Taste Test: Is Mexican Coke Better?.

[TampaYankee]

Taste Test: Is Mexican Coke Better?

by Serious Eats, on Wed Sep 7, 2011

If there's one thing this country is really great at, it's coming up with clever new ways to take what is a completely normal product, apply a bit of subtle psychological manipulation, convince people that it's something special, and sell it at a jacked up price.

I'm talking here about Mexican Coke, and I do so not without a hint of irony, because I myself am a firm believer in its superiority over regular old American Coke. I mean, how could it not be better? Real sugar instead of corn syrup. Glass bottle instead of aluminum or plastic. The cachet of seeing the words refresco and no retornableprinted instead of plain old pedestrian "refreshing."

But here's the thing. More than once in the past, I've discovered that the brain has a powerful effect on the taste buds. Free-range eggs taste better? Nope. Darker colored eggs taste better. Is New York pizza better when made with New York tap water? Nope. At least my panel of experts couldn't tell the difference. I've done tests where I've fed an entire room full of people two batches of identical carrots, labeling one as organic and the other as conventional. Unsurprisingly, they unanimously pick the carrots labeled organic as superior in flavor every single time, even when they are two halves of the same carrot.

Is it possible, however unlikely, that somehow we—the cult of Mexican Coke lovers—are all being hoodwinked? Does Mexican Coke really taste better? This week, we're gonna find out.

Behind The Bottle

First off, before we even get to the tasting, let's examine the differences between regular old American Coke and Mexican Coke.

•Mexican Coke contains: Carbonated water, sugar, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors, caffeine.

•American Coke contains: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors, caffeine.

The Tasting

For the purposes of my taste test there were a couple of criteria I had to set up first:

•Mexican Coke would come in bottles, American coke would come in cans. Of the packaging widely available in America (plastic or aluminum), aluminum is less reactive, less porous, more opaque, has a longer shelf life, and is thus more likely to give me a product that simply tastes more like it should.

•All Coke must be served ice cold. Bottles and cans would be stored in the fridge then placed in an ice water bath for at least 1 hour before tasting.

•All Coke must be as fresh as possible. According to Annette, canned Coke and Mexican glass-bottled coke both have a shelf life of 9 months (plastic bottle coke, on the other hand, starts losing bubbles after a mere 10 weeks). I managed to find cases of Mexican Coke and American Coke with expiration dates within a week of each other next April.

Here's what I tested in my first round. All tests were carried out completely blind. Tasters were brought one at a time to taste and did not discuss their answers with either myself nor any of the other tasters until all responses were completely collected. For each taster, tests were administered in a completely random order (both in terms of test order and sample order), and fresh bottles and cans were opened for each taster. In cases where liquid had to be poured from one vessel to another, the utmost care was taken to ensure a minimal loss of carbonation. Tasters were asked to pick their favorite from within each sample set of two.

The Tasters and the Feelers

The spread of results I got from this initial testing was surprising to say the least, and answered one thing for sure: There is a perceivable difference in the flavor between Mexican and American Coke, despite the best efforts of the Coca-Cola company to convince us otherwise.

So that settles it. America reigns supreme in the Coke flavor wars, right? Not so fast. Looking closer, we see something even more interesting: Half of the tasters seemed to have no real preference between American and Mexican Coke, while the other half of the tasters unanimously chose American Coke as their favorite for nearly every test, regardless of the vessel it was served in. We'll call these folks the Tasters—the ones who let their tongues and noses do all the deciding.

The Tasters pick out American Coke as superior to Mexican Coke a full 7 times out of 8.

When you take the Tasters out of the pool in order to determine what the other half are basing their tasting decision on, everything becomes clear: the other half of the tasters unanimously picked Coke served out of a glass bottle as their favorite for nearly each and every test, regardless of whether the liquid in there was Mexican or American Coke. We'll call these folks the Feelers—the ones who care more about the tactile sense of the bottle against their lips or in their hands than the minor differences in flavor or aroma that the product inside may have.

So just to sum up here:

•People prefer American Coke to Mexican Coke from a pure flavor and aroma standpoint.

•People prefer glass bottles to aluminum cans from a purely tactile standpoint.

Read the rest over on Serious Eats >>.

See oringal article at:

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/taste-test-is-mexican-coke-better-2544634/

[Lucky]

A long time ago, actually about 8 weeks ago, Mexican Coke was discussed in this forum in a thread started by yours truly:

http://www.maleescortreview.com/forum/index.php?/topic/7320-whats-in-a-coca-cola/page__p__40002__hl__coke__fromsearch__1#entry40002

As I mentioned there, I am a fan of Mexican Coke. Forget the article above. Mexican Coke has a smoother, cleaner taste. The sugar is what we grew up with. Now, American Coke uses high fructose corn syrup, which has a thick feel to it, and the aftertaste is not as smooth a sugared Coke.

So, my answer is yes.

[TampaYankee]

I don't know what Mexican Coke (cola) tastes like but I have vivid memories of Coke as a kid. Ice cold, sweating, thick glass bottle right out of the machine, on a hot summer day, for a nickel; with a swig puncuated by a sweet taste with a heavy burning sensation as it traversed down my gullet, due to very heavy carbonation. One of my faves. Can't get that today in my grocery store or out of any machines in my neck of the woods.

[Lucky]

One thing I agree with the article about is the need to get the Coke as cold as possible before drinking. I put my Mexican Coke bottle in the freezer for 13 minutes before drinking it. (It freezes at about 14 minutes!)

Now, TY, I also drank those nickel Cokes that tasted so good. What were they sweetened with? Sugar! And that's why Mexican Coke wins the taste test hands down.

The 7 of 8 in the study above were probably raised on American Coke, and that's what they are used to. So naturally they would pick that one in the taste contest.

But those of us who grew up with sugared Coke find that sugar is the only way to go in a soda. And don't use ice in the drink. It just waters down the flavor. Get it cold in the freezer first!

[RA1]

From the old days, you are talking about 6 ounce Cokes, right? That is what you got out of a machine for a nickel, then 6 cents, later. I had at least two older family members who thought that when the 10 ounce bottle came along that it tasted different. I never pinned them down but I think they thought the 10 ounce bottle was the same 6 ounces + 4 ounces of carbonated water, which, of course would have diluted the taste.

Pepsi had a series of blind taste commercials several years ago which claimed that there was no difference or Pepsi tasted better under those conditions. Any opinions about that?

Best regards,

RA1

[Lucky]

Let's not bring Pepsi into this. That would be like talking about girls in a thread on the joys of gay sex! Start another thread if you wish!

But you are right abut the 6 oz. bottle...it did seem to have the best taste.

Coke prices stayed at a nickel for 70 years, partly because the vending machines at the time could only handle a single coin.

[RA1]

If you don't want to talk about Pepsi, just ignore the comment.

When they first raised the price to 6 cents, the machines that I remember had a metal tube attached to the machine. In reality, it was an honor system because the machine had no way of "knowing" if you put a penny in the tube or not.

Best regards,

RA1

[Guest hitoallusa]

What a cute expression. I love it. I don't rarely drink coke so I have nothing to say on this thread. But I do think organic vegetables taste better. I really want to try one of those blind tasting experiments.

Let's not bring Pepsi into this. That would be like talking about girls in a thread on the joys of gay sex! Start another thread if you wish!

[seattlebottom]

Don't know about Mexico, but Coke in Chile and Argentina tastes very different than their American parent. It is much sweeter and effervescent.

[Guest hitoallusa]

Well McDonald combo meals taste different too in foreign countries, especially in Asia. They are instructed to change the oil for frying french fries once in a while but some local chains never do or come up with ways to reuse the oil that should be discarded. Nowadays, they add chemicals so they can use oil longer.

[BiBottomBoy]

In the past I've found that Mexican coke tends to be cut with baby laxative that has sort of an acrid taste while European coke tends to be cut with benzocaine which is sweeter.

[lookin]

In the past I've found that Mexican coke tends to be cut with baby laxative . . .

This also explains why South-of-the-Border theme parties are such festive affairs, albeit with frequent trips to the bathroom.

[BiBottomBoy]

Exactly!

[lookin]

The 7 of 8 in the study above were probably raised on American Coke, and that's what they are used to. So naturally they would pick that one in the taste contest.

A pretty well-documented phenomenon: folks tend to like what they grew up with.

Good cooks were often confounded that their kids preferred a can of Campbell's tomato soup to something made fresh from natural ingredients. Even that old standby has morphed through the years as the good folks at Campbell's tinkered with the formula to save a penny here and a penny there. I just noticed they don't call it Cream of Tomato any more.

>

Small wonder. The current ingredient list looks pretty minimal: tomato puree (which is made from water and tomato paste), water, high fructose corn syrup, wheat flour, salt, vegetable oil, flavoring, ascorbic acid and citric acid. Note that Campbell's has also discovered the joy of cooking with high fructose corn syrup.

And why won't they even name the specific "flavoring" that buttresses their flagship product? Do they think we're better off not knowing?

Lucky, once again mille pardons for highjacking one of your most estimable threads. They so often seem to be foundational threads that just beg to be built upon and taken in new directions. I couldn't resist.

[RA1]

The Campbell's Tomato Soup ingredients that you list are bad enough but one that you did not mention may be the worst and that is sodium. According to the label, each can has approximately 2.5 servings with each serving containing 710 mg of sodium or 30% of the adult MDR. If one were to consume a whole can, one would have already had 75% of the daily amount of sodium.

US citizens in particular need to reduce their intake of salt. If you never added any salt at the table or while cooking, you would still get much more than you need every day. That would be without ever eating fast food or "processed" food, also.

I am not trying to claim I am that careful with my diet but I am at least aware and trying to do better.

Best regards,

RA1