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OpenCola

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Re: OpenCola

#61

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

throwitaway222 wrote: post #54
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If you had the energy to do so, you could try to replicate his results, i.e. buy a Mexican Coke, an American Glass Coke, and an American Can Coke, and decant them all into glasses or cups at home, then see if you can taste the difference.

If all your brain/tongue perceives as horrible is the taste of the aluminum can, you could always switch to buying Coke in glass bottles, which are more expensive than cans but still cheaper to buy in bulk than Mexican Cokes, and can be found at most grocery stores.

Or, if being limited to Mexican Coke means it reduces your overall soda consumption because you're only able to drink it when you're near a Home Depot, keep doing what you're doing. You'll probably be healthier for it.

Re: OpenCola

#62

Post by mise_en_place »

throwitaway222 wrote: post #54
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Most soda is too sweet for me. I really enjoyed Club Mate, quite a bit more refreshing and way less sweet than Coca-Cola.

Re: OpenCola

#63

Post by OkayPhysicist »

0110101001 wrote: post #59
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.

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…

Having also done blind taste tests, I can pretty reliably pick out the mexican coke, but I agree that it's unlikely that someone would love one but not the other in a cup.

I think the real differentiator is drinking out of a glass bottle vs. a can.

Re: OpenCola

#64

Post by ink_13 »

throwitaway222 wrote: post #49
crazygringo wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First of all, surface salt doesn't taste nearly as good as food that is salted throughout. Every chef knows this. Not to mention that salting foods before cooking changes their texture as well. This is why a steak that is salted an hour before grilling is far more flavorful and has a better texture than one cooked without salt, but salted at the table. And it's not a subtle difference, either -- we're talking night-a…

That might be true, but it takes toooo much salt. So I prefer to salt after cooking, right before eating because it requires way less and gives roughly the same effect. The reason a chef "knows this" is because if you judged their food with or without salt, the salt one would win, so in the end they're required to add waaay to much salt, when the tongue just needs those surface crystals. Healthier to salt after, and…

> gives roughly the same effect

It does not, and that can (and has been!) be empirically shown. Salt gets into the food and changes both chemical properties and how it responds to cooking. Pre-seasoned meats, for example, are more tender.

If you prefer to salt at the table, by all means, eat your food however you like it, but it is simply false to claim that there's no difference or "chefs just add too much salt".

Re: OpenCola

#65

Post by beeboobaa »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #61
throwitaway222 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If you had the energy to do so, you could try to replicate his results, i.e. buy a Mexican Coke, an American Glass Coke, and an American Can Coke, and decant them all into glasses or cups at home, then see if you can taste the difference. If all your brain/tongue perceives as horrible is the taste of the aluminum can, you could always switch to buying Coke in glass bottles, which are more expensive than cans but stil…

> If all your brain/tongue perceives as horrible is the taste of the aluminum can, you could always switch to buying Coke in glass bottles

Or just pour it in a glass?

Re: OpenCola

#66

Post by Scoundreller »

wyre wrote: post #56
Scoundreller wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“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"

I could be misremembering. Looking at what is probably the product, yes, it says “spices” and also “artificial flavour”, but no cinnamon by name:

https://www.amazon.ca/Imperial-Cinnamon-Spread-250g/dp/B00FO...

Re: OpenCola

#67

Post by waltbosz »

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

I once worked on a project for a company that made food flavoring products. I helped build their digital cookbook.

They had different recipes for the same flavor depending on the usage. For example, ranch chip powder and ranch dip would have different ingredients and cooking instructions.

Also that had so many different ways just to make vanilla flavoring depending on the customer's needs. So two soda makers might use different artificial vanilla flavorings.

Re: OpenCola

#69

Post by 0110101001 »

OkayPhysicist wrote: post #63
0110101001 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Having also done blind taste tests, I can pretty reliably pick out the mexican coke, but I agree that it's unlikely that someone would love one but not the other in a cup . I think the real differentiator is drinking out of a glass bottle vs. a can.

I could still taste the difference after decanting to a cup. I felt like it was still mostly can/bottle, but didn't have an American bottle to use as a control.

There definitely is a subtle difference. I was about to pick out the different drink reliably. It's just hard to imagine the difference is make-or-break between enjoying and intolerable for anyone. And it less likely comes from the sweetener and more from the Mexican water versus the water at your local Coca-Cola bottler.

West coast Coke vs East coast Coke would be an interesting test I've never thought about doing.

Re: OpenCola

#70

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

beeboobaa wrote: post #65
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you had the energy to do so, you could try to replicate his results, i.e. buy a Mexican Coke, an American Glass Coke, and an American Can Coke, and decant them all into glasses or cups at home, then see if you can taste the difference. If all your brain/tongue perceives as horrible is the taste of the aluminum can, you could always switch to buying Coke in glass bottles, which are more expensive than cans but stil…

> If all your brain/tongue perceives as horrible is the taste of the aluminum can, you could always switch to buying Coke in glass bottles Or just pour it in a glass?

That would be a different test, methinks?

You're assuming that the taste is only affected by what it's being served in, not how the liquid was transported. For all we know, aluminum imparts some sort of off-flavor into the Coke itself that the OP doesn't like, in which case it wouldn't matter if he decants it into a glass first--it would already have been "tainted" by being held in the aluminum can.

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