I didn't see the full video, but in a nutshell its quite some effort.
For a person who has a bad tastebud like me, every dark colored carbonated drink tastes almost the same to me :(
It would be interesting to know more about how it's actually manufactured and whether he has ideas about why the classic formula was changed -- maybe something to do with the cost of one of the steps, which the video suggests could be true, as it's damn complicated
At a high level: probably they buy flavors from the flavor houses by the rail car or tanker truck and mix them with water, sweetener, and gum Arabic. I’ve seen it at much smaller scale, but I bet Coke has some amazingly large machinery given the scale.
Perfect meaning tasters would be initially fooled, but would correct themselves and note that the tastes were slightly different in A/B testing. The formula wasn't cracked it was emulated to a high degree of accuracy.
There have been a number of taste tests that show that, when blindfolded, most people can't distinguish between Coke and Sprite, let alone Coke and a close imitation, without the visual cue: throw together enough sugar, acid, and carbonation, and it overwhelms the body's ability to distinguish taste. It's a story often repeated in marketing (like Twitchells' Branded Nation), because forging a distinction between indistinguishable parity products is marketing's job.
Most people prefer Pepsi's taste. Unless the brands are revealed, then the brand recognition sets in and your brain rewards you more for choosing Coca Cola (c)
So you can taste it, but that doesn't matter in the end.
This is irrelevant and misleading. Just because many people cannot tell flavors apart doesn’t mean that the products are parity and are marketing differentiated.
Sure the majority of people cannot tell flavor notes apart but there exists a certain % of the population that can very reliably distinguish different tastes. Wine sommeliers, fine dining, food science are all professions which require a sensitive palate and smell and it is an over simplification to talk about sodas tasting the same for the majority of people as if it implies there is no difference or speciality in crafting taste.
That link actually clearly says down in the body that they could pick the lemon lime out from the colas, which makes sense.
Throwing together sugar, acid, and carbonation does not overwhelm your sense of taste. Thats most bottled beverages. If you believe this, you should see a doctor.
But many beverages are very similar to other beverages. It’s not an inherent flaw in taste perception that Coke and Pepsi taste alike to most people, it’s that one was intentionally made to be only slightly different than the other.
Lol, and here I am choking in shock when I grab a sip from a sprite can instead of the coke that I thought it was. Turns out I was just blindly (literally) falling for marketing? I don't think so, Tim.
Now I am wondering are there any industrial processes that use a common commercial product as a standard?
Coke, Guinness, etc all probably have exquisite quality control. Is it in the manual of any equipment, “congratulations on your new FooBar pH meter. To confirm the correct operation, a CokeCola should give a reading of X”
Do we count the time some children measured the vitamin C in Ribena for a science fair, and discovered there wasn't any, despite high vitamin C being their main marketing point?
Quite informative, and a laundry list of flavor names/chemicals that sound far more dangerous than they taste. Interesting find is vinegar, which might have offered a small germ-fighting benefit and given Coca Cola the 'medical' qualities it initially sold for...
It was a reformulation from a popular drink where wine was infused with coca leaves and kola nuts, popular with Pope Leo XIII who appeared on poster advertisements for it. (and many others)
Georgia passed prohibition and coca-cola was an invention to replace the now banned beverages.
The ingredients he uses are not necessarily what CC uses, but they're just a way to replicate the flavor profile. Notably he lacks the coca extract so he has to make up for it.
Indeed, I think it is and I was given coke for my tummy as a kid so I was making the connection between coke's medicinal properties to on-the-market nausea meds.
The concentrate is produced by Ballina Beverages, then regional bottlers add the bulk ingredients like sugar and water. Hence every version being a little different.
And that's just bottlers. Fountain soda is also diluted from concentrate. So local water can affect the flavor, as can the calibration of the soda fountain. The better retailers will carbon-filter their water and check calibration regularly but the average convenience store? Varies wildly.
Random tidbit from my youth: when the Coke truck would come deliver a crate of Coke bottles to our house in Mexico, each Coke bottle had a little stick of sugarcane in it. I don't think it was like that in all places in Mexico. Street vendors would have giant unlabeled jugs of Coke, and sell it to you by pouring it into a plastic bag with a straw in it.
The marketing and trademark is more important than the formula. If you created and sold a perfect Coke clone you wouldn't make a dent in their market share. You could make one better than Coke and not make a dent because it wouldn't be Coke.
I think his idea was to make a very close copy that costs very little compared to the finished product, to e.g. save cost of your own consumption (in the video it says he made a mixture that can be mixed with water and sugar to create 5000 liters of Coca-Cola)...
I would bet that supermarket brand cola would sell more than it does now if it were closer to Coke.
I think sooner or later, everyone who drinks a lot of soda will try the store brand as well as other colas that are non-belligerents in the cola wars. Some of them are ok, some are good for some mixed drinks, some are so bad I won't even finish the pack. Even though I prefer Pepsi, if I knew brand X was pretty close to Coke, I might choose it when it costs less and money is tight.
Both Pepsi and Coke did make beverages people preferred. The Pepsi challenge did make some dent in their market share (but Coke is doing just fine) and New Coke ended up just selling more old Coke. So your story checks out
In Australia Coca-Cola isn't allowed to import coca leaf extract for flavor, so it tastes very similar to one of the 3rd party knock off brands you'll find in the US. In Australia everyone drinks Pepsi because of this. Without the coca leaf Coca-Cola tastes imo pretty terrible.
What makes this video revolutionary is he was able to find an alternative to the coca leaf that has a near identical flavor. If it's as good tasting as advertised this knowledge could empower 3rd party producers to make a coke drink that will finally rival Coca-Cola in popularity.
My country is going to require a recyclable plastic bottles. That means bringing empty plastic bottles full of air into a shop, so a machine can squash them and send somewhere.
This will bring down marketshare significantly. It's incredibly hassle, which is likely the point.
I am looking for good and cheap sodastream cola syrup, but they are very expensive.
One of the really interesting thing (to me) in this video is that the very distinctive "your whole mouth sticks and is slimy from the sugar and even your teeth feel different" can be traced from a single component that's added seemingly for this purpose. And it's the thing I can't stand with regular non-zero coke (well the sugar level too, but that's pure health thing).
It would also be very interesting if he could get his hands on coke from different markets as the formulation varies from country to country. One of the most obvious is the amount of cinnamon, but it would be very interesting to know if more differences were there.
Another interrogation of mine would be if, sugar aside, the formula is different between regular coke and coke zero. I'd bet is is, simply to offset the aftertaste that aspartam/artificial sweeteners have, but I'm curious if other non-sweetness related ingredients do change.
I'd love to get hands on this coca cola's syrup. I know that this video has just recently released but I feel like this might help in producing indie levels of quantity of syrups which can be sold to indie users
I am not even much of a coca cola person. Usually I drink Pepsi or mountain dew but this video is one of the most high efforts video I have ever watched. Period.
massive respects to LabCoatz. I seriously didn't expect this level of quality, its shocking how good youtube is. This feels so professional and well thought of in a way
I am still in high school and I was studying chemistry. I don't enjoy chemistry (In fact I complain often so much about being forced to study chem to go to a decent CS uni that even AI LLM's wrapped of 2025 picked it up on my admittedly hate on chemistry https://hn-wrapped.kadoa.com/Imustaskforhelp)
I think that the chemistry (atleast what I study) is fundamentally different from the science shown here. This is the chemistry which genuinely attracted me. Studying biomolecules and seeing the structures some of them were even familiar.
I don't know but in a sense it kind of helps an genuine interest in the subject while being genuinely practical so I thank this video creator.
Some videos are just gems, this is one of them. I was constantly thinking surely Coke is so large of a company, everyone's heard of the secret, surely someone else must have made something so effective ( I was thinking of a large company) but it turns out that large companies dont really end up doing this and its the one man shop with genuine passion to his craft (in this chemistry) which really ends up doing spectacular.
Massive respects. Can't recommend it enough right now.
Also I am thinking of one thing but what if an non profit can be established who can produce such bottles of "lab cola" perhaps at a low-mid --> high scale.
I'd genuinely support and imagine that you can buy lab cola which can be environmentally safe and the proceeds go to social causes which you can align to. Wouldn't that just be amazing?
This opens up so much more possibilities!!
Edit: I thought about the non profit idea even more and I think that this can position itself as for fundraising as well. Imagine this genuine movement of slowly owning what we actually eat no more secret recipes. This seems to be the open source of Food and I am all for it!
If one worries about the supply chain, they can supply it via amazon or local providers (yes I know Amazon is morally shitty at times but I feel like this might answer some questions that people might have about that coca cola has worldwide presence, how is it gonna compete)
One could also bootstrap the whole thing and directly sell to customers or businesses as well (the businesses can have genuine value to it, I don't think that at scale, there is much of a difference in pricing and some amount of pricing gains are okay for what its worth if the mission is noble)
Best part is that Coca Cola can do nothing about all of it and the ideas are limitless, the bottleneck was the recipe which has now been effectively reverse engineered haha. There is a genuine ability for people to bring change in beverage industry. I am certainly hyped for what its worth. Someone please contact LabCoatz if you have affiliates and give him this idea if possible or anyone implement it themselves if they follow a similar field/expertise to this. If so, I would be your first customer for the non profit :)
Huh there is so much limonene in Coca Cola?! Limonene works as a very good…pesticide and herbicide! I did a research project on limonene like 10 years ago with my mentor and it outperformed most commercial pesticides in controlled settings. It really can't be that great to ingest.
Reminded me of the book Fast Food Nation where they describe the artificial flavor industry (Chapter 5), and visit labs in New Jersey where fast food tastes are created by "flavorists". Most of the taste comes from smell, via gas molecules released in the mouth.
The book also covers how they scout out real estate, and how they create french fries by shooting potatoes at 80 mph. (A bit different from in-n-out)
Note: don't bother watching the movie, it's nothing like the book.
I don’t drink cola and I’m usually not into chemistry videos, but this was genuinely entertaining. The "Mass Spectrometry" and “What do other people think?” segment was especially fun; great pacing and presentation. LabCoatz is my first chemistry channel subscription :)
I don't drink much soda, maybe a coke once a year. Over the years the taste of coke has changed. Every year when I get that craving and drink one, it tastes different. So either the recipe has changed multiple times and there isn't one true coke flavour, or my taste buds might be faulty.
I divide Coke into USA vs ROW. The HFCS stuff in USA tastes absolutely nothing like the cane sugar Coke from anywhere else, which is why everyone is always trying to buy the Mexican stuff in the USA.
I used to be a big fan of Coke and Dr Pepper and rarely drink soda anymore. I stopped for health reasons though I still enjoy a nice ice cold Coke or Dr P. I once read up on the flavor of Coke which is said to be mostly cinnamon and vanilla and something strange happened: coke went from tasting like coke to tasting like cinnamon in vanilla. It's like how you cant un-hear muddled song lyrics you mistook for something else until you read the lyrics and they became clear. Same with Dr Pepper: vanilla and caramel. Sort of ruined the flavors for me for a while. Made giving it up easier.
One night I Was shopping, passed the soda, and a thought popped into my head: why not try to make my own soda? I have pure vanilla extract, cinnamon and sugar. So I bought a case of seltzer and spent the night making my own Dr Pepper and Coke. I caramelized sugar in a sauce pan for the Dr P which came out pretty good. Overall they were decent analogs but not anywhere near perfect. It was a fun itch to scratch.
Coke is nasty, literally feels like my teeth are dissolving the moment I drink it. Not to detract from the amazing science. I am still guilty drinking the sugarfree redbull and for soda if I would drink it, mountain dew.
59 comments
[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 82.1 ms ] threadhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/food/1982/0...
So you can taste it, but that doesn't matter in the end.
Sure the majority of people cannot tell flavor notes apart but there exists a certain % of the population that can very reliably distinguish different tastes. Wine sommeliers, fine dining, food science are all professions which require a sensitive palate and smell and it is an over simplification to talk about sodas tasting the same for the majority of people as if it implies there is no difference or speciality in crafting taste.
Throwing together sugar, acid, and carbonation does not overwhelm your sense of taste. Thats most bottled beverages. If you believe this, you should see a doctor.
But many beverages are very similar to other beverages. It’s not an inherent flaw in taste perception that Coke and Pepsi taste alike to most people, it’s that one was intentionally made to be only slightly different than the other.
Coke and Pepsi are a lot closer but still distinguishable.
Coke, Guinness, etc all probably have exquisite quality control. Is it in the manual of any equipment, “congratulations on your new FooBar pH meter. To confirm the correct operation, a CokeCola should give a reading of X”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sealy_Gosset
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3103
Georgia passed prohibition and coca-cola was an invention to replace the now banned beverages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucose/fructose/phosphoric_ac...
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/pickyourpoison/exhibition...
Which version ? In EU it tastes different in almost every country.
https://www.youtube.com/@MassSpecEverything
is a great resource. He breaks down lots of the things you might be interested in.
I think sooner or later, everyone who drinks a lot of soda will try the store brand as well as other colas that are non-belligerents in the cola wars. Some of them are ok, some are good for some mixed drinks, some are so bad I won't even finish the pack. Even though I prefer Pepsi, if I knew brand X was pretty close to Coke, I might choose it when it costs less and money is tight.
What makes this video revolutionary is he was able to find an alternative to the coca leaf that has a near identical flavor. If it's as good tasting as advertised this knowledge could empower 3rd party producers to make a coke drink that will finally rival Coca-Cola in popularity.
This will bring down marketshare significantly. It's incredibly hassle, which is likely the point. I am looking for good and cheap sodastream cola syrup, but they are very expensive.
It would also be very interesting if he could get his hands on coke from different markets as the formulation varies from country to country. One of the most obvious is the amount of cinnamon, but it would be very interesting to know if more differences were there.
Another interrogation of mine would be if, sugar aside, the formula is different between regular coke and coke zero. I'd bet is is, simply to offset the aftertaste that aspartam/artificial sweeteners have, but I'm curious if other non-sweetness related ingredients do change.
I am not even much of a coca cola person. Usually I drink Pepsi or mountain dew but this video is one of the most high efforts video I have ever watched. Period.
massive respects to LabCoatz. I seriously didn't expect this level of quality, its shocking how good youtube is. This feels so professional and well thought of in a way
I am still in high school and I was studying chemistry. I don't enjoy chemistry (In fact I complain often so much about being forced to study chem to go to a decent CS uni that even AI LLM's wrapped of 2025 picked it up on my admittedly hate on chemistry https://hn-wrapped.kadoa.com/Imustaskforhelp)
I think that the chemistry (atleast what I study) is fundamentally different from the science shown here. This is the chemistry which genuinely attracted me. Studying biomolecules and seeing the structures some of them were even familiar.
I don't know but in a sense it kind of helps an genuine interest in the subject while being genuinely practical so I thank this video creator.
Some videos are just gems, this is one of them. I was constantly thinking surely Coke is so large of a company, everyone's heard of the secret, surely someone else must have made something so effective ( I was thinking of a large company) but it turns out that large companies dont really end up doing this and its the one man shop with genuine passion to his craft (in this chemistry) which really ends up doing spectacular.
Massive respects. Can't recommend it enough right now.
Also I am thinking of one thing but what if an non profit can be established who can produce such bottles of "lab cola" perhaps at a low-mid --> high scale.
I'd genuinely support and imagine that you can buy lab cola which can be environmentally safe and the proceeds go to social causes which you can align to. Wouldn't that just be amazing?
This opens up so much more possibilities!!
Edit: I thought about the non profit idea even more and I think that this can position itself as for fundraising as well. Imagine this genuine movement of slowly owning what we actually eat no more secret recipes. This seems to be the open source of Food and I am all for it!
If one worries about the supply chain, they can supply it via amazon or local providers (yes I know Amazon is morally shitty at times but I feel like this might answer some questions that people might have about that coca cola has worldwide presence, how is it gonna compete)
One could also bootstrap the whole thing and directly sell to customers or businesses as well (the businesses can have genuine value to it, I don't think that at scale, there is much of a difference in pricing and some amount of pricing gains are okay for what its worth if the mission is noble)
Best part is that Coca Cola can do nothing about all of it and the ideas are limitless, the bottleneck was the recipe which has now been effectively reverse engineered haha. There is a genuine ability for people to bring change in beverage industry. I am certainly hyped for what its worth. Someone please contact LabCoatz if you have affiliates and give him this idea if possible or anyone implement it themselves if they follow a similar field/expertise to this. If so, I would be your first customer for the non profit :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TuKola
The book also covers how they scout out real estate, and how they create french fries by shooting potatoes at 80 mph. (A bit different from in-n-out)
Note: don't bother watching the movie, it's nothing like the book.
the original chemist who made Coca Cola was a genius
approximately 0.2 g per liter
One night I Was shopping, passed the soda, and a thought popped into my head: why not try to make my own soda? I have pure vanilla extract, cinnamon and sugar. So I bought a case of seltzer and spent the night making my own Dr Pepper and Coke. I caramelized sugar in a sauce pan for the Dr P which came out pretty good. Overall they were decent analogs but not anywhere near perfect. It was a fun itch to scratch.