientific method comes into play, as you will be most likely mixing 6-8 variants like I did, keeping meticulous notes as to what you changed compared to previous recipes helps honing in the right flavour)
- start with pure white crystal sugar for sweetening - various sweeteners have after-tastes or the commercial variants have additives that cause foaming or separation, so before you go sugar-free, tune in the flavour you want, then experiment with sweeteners.
- if you can get some, try phosphoric acid instead of citric acid - much more sour and has lesser health effects, meaning you can use 1/10-1/20 as much.
- neroli oil is kinda spenny but worth the money given how little you can put into the mix and still have a strong effect on the flavour.
- Do NOT go overboard with the lavender oil. In fact go super duper careful with it because one minor spill and it WILL stick around on your clothes, skin, mouth, kitchen tiles, everything, for weeks.
- same goes for cassia oil. Be very, very, very careful, unless you want to smell like you’re sticking entire cinnamon sticks up your arse.
- an adjustable pipette costs about $30, but is immensely helpful. I ended up getting a 1ml with 0.001ml stepping and a 5ml with 0.025ml stepping. Tips are cheap, and easily connected/ejected as these pipettes are designed for lab use, so you can ideally dispose of the tips without contaminating anything else. Which is important because of the previous two points.
- Mix in a tall glass. For the gum arabic mixture and beyond I recommend using a small motorised milk frother (it’s like, $5), as that fucker needs lots of work to dissolve.
- careful with heat exposure. The gum arabic base (gum arabic + water mixture before adding the oils), and the base syrup (water and sugar) can take the heat, but the flavourings - let it be the vanilla, the 7x mix, or even the caffeine citrate - can’t. Make sure that everything is room temp when mixing the latter or dealing with a mixture containing them. I once overheated the 7X mix with the milk frother by accident, and it turned out to be the most disgusting, bitterest juice straight from Satan’s asshole.
I think I’ve gotten all the generic advice down I can. I do have a bunch of notes tucked away somewhere, I’ll try to find them!
You have motivated a stranger to change their plans for next weekend.
Haha, I’m glad you feel intrigued.
Feel free to drop me a PM/chat/whatever your fedi platform supports, I check every few hours so should be able to respond with relative ease.
Also this. There is definitely room for better colas out there. I quite like the cola in Jameson Irish Raw Cola highball cans (the zero sugar ones). No idea if it would be good without the alcohol though!
Well, as I mentioned in my previous comment, some flavour profiles definitely go better with whiskey than with just themselves. I’m yet to try the Jameson’s raw cola combo yet, so can’t say if that would be the case for it too. It doesn’t seem to be available in the UK sadly.
I’d guess anyone who drinks Coke every day would notice almost immediately, I’ve seen it happen.
I’ve was at a restaurant once where I ordered Coke and they brought me Pepsi. I noticed immediately and had to get something else. I hate the taste of Pepsi.
I don’t drink them that often so I’m not sure I’d necessarily notice, but I strongly prefer Pepsi. And I have repeatedly been a bit meh about about a cola I’ve been served and discovered it was Coke.
I saw a show on Food Network or the History Channel about the history of soda in the US and they said Pepsi rose to number 3 in the US during the depression era from people doing that. A bottle of Coca-Cola was something like 5¢ for an 8oz bottle and Pepsi was also 5¢ but for a 16oz bottle. If you had guests over people would offer them a Coke but pour the glass in the kitchen from a Pepsi bottle then bring the glass out to wherever the guest was sitting.
The number 2 cola in the era was Moxie, but it declined in the soda fountain era. Originally it was only sold in bottles. If the soda jerk gave an extra pump of syrup with Coke or Pepsi it wasn’t a big deal, maybe even better. Get the ratio wrong on Moxie, though, and it was apparently bad.
If you saw on the History channel, likely the show “Foods that made America” or something similar. I’ve seen lots of it and they explain that and how the coke originated. Eventually the fights of the brands and how all that played out.
It’s nice series. I’ve seen the McDonald’s too, the pizzahut, burguer king, etc. There’s also the episodes about the chocolatea and beers. There’s another variant of the series which is about Toys and things like that.
Probably the end result and differences depend a lot on the local factory that made it. I remember not liking the taste of some other product that much and then after going on a travel, I noticed a huge difference to a product labeled the same.
Each and every product is fine-tuned to local markets. Coke will taste about the same throughout Europe but will have a starkly different flavour in the US (due to differences in sweetening, but also the base syrup flavour profile is quite different). Pepsi in my experience tends to be the most similar between different regions.
Anyone ever do the Pepsi Challenge?
I can’t notice the difference tbh
it never is
I was going to not rip off the scalp of your brother and drink his blood-juices in front of you, out of respect you see, but I was left no choice.
I hope that’s not a deal breaker.
If it’s like a human body, then the tab is the mouth and th can is the part where blood and organs would be would be and the insides of the can are the digestive system where the digestive juices and feces are.
ALWAYS!!!
