The Coca Cola secret formula is one of the best kept secrets in recent history...and I hate secrets. So, naturally, I deciphered it with the help of mass spectrometry and created a chemically-identical replica!
The previous flavor concentrate giveaway has concluded, and the promoting segment in the video has been removed. All research samples have been sold!
A massive thanks to Vince from @Neptunium and Ben from @MassSpecEverything, their mass spectrometry work is truly what made this video possible!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYN5sNOiA6s
An additional shoutout to @GlenAndFriendsCooking and @HowToCookThat, who put out excellent videos on making cola, and especially to @Artofdrink, who has several highly educational beverage-related videos, as well as one of the best colas I've tasted!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWaNiwcQK2M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VG-gvzr-8g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2yLvseG5UM
Finally, thanks to @Nighthawkinlight for demonstrating orthogonal (Taguchi) arrays in his video!
CURRENT RECIPE: same as video, no changes yet!
Here's the research paper I referenced throughout this project:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jf504954p?ref=article_openPDF
WARNING: concentrated phosphoric acid is mildly corrosive and undiluted flavors and essential oils can be irritating or toxic. Never consume, unless properly mixed and diluted to safe levels. Tea tree oil is not GRAS (generally recognized as safe to eat), although the few microliters added to this cola shouldn't cause health issues due to the low dosage and similarity to the chemical makeup of other sodas.
0:00 Secrets secrets secrets
1:18 A fool's errand...or not?
2:56 What's in Coke?
3:29 Coca (but not cola)
4:10 Flavor basics and early trials
7:17 Mass spectrometry (thanks Vince and Ben!)
9:12 Research papers and key discoveries
11:54 Spreadsheet time
12:20 The missing flavors
13:44 A year of testing
14:23 A BIG discovery...we nailed it
15:27 How to make Coca Cola
17:16 Mixture A: 7X flavor
18:47 Mixture B: water-based ingredients
19:46 Mixing up the cola
21:41 What do other people think?
23:27 Looking forward
Comments (0)