Every once in a while the ethnic section of my grocery store gets in some Mexian Coke and today I was able to buy the last 2 bottles.

They stil use sugar cane instead of corn syrup when they make Mexican Coke and the taste is much much better. Coke switched to corn syrup in the US in the late 80's due to cost purposes but they lost a lot in taste.

Another bonus with the Mexican Coke is that it comes in a glass bottle which seems to enhance the taste and it also gets colder and stays colder.

I just hope that I will be able to wait to drink it until my girlfriend gets here so we can enjoy them together. Occasionally I will buy us ice cream and eat both containers before she arrives The beauty part is that if I didn't tell her I was buying Ice Cream she is none the wiser so she doesn't really miss it.

be careful, i hear they cut that shit with baby laxatives.

Anx said:

I wouldn't even care

Anx said:

lovemachine said:

Enjoy it while you can, Mexico recently announced it would be switching to corn syrup, so tragic!!



.

gabeez said:

gabeez said:

Really? My understanding is that Mexico still uses cane sugar because: 1) it's a major crop there; and 2) the Mexican government heavily taxes corn syrup to protect the sugar cane industry, so it's actually cheaper for Coke to use cane sugar in Mexico.

Anyway, I too greatly prefer the Mexican version. There's a coffeehouse in my Seattle neighborhood that used to carry it. I was disappointed when they stopped selling it, and I didn't feel like paying the shipping cost for glass bottles to have it delivered to my home... but I was just sent a tip about a convenience store in my neighborhood that stocks all sorts of "rare" sodas, including both Mexican Coke and Pepsi.

lovemachine said:

Agreed about the glass bottles. I'm told that the taste of Coke in cans and plastic bottles is affected by trace amounts of aluminum or plastic seeping into the soda. I don't know if it's true... maybe it's just a placebo effect... but I do prefer my Coke in a glass bottle.

As for the switch to corn syrup in the U.S., it actually happened in 1980. Some people think the infamous "New Coke" of 1985 was simply intended to divert attention from the change to corn syrup; i.e., Coke hoped people would be too happy about the return of "Classic Coke" to notice that at the same time, the cane sugar had been replaced with corn syrup. However, that simply isn't true, as "old Coke" had already contained corn syrup for five years then.

I knew Matt would post on this thread sooner or later .


You guys seem to be true Coke afficionados....I also prefer Coke with cane sugar and in glass bottles.I´ll try to get some German, Turkish and Thai Coca Cola for you, I´m sure I`ll see you sometime, maybe at the next big Paisley event.

Coke in glass bottles and with cane sugar is alright but you should definitely check out Fritz Cola from (Hamburg?) Germany and/or Afri Cola....but Afri Cola sold the rights to another company and as far as I know there is the fake stuff in big bottles and the real deal in small glass bottles.

Hardcore fans even went so far as to invest some money and create a new brand based on the original Afri Cola recipe...do some research , try to find a bottle and enjoy !!!It´s worth the effort , believe me..Original Afri has that kind of old school cola flavor, very strong, and an incredibly high amount of caffeine, around 250 mg. in a small bottle ( Fritz Cola also has the same amount).

It´s a 70´s cult classic over here but hard to get these days.


I can´t wait til Coca Cola Blak comes out...hope it´s going to be some strong stuff.

Two other things about cane-sugar Coke:

1) A few U.S. bottlers in areas with a large number of Jewish residents will make Coke with cane sugar for sale during Passover... apparently corn products are not kosher during Passover. I haven't had any luck finding it here in Seattle, though, even at supermarkets that have many Jewish customers and a section devoted to kosher products.

2) Until recently, it seemed as if cans of U.S. soda would usually say something like "High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar" on the ingredients list... I assume the idea was that they could use cane sugar if they temporarily ran out of corn syrup. However, the references to "sugar" have now disappeared, at least around here.

Back when I was a kid in the 70s, I had a pretty large pop can collection. I came across a can of Diet Rite Cola that stated right on it "Now with SUGAR!"

What's Mexican Coke?

Rinluv said:

Maybe these guys would know.

we have both the corn syrup coca cola and the sugar coca cola in the glass bottle.

coca cola with sugar is much tastier but coca cola with corn syrup makes me feel better when my stomach is sick.

KoolEaze said:

I just came back from the store with a bag full of bottles... my source was correct... here's a sample of what I purchased:



Only $1.59 + tax for a 12-ounce bottle, which isn't bad, considering all the hoops distributors jump through to get the stuff into the U.S. (they do it legally) and the fact that I live up north by the Canadian border.

I love sugar canes.

unlucky7 said:

have you tried sugar cane juice squeezed straight out of the cane?

we have sugar cane in our coke here too I noticed a huge difference in taste when I tried some coke from US - it's more fizzy here too.

charlottegelin said:

I got it from where my parents are from, the islands...yeah I bit right into it. SO yeah straight from the cane.

unlucky7 said:

...sugar cane...

matt said:

And I'm outing myself as your source. I want cool ex-girlfriend points.

I tried the regular Moxie. HATED it. And you're right, it does taste like root beer with a splash of red wine.

Still like the cherry, though.

Did you get any of the pirate soda? That was pretty good.

My favorite is still the Mexican Coke.

TMPletz said:

matt said:

Hate to get all technical/detailed, but you challenged me:

"The Mexican government is now considering using provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to protect its sugar industry. "We're considering resolving the tax issue and substituting it with an import tariff under the NAFTA framework," said Hugo Perezcano, director of international trade negotiations at the Secretaria de Economia (SE).

Corn syrup could replace sugar in Mexican soft drinks

Unrestricted importation of high-fructose corn syrup could result in a change in the formula used to manufacture soft drinks in Mexico. The change could especially affect Coca-Cola, one of the more popular soft drinks in Mexico. The company sold 2.28 billion unit cases of Coca-Cola in Mexico in 2004, the second-largest national sales in the world"

http://www.allbusiness.co...985-1.html


Another words, the U.S. is using trade law loop holes to restrict importation of mexican coke containing sugar cane, if mexico switches to corn syrup, they can import - but I don't get all the details. It sounds bogus...
[Edited 2/13/06 13:12pm]

SeattleInvasion said:

Points you want, points you shall have. Thanks.



Hmmm... good thing you didn't try the "original" New England version, which (I'm pretty sure) is now made with corn syrup and has an even stronger taste. The new cane sugar West Coast version is definitely somewhat milder/smoother.

The taste of Moxie is something you either love or hate. It's hard to believe Moxie used to outsell Coke.



Nope... I've basically been stocking up on the Mexican Coke and Pepsi, buying as many bottles as I can carry at one time. BTW, when I was there yesterday, they were all out of the Pepsi, although they still had plenty of Mexican Coke.

I actually did not like Mexican Pepsi... it was so horrid to me I threw it out...

Another story on that: my girlfriend started cussing them out in Spanish because the clerk tried to charge me far greater then its peso worth as I was so obviously American..... I just laughed and listened.... she is Mexican born and took it personal I saved 80 pennies and we all left happy...

gabeez said:

[snip]

Interesting stuff. After I first posted on this thread, I started wondering whether NAFTA could result in Mexican Coke switching to corn syrup.

According to some sources, the Mexican version -- or at least some of it -- already uses a blend of corn syrup and cane sugar. (Also, the "Nutrition Facts" labels slapped on the individual bottles to make them legal for sale in the U.S. mention both sweeteners, at least around here, although the accuracy of those homemade-looking labels is questionable.) Maybe it's true, but Mexican Coke still tastes different, and better.

I've been doing a lot a reading about the whole grey-market Mexican Coke thing... I've also read allegations that the U.S. government subsidizes the corn syrup industry, and if not for the subsidies, cane sugar would be cheaper. I haven't confirmed whether that's true or not.

The other thing I don't quite understand is the claim (made by several sources) that U.S. Customs won't stop Mexican Coke imports because it's not a counterfeit product. I remember that during the Beanie Baby craze, Ty (the company that makes Beanies) was able to get U.S. Customs to limit the importation of Canadian Beanie Babies. Maybe the difference is that Coke is actually manufactured by various independent bottling companies, and thus the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta lacks standing (legal-speak for "isn't in a position") to object to the grey-market importation of Mexican Coke, on the theory that it isn't really "their" product. I dunno.

Oh, finally, after a few years of denying that there's any real difference, the Coca-Cola Company is now supposedly doing a limited test of selling Mexican Coke just north of the U.S./Mexico border. Given how big this grey-market Mexican Coke thing is getting, I wonder if Coke will respond to the obvious consumer demand and go nationwide with it. The problem is that if they do so, they're tacitly admitting:

• They weren't truthful when they claimed there was no meaningful difference.
  
• Their flagship drink (called "Coca-Cola Classic" in the U.S.) is somehow "inferior."
  
• Coca-Cola Classic isn't really the "original formula," as they claimed when they introduced the product in 1985 after the "New Coke" disaster.
  

Edit: Upon further thought, perhaps it doesn't matter whether Mexican Coke really tastes better. After all, "New Coke" beat both "old Coke" and Pepsi in blind taste tests. The problem was that people objected to the idea of changing the Coke formula. So if people think that cane sugar Coke tastes better, perhaps that's all that really matters.
[Edited 2/13/06 16:25pm]

matt said:

I cannot believe that a substantial number of people actually like Moxie. Incredible.

So, if I go and try to buy myself some MexiCoke and they're out, I have you (and so, indirectly, me) to blame? Could you always make sure to leave a bottle or two? Thanks.

Seriously, I had been in there a bunch of times without noticing the Super Fabulous Soda Case, and I happened to be with Thom (who also loves MexiCoke) when I did. We bought a TON of the stuff. . .spent like $40 on soda. . . could barely carry it all back up to my apartment. I'm pretty sure we cleaned out the MexiCoke that day.
[Edited 2/13/06 16:28pm]

SeattleInvasion said:

Sure... I promise never to clean out their supply of Mexican Coke. That's only fair, since you tipped me off to the source, and otherwise I'd have to pay the cost of shipping for heavy glass bottles. Also, many of the Internet sellers have gotten out of the MexiCoke business after getting cease-and-desist letters, so it's becoming increasingly important to find a local source.

matt said:

I'm teasing. Mostly.

Got a call from my mother today. She's been drinking Diet Coke for taste reasons ever since the 1980s, which happens to be when they switched to corn syrup in the U.S.

Anyway, she just returned from a business trip to Peru. One night at a hotel, she decided that she wanted a Coca-Cola Light (the Peruvian equivalent of Diet Coke). Well, she looked in the minibar and found that it had no Coca-Cola Light, but there were some glass bottles of "regular" Coke.

She opened one of the bottles, took a sip, and thought, "Hey, this tastes different. It's better than the Coke that I pretty much stopped drinking. In fact, it reminds me of how Coke tasted when I was a kid." She then took a look at the ingredient list, remembered what I'd told her about Mexican Coke, and discovered that it was made with cane sugar.

After enjoying her Peruvian Coca-Cola, she decided that Coke should introduce a new drink in the U.S.:

"Coca-Cola Sugar"

matt said:

Let the PEPSI AND COKE wars begin.....


M