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From: bob@islenet.UUCP (Bob Cunningham)
Newsgroups: net.rumor,net.misc.coke
Subject: Re: Classic Coke vs. Original Coke
Message-ID: <1426@islenet.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 1-Aug-85 05:20:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: islenet.1426
Posted: Thu Aug  1 05:20:57 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Aug-85 07:24:18 EDT
References: <3376@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: Hawaii Institute of Geophysics
Lines: 47
Xref: linus net.rumor:847 net.misc.coke:201

Pre-1980 Coca-Cola used 100 per cent sugar (sucrose) as its sweetener.  The
firm in stages permitted the use of high fructose corn syrup and -- upon the
demise of regular coke -- allowed 100 per cent use of the lower-cost
fructose.  When cold, there is apparently a virtually undetectable
difference in taste between the two ... except that fructose's sweetness
tends to linger longer in your mouth.  Fructose tastes less sweet as it
gets warmer.  (Curiously, does this period coincide with a noticeable
decline in Coke's market share?)

"Coca-Cola Classic" apparently allows the post-1980 fructose formula,
and since it's cheaper, all Classic made -- at least so far -- apparently
uses fructose instead of sucrose.

It may be that the only place you can buy the pre-1980 formula Coke will be
in Hawaii.  Here, liquid sugar is readily available from a local sugar
refinery -- at a slightly lower cost than shipping in corn syrup sweetener.

However, "Coca-Cola Classic" won't be made nor sold in the
islands for at least two months (locally, Coca-Cola does not want Classic
to be confused with their introduction of Cherry Coke).

> I brought it home and immediately did a warm taste test against old
> original (pre-new-Coke) Coca-Cola.  The result: well, the tastes were
> very similar, but there was something slightly different. I wasn't sure
> what, so I began to assume it was psycological.  I contacted a friend
> to tell him the news and he told me to look at the ingredients (which
> he heard had changed for the Classic Coke). Sure enough, there was
> a difference:
> 
> 	CLASSIC COKE			ORIGINAL COKE
> 	------------			-------------
> 	Carbonated Water,		Carbonated Water,
> 	High fructose corn syrup	sugar, caramel color,
> 	and/or sucrose, caramel		phosphoric acid, natural
> 	color, phosphoric acid,		flavorings, caffeine.
> 	natural flavorings, caffeine.
> 
> The difference is in the sweetener. The taste difference is only slight,
> but I think the Classic Coke 'feels' heavier in the stomach. I still
> will drink it of course.  There is one other difference that I noticed
> in appearance: when Classic Coke is poured into a glass, the foam goes
> away quickly. In old original Coke, the foam does not fizzle out as
> quickly -- this was quite noticable.
-- 
Bob Cunningham  {dual|vortex|ihnp4}!islenet!bob
Hawaii Institute of Geophysics Computing Facilities
Honolulu, Hawaii