Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

OpenCola

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 121 posts

Re: OpenCola

#51

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

andsoitis wrote: post #47
throwitaway222 wrote: post #46

I can't stand canned US coke. I have to drink mexican coke, which is sold at Homedepot near me. They seem to be selling those at $1 per bottle pretty well.

I believe, but could be wrong, that the differentiating factor is that coke from Mexico is made with sugar.

Cane Sugar vs high-fructose corn syrup, yes. That's the conventional wisdom.

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt did a study where he concluded that people who think they like Mexican Coke more than Regular Coke simply enjoy tasting Coke out of a glass, and the perceived cane-sugar vs HFCS may just be a placebo:

https://www.seriouseats.com/coke-vs-mexican-coke

But YMMV. Even having read that study, I still prefer Mexican Coke.

Re: OpenCola

#52

Post by Scoundreller »

wackget wrote: post #30

OpenCola always gets passed around but for me it just represents the tip of a very frustrating iceberg. There are tons of flavor formulations I'd love to know - not because I'm a chemist or a food scientist but just out of sheer curiosity and the desire to learn how stuff is made. I wish people would research other flavors, e.g.: * Bubblegum * Tutti Fruitti * Irn-Bru

“Artificial flavor” and “natural flavor” is an exemption on labelling I’d like to see disappear.

Once I bought “cinnamon spread” and it didn’t have cinnamon in the ingredients. The company refused to tell me if “natural flavors” included cinnamon. (I’m sure it did because cinnamon is cheap, but c’mon).

And yeah, a lot of alcohol products get exempted from ingredient labelling for some reason. Should be treated like food is.

Re: OpenCola

#53

Post by wyre »

andsoitis wrote: post #47
throwitaway222 wrote: post #46

I can't stand canned US coke. I have to drink mexican coke, which is sold at Homedepot near me. They seem to be selling those at $1 per bottle pretty well.

I believe, but could be wrong, that the differentiating factor is that coke from Mexico is made with sugar.

I learned/realized recently it's only because of the US's deeply entrentched subsidies on corn that allows for HFCS to be cheaper than sugar and why it's so heavily used in processed foods.

Re: OpenCola

#54

Post by throwitaway222 »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #51
andsoitis wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe, but could be wrong, that the differentiating factor is that coke from Mexico is made with sugar.

Cane Sugar vs high-fructose corn syrup, yes. That's the conventional wisdom. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt did a study where he concluded that people who think they like Mexican Coke more than Regular Coke simply enjoy tasting Coke out of a glass, and the perceived cane-sugar vs HFCS may just be a placebo: https://www.seriouseats.com/coke-vs-mexican-coke But YMMV. Even having read that study, I still prefer Mexican Coke.

I would love to do a blind taste test. It could also be the aluminum can.

Even if a placebo, it's still true - I can't stand canned coke. I can't drink it, the taste to me is horrible.

Re: OpenCola

#55

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

Scoundreller wrote: post #48
chewbacha wrote: post #28

plain granulated white table sugar: 2.36 kg whoa.

Does the granulation really matter here?

Not really, since you're gonna boil it until it dissolves. But I'm assuming the recipe says granulated sugar instead of, say, confectioner's sugar, because the latter often adds corn starch or potato starch to the sugar as an anti-caking agent, so you might not be getting the correct amount of actual sugar in the solution.

Re: OpenCola

#56

Post by wyre »

Scoundreller wrote: post #52
wackget wrote: post #30

OpenCola always gets passed around but for me it just represents the tip of a very frustrating iceberg. There are tons of flavor formulations I'd love to know - not because I'm a chemist or a food scientist but just out of sheer curiosity and the desire to learn how stuff is made. I wish people would research other flavors, e.g.: * Bubblegum * Tutti Fruitti * Irn-Bru

“Artificial flavor” and “natural flavor” is an exemption on labelling I’d like to see disappear. Once I bought “cinnamon spread” and it didn’t have cinnamon in the ingredients. The company refused to tell me if “natural flavors” included cinnamon. (I’m sure it did because cinnamon is cheap, but c’mon). And yeah, a lot of alcohol products get exempted from ingredient labelling for some reason. Should be treated like f…

AFAIK real cinnamon isn't included in the umbrealla of "natural flavors" which are isolated compounds. If it contained real cinnamon it would list cinammon, or at least "spices"

Re: OpenCola

#57

Post by quercusa »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #51
andsoitis wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe, but could be wrong, that the differentiating factor is that coke from Mexico is made with sugar.

Cane Sugar vs high-fructose corn syrup, yes. That's the conventional wisdom. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt did a study where he concluded that people who think they like Mexican Coke more than Regular Coke simply enjoy tasting Coke out of a glass, and the perceived cane-sugar vs HFCS may just be a placebo: https://www.seriouseats.com/coke-vs-mexican-coke But YMMV. Even having read that study, I still prefer Mexican Coke.

Wait for Spring and find some yellow-capped 2L bottles of Coke. Those are Kosher for Passover so they don't contain any grain (corn), just cane sugar.

Re: OpenCola

#58

Post by Scoundreller »

beeboobaa wrote: post #24
nataliste wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Acid-sugar taste-hacking is something that has bothered me for quite a while. We know that sodium consumption can be drastically reduced by adding salt at table rather than adding it directly to food. Why doesn't this happen with sugar? Why not make desserts that take advantage of the fact that surface sugar will make it seem to be sweeter than it actually is and just have table sugar?

That would require the company to 1) Care about their customers' health, which they have no reason to 2) Be willing to risk brand damage by exposing how much sugar is in their garbage 3) Be willing to "burden" users with the task of adding sugar which isn't "convenient" It's far easier to just feed people garbage while you're making $$$

> 3) Be willing to "burden" users with the task of adding sugar which isn't "convenient"

Some people like rituals with their addiction.

Seeing the sugar being added may create the perception of more sweetness than there is. (But also guilt, so it can go both ways).

Re: OpenCola

#59

Post by 0110101001 »

andsoitis wrote: post #47
throwitaway222 wrote: post #46

I can't stand canned US coke. I have to drink mexican coke, which is sold at Homedepot near me. They seem to be selling those at $1 per bottle pretty well.

I believe, but could be wrong, that the differentiating factor is that coke from Mexico is made with sugar.

Having done triangle tests with Mexican Coke and HFCS Coke, I find it unbelievable someone "can't stand" one and enjoys the other.

Mexican Coke doesn't use cane sugar anymore. But when it did, I'd read that the sucrose in peak-era Mexican Coke broke down into a HFCS-similar mix of fructose and glucose in the drink's acidity anyway.

I'm convinced the Mexican Coke thing is just some hipster thing, and Coca-Cola is glad to exploit it.

Re: OpenCola

#60

Post by golergka »

I was hoping to find the original recipe with coca leaves. I've just spent almost three months in Columbia and Peru, where coca tea is everywhere — it's much gentler and better alternative to coffee. I really wish it was exported to the rest of the world.
Post reply on HN