EBME Forums Forums Free discussion Out of Hours Who Drinks Coke ?

Coca-Cola is no more "just chemicals" than the salt and vinegar on yer fish'n'chips is (sodium chloride and acetic acid from 4% to 8% by volume in water with trace amounts of tartaric, citric, and other acids).

Thats like describing a human being as 65% oxygen, 18% carbon, 10% hydrogen, 3% nitrogen, 1.5% calcium, 1.2% phosphorous with progressively decreasing traces of potassium, sulfur, chlorine, sodium, magnesium, iron, cobalt, copper, zinc, iodine, selenium fluorine and some others. Accurate, but not Angelina Jolie.....

Recipe attributed to a diary owned by Coca-Cola inventor, John S. Pemberton, just before his death in 1888.
Ingredients:
1 oz (28 g) caffeine citrate
3 oz (85 g) citric acid
1 US fl oz (30 ml; 1 imp fl oz) vanilla extract
1 US qt (946 ml; 33 imp fl oz) lime juice
2.5 oz (71 g) "Merchandise 7X"
30 lb (14 kg) sugar
4 US fl oz (118.3 ml; 4.2 imp fl oz) powder extract of cocaine (decocainized flavor essence of the coca leaf)
2.5 US gal (9.5 l; 2.1 imp gal) water
caramel "sufficient to colour/flavour"

[Merchandise 7X: = 80 oil orange, 40 oil cinnamon, 120 oil lemon, 20 oil coriander, 40 oil nutmeg, 40 oil neroli]

Recipe attributed to pharmacist John Reed.
30 lb (14 kg) sugar
2 US gal (7.6 l; 1.7 imp gal) water
1 US qt (950 ml; 33 imp fl oz) lime juice
4 oz (110 g) citrate of caffeine
2 oz (57 g) citric acid
1 US fl oz (30 ml; 1.0 imp fl oz) extract of vanilla
3/4 US fl oz (22.18 ml; 0.78 imp fl oz) fluid extract of kola
3/4 US fl oz (22.18 ml; 0.78 imp fl oz) fluid extract of coca

Recipe from "Food Flavorings: Composition, Manufacture and Use".
Makes one 1 US gallon (3.8 l; 0.83 imp gal) of syrup.
Yield (used to flavor carbonated water at 1 US fl oz (30 ml; 1.0 imp fl oz) per bottle): 128 bottles, 6.5 US fl oz (190 ml; 6.8 imp fl oz).
5 lb (2.3 kg) of sugar with just enough water to dissolve the sugar fully.
(High-fructose corn syrup may be substituted for half the sugar.)
11/4 oz (35 g) of caramel, 1/10 oz (3 g) caffine, and 2/5 oz (11 g) phosphoric acid.
Extract the cocaine from 5/8 drachms (1.1 g) of coca leaf (Truxillo growth of coca preferred) with toluol; dry the cocaine extract.
Soak the coca leaves and kola nuts (both finely powdered; 1/5 drachms (0.35 g) in 3/4 oz (21 g) of 20% alcohol.
California white wine fortified to 20% strength was used as the soaking solution circa 1909, but Coca-Cola may have switched to a simple water/alcohol mixture.
After soaking, discard the coca and kola and add the liquid to the syrup.
Add 1 oz (28 g) lime juice or a substitute such as a water solution of citric acid and sodium citrate at lime-juice strength.
1/2 drachms (0.89 g) lemon oil,
1/4 drachms (0.44 g) orange oil,
1/10 drachms (0.18 g) cassia (Chinese cinnamon) oil,
2/5 drachms (0.71 g) nutmeg oil, and, if desired, traces of coriander, lavender, and neroli oils,
Add to 1/4 oz (7 g) of 95% alcohol and shake.
Add 1/10 oz (2.8 g) water to the oil mixture and let stand for twenty-four hours at about 60 °F (16 °C). A cloudy layer will separate.
Take off the clear part of the liquid only and add the syrup.
Add 7/10 oz (20 g) glycerine (from vegetable source, not hog fat, so the drink can be sold to Jews and Muslims who observe their respective religion's dietary restrictions) and 3/10 drachms (0.53 g) of vanilla extract.
Add water (treated with chlorine) to make a gallon of syrup.

clearly the whole point of cola dissapeared when they ceased adding cocaine to it. What we have nowadays is the marketing of a commercial class 1 drug beverage that the authorities do not know contains anything "risqué", but now with no "special" ingredient or experience.

My conclusion is that cola is basically another tax on the stupid.

Is it any more a "tax on the stupid" than Tesco's "Hint of Elderflower" or "Hint of Lemon" stuff - where you pay for a bottle of tap water with a homeopathic amount of lemon flavouring..... at least The Coca Cola Company put a bit of effort into the flavouring.

And then - people squeeze some fruit, leave it so long it goes off and starts fermenting, bottle it up and sell it for big money. They buy milk, let it go sour and sell it as health-enhancing yoghurt. And we buy the stuff !!! Seems we'll buy most anything if it is flavoured with bullshit.

Out of interest, Steve, what drinks do you imbibe?

With pleasure Teflon

When I am at work I drink tea or water (free stuff from the drinking fountain).
When I am at home I drink tea or beer.

Well - tea and beer "just taste like chemicals" and are, by your argument, a tax on the stupid.....

We've come a long way from the 3% tea tax (1770), but in chemical terms:
Tea colour comes from
Theaflavins = Yellowish brown
Thearubigins = Reddish brown
Flavonol glycosides = Light yellow
Pheophorbide = Brownish
Pheophytin = Blackish
Carotene = Yellow

Tea taste comes from
Polyphenol = Astringent
Amino acids = Brothy
Caffeine = Bitter
Theaflavins = Astringent
Thearubigin = Ashy and slight astringent

Tea flavour comes from
Linalool, Linalool oxide = Sweetness
Geraniol, Phenylacetaldehyde = Floral notes
Nerolidol, Benzaldehyde, Methyl salicylate, Phenyl ethanol = Fruity flavours
Trans-2-Hexenal, n-Hexanal, Cis-3-Hexenol, Grassy, b-Ionone = "Fresh" flavour

The list of "other" compounds goes on for pages..... and as for beer, don't get me started, either on the chemical nature of it or, worse, the 28% excise tax with VAT on top of that (yup - they tax us on the taxes.....)

British beer drinkers pay the highest tax on beer in the EU, and are currently paying over £3 billion excise duty and VAT annualy. VAT will soon rise to 20%, and they are talking about a 5% hike in the excise tax too.

And water is "just" the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen.....

Me? I love beer, probably more than is good for me, and make tea in the pot (warmed) using loose-leaf, half Assam and half Darjeeling. Addicted to it too. But then - I myself am just some chemicals in water <grin>