Posted by HansVanEijsden 1/8/2026
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.
Haven't done a side-by-side comparison, though, so maybe it's just my memory of my childhood tastebuds.
Children have a much more sweet tooth than adults, so it may be the reason you did not notice it, as it would not necessarily register as bothersome. I liked to bite into direct sugar cubes as a kid, which I would definitely not stand today.
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...
the original chemist who made Coca Cola was a genius
The original formula contained coca leaves (the raw material for cocaine) and extract from kola seeds (that's where the name comes from).
Beverages containing cocaine were very common until the beginning of the century (search for "Vin Mariani"). Even today you can buy coca leaves in the supermarkets of some Latin American countries (Bolivia, Peru, etc).
An huge corporation using the raw material of cocaine to produce the most popular soda in the world would be the funniest story of our times.
Coca Cola does still use coca leaves for its flavor:
"In a telephone interview from Coca-Cola's Atlanta headquarters, Randy Donaldson, a company spokesman, said, ''Ingredients from the coca leaf are used, but there is no cocaine in it and it is all tightly overseen by regulatory authorities.''"
...
"Bales of coca destined for Stepan and, ultimately, for Coca-Cola are shipped to the Maywood plant through ports in New York and New Jersey, Mr. O'Brien said. Each shipment carries its own import permit, also issued by the D.E.A."
* https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/01/business/how-coca-cola-ob...
Just a lot of sugar
Wait 'til you find out what water can do.
I do get your point, but really, it's just corrosive in a different way than the usual highly corrosive stuff we consume daily.
That's just acidic, orange juice will do the same thing. But perhaps you are amazed people are willing to consume orange juice too!
Chemistry is scary to those who don’t understand it because it gets used for this type of sophistry.
Also I'm not sure how the pH level of a food is relevant to anything
Sour is one of the main "flavors"
The non-nutritive sweeteners in their pure form are wild too. They are 2 + orders of magnitude sweeter than sugar and they come in very fine powders. You have to mask up when you work with them if you don’t want to taste vague sweetness for awhile.
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.
* Importing coca-cola extract with coca extract is legal
* Coca Cola is significantly more popular than Pepsi in Australia
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.
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.
