Mexican Coke
By way of Jason Kottke, I came up this article by Tom Ragan in the Santa Cruz Sentinel: “Mexican Coke: The ‘Real Thing?’”
It’s popping up just about everywhere in Latino communities across the United States: Mexican-made Coca-Cola in those old glass bottles, somewhat of an anomaly in the age of the plastic liter and twist-off cap.
Slightly worn and a bit gritty from all the coming and going, the 12-ounce bottles, which sell for roughly $1.25 a pop, are being bought up and sucked dry at record clips in cities across the country with large Latino populations.
The article proffers two explanations for this surge in the popularity of imported Coke. The first is that it’s served in old-fashioned tall glass bottles. The second is that it’s sweetened with sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.
Ragan spoke to Coca-Cola Company spokesman Mart Martin (I am not making that name up), and Ragan tried his best to pin the craze entirely on the bottles
“We believe that the appeal of Mexican Coke is as much about nostalgia as it is about anything,” says Martin. “It’s like getting a piece of home in a bottle. You can’t deny the fact that it’s in a tall glass bottle, something you just can’t find in most parts of the United States.”
But it’s the “same exact product,” and Mexican bottlers are buying the ingredients straight from the company, says Martin.
“It’s not like they’re stirring it up in some backyard,” he adds. “Coke is Coke is Coke.”
The company, however, rarely elaborates on Coke’s ingredients, and the secret formula is actually in a vault in a bank in Atlanta. Instead, the company line all along has been that there is “no perceptible taste difference” between Mexican Coke and the American-made Classic Coke.
The old-fashioned bottles certainly have some nostalgic appeal, but it’s the difference in sweeteners that is fueling this craze. The idea that they’re the “same product” or that there’s “no perceptible taste difference” is hogwash.
I first tried Coke made with real cane sugar a few years ago while on vacation in the Dominican Republic. The difference wasn’t merely perceptible, it was shocking. The first few sips were more unsettling than pleasing, producing a dichotomous sensation of “this tastes like Coke/this does not taste like Coke” at the same time. By the end of the first bottle, though, I wanted more. The only thing that kept me from rotting away all my teeth during that week was that our resort’s “free beverages” policy also included beer.
For Coca Cola to claim these two beverages are the “same” even though they use entirely different sweeteners is preposterous. It’s not like sweetener is just a trace element in the Coke recipe—they’re second only to carbonated water in the ingredients list.
The simple truth is that cane sugar tastes much better than high-fructose corn syrup, but high-fructose corn syrup is way cheaper than sugar. Or at least it is here in the U.S. thanks to government corn subsidies.
17 Responses
I absolutely agree. I had “The real thing” in Panama last year (for 35 cents, before the 10 cent refund for the bottle). Head and shoulders above american Coke. Thanks for finally explaining why.
There’s plenty of evidence that says that high fructose corn syrup leads to higher fat uptake than sugar, so not only does it taste better, its healthier too (relatively speaking).
I love a good sugar-based soda and have always heard about the Mexican Coke. However, all of the glass bottled Mexican Coke sold around here in the supermarkets and Mexican groceries lists High Fructose Corn Syrup as the sweetener in the ingredients list on the bottle. Does it list sugar on the bottles sold in your towns?
What you need more of is:
http://bevnet.com/reviews/boylans/
“Boylan’s Sugar Cane Cola”
Yeah, Boylan’s is good. Goose Island is also great. I just looked again while I was at the market and the Hecho En Mexico glass Coke bottles have stickers on them that list the calories and ingredients, with HFCS as the second ingredient. Hmm.
The lable may say “High Fructose” but if it’s a Mexican bottke w/ the funky lable there’s cane sugur inside.
Try a taste comparison and you can tell.
I’ve heard that Dr. Pepper (aka – nectar of the gods) is available in sugar-sweetened form from a bottling plant in Texas. This sounds too good to be true – any confirmation?
The taste and nostalgia factor are both valid points, but I think it’s also important to point out the cultural influence Coke has had throughout Latin America.
Mexico’s current president Vicente Fox started out at Coca Cola as a delivery driver and ended his career there overseeing all of Coke’s Latin American operations which are substantial.
Our term “soda” is synonymous with “Coca” in Latin America. In most places in Mexico (My family is from Mexico. I am first generation American.) if you order a “soda” you’ll get a Coke.
Those little old men or young boys along the border riding around on modified bicycles with iceboxes displaying the Coke logo are not just for tourists. It’s how they and many generations before them have made a living.
Being here in Cuba, I can get to taste regularly the Mexican Coke (yes, the embargo exists, but Cuba can buy American products from independent exporters at other countries).
What sells here are cans (about €0.70 – €1) or 2L bottles (€2,15) —I can ascertain the prices of those products because as closed economy, the government fixes the prices for everything everywhere.
When I first came to Cuba, I came from just travelling to US and I perceived the difference of taste. Until now I didn’t know why the US Coke tasted different from the one which sells in my country (Brazil) or the one from Mexico, but surely it was different. The one explanation I had was that you guys had “the real Coke”.
Reading now here and at Wikipedia I realized that the difference probably resides at the sugar. In Brasil, we also use sugar to sweeten the Coke (sure, we are one of the biggest producers of sugar cane in the world and our cars use alcohol as fuel —alongside w/gasoline). Myself, I prefer the non “real Coke”, which is why when I used to live in US I started drinking Mountain Dew instead.
Anyway, as we’re discussing about Cokes, I would like to bring one interesting trivia: in Brazil Coca-Cola produces different types of Coke depending where they are marketed. One notorious example is that the Coke from Rio de Janeiro is more sweet than the ones from throughout the country because people there usually prefer Pepsi (which is sweeter) rather than Coke. And the Coke from the northeast of Brazil has less gas than the ones from the south and southeast because people there prefer fruit juices than sodas.
Also in Brazil is still very common those 290ml tall glass bottles from Coca-Cola.
Sugar based Dr. Pepper is indeed available from the bottling plant in Dublin, Texas:
http://www.dublindrpepper.com/
You can get it in the US around Passover. Yellow bottle tops, little Kosher symbol. I wrote about it earlier today because I was enjoying it ever so much.
I’m under the impression that all the Coke available at my local mega-mart is made with real Sugar.
That’s in Canada, anyway.
nice to see so many people discussing this online. we are just back from a trip to Central America and we got a chance to drink plenty of soda pop with REAL sugar. Pepsi even tastes better down there. Sorry to see that Coca Cola has bullied would-be importers in this country. There IS a HUGE difference.
I have to totally agree, I have been buying both mexican coke and pepsi at the many taquerias that are located in Chicagoland. I much prefer the taste to the “american” versions.
Working for a company that is based in Plano, TX, and being a fan of Dr. Pepper (the Dr. Pepper company is based in Plano, along with Frito-Lay), I have been advised by my co-workers/Dr. Pepper-aholics to search out the original recipe Dr. Pepper which is also made with cane sugar.
Time for a European perspective: Coke produced in the UK (“Uxbridge” Coke) tastes significantly different from those available in other European countries, and I’ve sampled grey imports of quite a few. German has a real kick, French is dull and South African is nasty. Spanish Fanta is really weak and quite rubbish.
As far as I understand it, Coke-the-parent-company simply licences the right to manufacture to local companies (Cadbury-Schwepes in the UK), and they’ll all probably be using different suppliers if not ingredients. Although this makes for an internationally inconsistant product it does allow for individual taste preferences across the world, and lets Coke-the-parent-company insulate itself against any of its licencees’ dodgey manufacturing practices. Not that that would happen, of course.
“The difference wasn’t merely perceptible, it was shocking. The first few sips were more unsettling than pleasing, producing a dichotomous sensation of “this tastes like Coke/this does not taste like Coke” at the same time.”
This is dead-on. I tried Mexican Coke for the first time a few weeks ago when I learned from the internet that it’s still sweetened with cane sugar. Fortunately, here in Arizona it’s available at almost any gas station; I’ve ignored it for years.
Anyway, I couldn’t believe how different my Mexican Coke tasted. I have had American Coke from glass bottles—the container alone doesn’t explain it. There is something about the simple, crisp sweetness of cane sugar that screams “Coca-Cola;” it could be that it more easily makes way for the complex flavors.
Coca-Cola was sweetened this way in America for 70 years; Coke with sugar is “The Real Coke.”
Has anyone done a blind taste-test between sugar-sweetened coke and HFCS coke?
I’m an American living in Germany and I like the coke here, which is sweetened with sugar, but I’m not 100 percent sure that it’s not a psychological thing. I’d just be curious how a blind taste-test would go. I once knew someone who claimed they could taste the difference between caffeine-free coke and regular coke, and I challenged him to a blind taste-test and he lost.
I also was in a lecture held by the CEO of Coca-Cola Germany and he said the whole thing about coke having different formulas in different countries is bunk (except, of course, that the sweeteners are different). He said they have really strict controls to make sure that it is the same formula no matter where you buy it.
I know he has every reason to claim that, even if it’s not true, but his claim does seem reasonable on the other hand. It is in the interest of international corporations like McDonalds, Coca-cola and Burger King to keep their product the same wherever you get it.