waters@viking.DEC (Lester Waters PCSG) (07/31/85)
Well, I finally got some Classic Coke! I brought it home and immediately did a warm taste test against old original (pre-new-Coke) Coca-Cola. The result: well, the tastes were very similar, but there was something slightly different. I wasn't sure what, so I began to assume it was psycological. I contacted a friend to tell him the news and he told me to look at the ingredients (which he heard had changed for the Classic Coke). Sure enough, there was a difference: CLASSIC COKE ORIGINAL COKE ------------ ------------- Carbonated Water, Carbonated Water, High fructose corn syrup sugar, caramel color, and/or sucrose, caramel phosphoric acid, natural color, phosphoric acid, flavorings, caffeine. natural flavorings, caffeine. The difference is in the sweetener. The taste difference is only slight, but I think the Classic Coke 'feels' heavier in the stomach. I still will drink it of course. There is one other difference that I noticed in appearance: when Classic Coke is poured into a glass, the foam goes away quickly. In old original Coke, the foam does not fizzle out as quickly -- this was quite noticable. All in all, I think the old original Coke is (was) the best -- the sweetener makes a difference, though minor. Classic Coke is good. I don't like the new Coke at all. Lester Waters ...!decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-viking!waters (UUCP) Waters%Viking.DEC@DECWRL (ARPA)
bob@islenet.UUCP (Bob Cunningham) (08/01/85)
Pre-1980 Coca-Cola used 100 per cent sugar (sucrose) as its sweetener. The firm in stages permitted the use of high fructose corn syrup and -- upon the demise of regular coke -- allowed 100 per cent use of the lower-cost fructose. When cold, there is apparently a virtually undetectable difference in taste between the two ... except that fructose's sweetness tends to linger longer in your mouth. Fructose tastes less sweet as it gets warmer. (Curiously, does this period coincide with a noticeable decline in Coke's market share?) "Coca-Cola Classic" apparently allows the post-1980 fructose formula, and since it's cheaper, all Classic made -- at least so far -- apparently uses fructose instead of sucrose. It may be that the only place you can buy the pre-1980 formula Coke will be in Hawaii. Here, liquid sugar is readily available from a local sugar refinery -- at a slightly lower cost than shipping in corn syrup sweetener. However, "Coca-Cola Classic" won't be made nor sold in the islands for at least two months (locally, Coca-Cola does not want Classic to be confused with their introduction of Cherry Coke). > I brought it home and immediately did a warm taste test against old > original (pre-new-Coke) Coca-Cola. The result: well, the tastes were > very similar, but there was something slightly different. I wasn't sure > what, so I began to assume it was psycological. I contacted a friend > to tell him the news and he told me to look at the ingredients (which > he heard had changed for the Classic Coke). Sure enough, there was > a difference: > > CLASSIC COKE ORIGINAL COKE > ------------ ------------- > Carbonated Water, Carbonated Water, > High fructose corn syrup sugar, caramel color, > and/or sucrose, caramel phosphoric acid, natural > color, phosphoric acid, flavorings, caffeine. > natural flavorings, caffeine. > > The difference is in the sweetener. The taste difference is only slight, > but I think the Classic Coke 'feels' heavier in the stomach. I still > will drink it of course. There is one other difference that I noticed > in appearance: when Classic Coke is poured into a glass, the foam goes > away quickly. In old original Coke, the foam does not fizzle out as > quickly -- this was quite noticable. -- Bob Cunningham {dual|vortex|ihnp4}!islenet!bob Hawaii Institute of Geophysics Computing Facilities Honolulu, Hawaii
jlw@ariel.UUCP (J.WOOD) (08/04/85)
> It may be that the only place you can buy the pre-1980 formula Coke will be > in Hawaii. Here, liquid sugar is readily available from a local sugar > refinery -- at a slightly lower cost than shipping in corn syrup sweetener. Since<all> the coke(tm) syrup in the world is made at coke's main plant in Atlanta, GA, the price of sugar in Hawaii doesn't mean anything. The only thing the bottling plants put in the soup is the carbonated water. Maybe as they used to say for Oly, "It's in the water." :-) Joseph L. Wood, III AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Holmdel (201) 834-3759 <ariel!>titania!jlw
larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (08/07/85)
> > It may be that the only place you can buy the pre-1980 formula Coke will be > > in Hawaii. Here, liquid sugar is readily available from a local sugar > > refinery -- at a slightly lower cost than shipping in corn syrup sweetener. > Since<all> the coke(tm) syrup in the world is made at coke's > main plant in Atlanta, GA, the price of sugar in Hawaii doesn't > mean anything. The only thing the bottling plants put in the ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > soup is the carbonated water. Maybe as they used to say for ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Oly, "It's in the water." :-) NO WAY! The 'flavoring agent' for Coke and Pepsi both come as a *two* part mixture in plastic 5-gallon pails. The 'A' and 'B' flavoring agents are mixed with locally obtained liquid sugar [I use this term in general] in batch tanks. The resultant mixture is then tested for color using comparison tubes, tested for pH, and tested for 'sugar' content using a refractometer. This syrup is then metered with demineralized, dechlorinated water and then it flows to a carbonator where it is chilled and mixed with CO2. Bottling plants get their liquid sugar in 5,000 gallon tank trucks. The liquid sugar accounts for the vast majority of the syrup weight. The reason why complete syrup is not distributed by Coke and Pepsi is simple - the high cost of freight. I have done some process control work for the beverage industry, and I know the above for a fact. Larry Lippman Recognition Research Corp. Clarence, New York UUCP {decvax,dual,rocksanne,rocksvax,watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry {rice,shell}!baylor!/ syr!buf!/ VOICE 716/741-9185 TELEX {via WUI} 69-71461 answerback: ELGECOMCLR "Have you hugged your cat today?" a
egk@lll-crg.ARPA (Edjik) (08/08/85)
The fact that corn syrup is used in coke should be no mystery to people who take Caltrain between SF and the south bay. Caltrain passes right next to the coca cola bottleing company of SF, where there always was a huge tank car or two labeled "corn sweetner" Also, isn't corn sugar called Dextrose and not frutose? Do they mix frutose in with the dextrose to get this "high frutose corn syrup" or what? --E+