The main ingredient he is missing is coca leaf. I used to buy Mate de Coca tea from Peru/Boliva no problem. It's a decocanized coca leaf tea. Shame he didn't hunt around or try harder to get it.

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capitainenemo 7 hours ago | parent [-]

He said his first order of decocanised cocoa leaf was seized at the border. I can see that discouraging trying again, esp when he's trying to make something others could reproduce.

He did find a pretty good substitute for the primary cocoa leaf ingredient though. Also, what he made was virtually indistinguishable in the taste tests. One person said that his tasted closer to the 2L of coke than the can of coke did, which suggests the final bit could just be carbonation level of the soda stream.

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Spooky23 6 hours ago | parent [-]

That was our theory in the office when we taste tested the various cokes. The favorite by far was kosher for Passover coke. At first we thought it was the sugar vs. HFCS, but bottled Mexican coke didn’t fare as well — blind most people thought Coke Zero (which is my favorite coke) was Mexican Coke.

My theory was that the carbonation was perfect and the product was fresher, as the bottler requires rabbinical supervision and they probably make it for a limited run.

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gorkish 6 hours ago | parent [-]

There is essentially zero chemical difference whatsoever in sugar vs corn syrup coke. sucrose disassociates in the presence of an acid into glucose+fructose simple sugars. Just being carbonated will disassociate the sucrose.

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Spooky23 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I made no assertion about the taste of sugar vs. corn syrup. There are a number of products marketed as "Coke", and those products have different flavor profiles. Some use sucrose, some HFCS. It might be formulation, it might be packaging, freshness or bottling methodology. Maybe they don't tweak formulas for limited run products or in local markets like Mexico. I have no idea.

Even with the standard fountain formulation, there is a different/better flavor at McDonald's because of the standards they apply to each part of the supply chain. In a few weeks, depending on where you live, there will be two liter bottles of coke with a yellow cap. That's kosher for passover -- try it.

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JumpCrisscross 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> sucrose disassociates in the presence of an acid into glucose+fructose simple sugars

Which tastes different from pure fructose. If you want to taste them side by side, you can absolutely tell the difference. (If you've done any endurance sports, you know what I mean.)

Once digested I agree that the health effects are suspect. But tastewise, fructose, sucrose and glucose are distinct.

	▲	nkurz 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I'm confused by your reply. GP's point is that they both dissociate into simple sugars, and thus it doesn't matter what the source is. And your response says correctly that sucrose tastes different than both fructose and glucose, but I don't see how this contradicts him. There is (practically) no sucrose left. Are you perhaps thinking that "high fructose corn syrup" is predominantly fructose? The name is confusing, but it actually means that it is high in fructose relative to normal corn syrup, not that fructose predominates. HFCS is usually pretty close to 50:50 fructose to glucose, just like sucrose is: How much fructose is in HFCS? The most common forms of HFCS contain either 42 percent or 55 percent fructose, as described in the Code of Federal Regulations (21 CFR 184.1866), and these are referred to in the industry as HFCS 42 and HFCS 55. The rest of the HFCS is glucose and water. HFCS 42 is mainly used in processed foods, cereals, baked goods, and some beverages. HFCS 55 is used primarily in soft drinks. https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/high-fruct... While you can measure the difference between 55:45 and 50:50, I'm doubtful the taste difference is much.