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OpenCola

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Re: OpenCola

#21

Post by bityard »

syntheticnature wrote: post #10
mngdtt wrote: post #3

It's really tough seeing the amount of sugar that this recipe has. Really puts things into perspective, compared to simply drinking the end product from a can.

When I was younger and drank more soda, I discovered I could grab a can of coke, pour it into a 24oz cup I had, then fill the can with water and pour that in and it tasted the same to me. If I focused on the flavor it was very subtly different, in a way that felt more refreshing -- but most of the time I was just drinking it without full focus and couldn't tell the difference. Back then I was also packing lunches for…

To my taste buds, North American candy, soda, and other sugary snacks have gotten twice to three times sweeter since I was a kid. To the point that in most cases, all you can actually taste is the sugar and nothing else. It would be interesting if someone were able to dig up a 30-year-old can of Coke or whatever and compare its carbohydrate content to modern Coke. (You can't just use the Nutrition Facts label, because that is not only a recent invention, but also companies free use it to lie about their products.)

We have a 1st-gen Coke freestyle machine in my workplace. On the rare occasion I go for it, I pick a zero-sugar variant, and I dilute it with 50% sparkling water otherwise every single flavor is way, WAY too sweet for me.

Re: OpenCola

#22

Post by phcreery »

I know nothing about the Cola recipe, but this fork seems to change some things up [1]. README says it is from "This American Life" [2] but it looks like it is closer to that of colawp.com [3].

'TAL' calls for FE Coca, Alcohol, and Vanilla but 'colawp' does not.

1: https://github.com/mmichelli/Coca-Cola/compare/master...cogn...

2: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/extras/the-recipe

3: https://www.colawp.com/colas/400/cola467_recipe.html

Re: OpenCola

#23

Post by zozbot234 »

nataliste wrote: post #15
Bluecobra wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A can of coke has almost 10 sugar cubes, it's pretty silly. The only winning move is not to play. https://www.zmescience.com/other/sugar-26072011/

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?

You can make fine powdered sugar at home with a coffee-grinder, but it will absorb moisture over time so the industrially-made variety has additives to prevent that.

Re: OpenCola

#24

Post by beeboobaa »

nataliste wrote: post #15
Bluecobra wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A can of coke has almost 10 sugar cubes, it's pretty silly. The only winning move is not to play. https://www.zmescience.com/other/sugar-26072011/

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 $$$

Re: OpenCola

#25

Post by mcphage »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #16

I bought from Cuba Cola in the past. It wasn't bad. It basically tasted like grocery-store-brand Coke. I kept the 750ml syrup concentrate in the fridge at would add an ounce or so to my water carbonator whenever I felt like having a cup of soda. It was intended to ween me off Coke, but, I'm sad to say that Coke won. I didn't bother purchasing another batch when we finished the first one. I instead graduated to buying…

> I instead graduated to buying the mini cans of Coke rather than the full-sized ones.

You're a better person than I—I find those mini cans frustratingly unsatisfying.

Re: OpenCola

#26

Post by throwup238 »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #9
jihadjihad wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the recipe for the syrup [0], not the final beverage. The final beverage would obviously be diluted, to the given ratio of 7:1 in favor of carbonated water. The water/sugar ratio for the OpenCola syrup is nearly 1:1, which is the same ratio as simple syrup [1]. 0: https://github.com/cognitom/OpenCola/blob/master/recipe.mark... 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrup#Inverted_sugar_syrup

Coke is still ~40 grams of sugar per 12oz can. That's insanity and a quick way to give yourself diabeetus. No matter how bad you think artificial zero calorie sweeteners are, they are nothing compared to the damage that too much sugar does to your body.

12oz is about 355 milliliters or 355 grams of liquid, meaning that 12oz can is more than 11% sugar by mass.

Re: OpenCola

#27

Post by pseingatl »

kevinmchugh wrote: post #14
andrewmcwatters wrote: post #11

People repeatedly say online that we know the Coca-Cola recipe, it's been leaked, etc., so it's not a secret, but it's clear doing some casual afternoon reading that whatever the exact composition is, it's not public knowledge. All of the recreations that you can find readily available online and through videos "come close" or are "their own thing, but pretty decent," etc. At best, what we think we know of Coca-Cola…

Even if you had the recipe, you can't get decocainized coca, which only the Coca Cola company can import.

Actually, it's the Stepan Corp. in New Jersey that holds the importation license. After ridding the coca leaves of methyl benzoyl ecgonine, they supply Coca-Cola with the denatured product for use in formulating the beverage.

Re: OpenCola

#29

Post by lbourdages »

mcphage wrote: post #25
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #16

I bought from Cuba Cola in the past. It wasn't bad. It basically tasted like grocery-store-brand Coke. I kept the 750ml syrup concentrate in the fridge at would add an ounce or so to my water carbonator whenever I felt like having a cup of soda. It was intended to ween me off Coke, but, I'm sad to say that Coke won. I didn't bother purchasing another batch when we finished the first one. I instead graduated to buying…

> I instead graduated to buying the mini cans of Coke rather than the full-sized ones. You're a better person than I—I find those mini cans frustratingly unsatisfying.

To me they are perfect. I enjoy a Coke from time to time, but I get tired of it pretty quickly - too sweet. The small cans are just perfect.

Re: OpenCola

#30

Post by wackget »

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

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