9 ms·
Perfect meaning tasters would be initially fooled, but would correct themselves and note that the tastes were slightly different in A/B testing. The formula was
by 1970-01-01 10mo ago
Perfect meaning tasters would be initially fooled, but would correct themselves and note that the tastes were slightly different in A/B testing. The formula wasn't cracked it was emulated to a high degree of accuracy.
- Suppafly 10mo agoI didn't watch the video, but assuming they used a mass spectrometer, the end result will be identical to the real thing, anyone tasting otherwise is deluding themselves.
- tomcam 10mo agoMass spec is indeed demonstrated multiple times
- Arch-TK 10mo agoThe video explains how the gas based mass spectrometers he had (indirect) access to don't normally pick up nonvolatile compounds like tannins. It was a big breakthrough that since he didn't have cocoa leaf extract, and he basically nailed everything else, he couldn't really understand what he was missing until he realised the extract would likely contain tannins. So there may be other nonvolatile compounds which nevertheless impact the flavour profile. While a lot of flavour is in your nose, not all of it is...
- ginko 10mo agoMaybe he could have paired it with an hplc reading.
- extraduder_ire 10mo agoCoca leaf. Totally different plant. One is the source of chocolate, the other cocaine.
- Arch-TK 10mo agoYes, you're right. My mistake.
- Suppafly 9mo ago>The video explains how the gas based mass spectrometers he had (indirect) access to don't normally pick up nonvolatile compounds like tannins I'm pretty sure other types of mass spectrometers can though, correct?
- jrochkind1 10mo agoTaste buds can detect chemicals in as concentrations as low as a few parts per million, I dunno.
- hinkley 10mo agoSomeone once said the reason we had alcohol before civilization is that we carry around a chemical testing laboratory in our faces. It just so happens that everything in beer that can go wrong and hurt you (any sooner than cancer) creates a distinct aftertaste and you can learn to avoid it rather easily. The only exception of course is if you use poisonous ingredients in the first place.
- gunalx 10mo agoor instdad of ethanol have brewed methanol.
- jrochkind1 10mo agoThat's much more of a danger when distilling, just brewing with yeast it's difficult to wind up in a situation with dangerous methanol.
- ipsum2 10mo agoHe doesn't compare the mass spec of his final product to a real coke, unless I missed it.
- moron4hire 10mo agoYou missed it
- kadoban 10mo agoYou did miss it. It's quite close, but not identical. Wouldn't be surprised if different batches of coke have at least some variance anyway.
- piskov 10mo agoThis is wrong. Same with perfume knock-offs Spectrometer doesn’t tell you quantities, mixes, what have you. You can emulate 90% of the first smell but never in life you can replicate entire bouquet, aftersmell, propriety molecules, etc.
- epolanski 10mo agoSpectrography can absolutely tell you concentrations if you compare it to a test solution with a known concentration.
- hilbert42 10mo agoHave you ever seen that triangular chart comparing concentrations, impurities , etc? It's generally presented on log scales and very effectively demonstrates the often enormous number of trace-level compounds in otherwise substances deemed pure. It's the absolute pinnacle when it comes to teaching chem students about purity. No doubt you're correct but it only takes one compound in trace amounts whose odor can be detected in parts per million to throw out a seemingly identical comparison done with spectroscopy. Right, calibration is everything but sometimes that's damn hard to achieve. Also, here we're dealing with natural substances (at least some are like cola leaves). It's not hard to imagine there'd be thousands of organic molecules involved albeit most of them in minute amounts.
- Telemakhos 10mo agoThere have been a number of taste tests that show that, when blindfolded, most people can't distinguish between Coke and Sprite, let alone Coke and a close imitation, without the visual cue: throw together enough sugar, acid, and carbonation, and it overwhelms the body's ability to distinguish taste. It's a story often repeated in marketing (like Twitchells' Branded Nation), because forging a distinction between indistinguishable parity products is marketing's job. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/food/1982/05/23/taking-the-test/ac0f3540-b670-468e-8afd-5b31c54d5514/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/food/1982/0...
- natdempk 10mo agoI think if you believe this I'd recommend trying it yourself. I've done this blinded with colas, and it's pretty easy to tell the difference between Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Pepsi, and Diet Pepsi. You might not know which is which without some history drinking them, but they all taste very distinct by themselves. Really disagree that these are indistinguishable parity products, or that most people would not be obviously able to tell the difference between them.
- rootusrootus 10mo agoI'll say that the 'Zero' products have gotten quite good. Not indistinguishable, but closer than I expected. On a couple of occasions I've inadvertently purchased real Dr Pepper instead of Dr Pepper Zero and not realized I was drinking the real thing. That's high praise for the Zero version (notably, the Diet version of Dr Pepper, while it has a following of its own, is extremely unlike real Dr Pepper).
- Imustaskforhelp 10mo agoI don't know but I recently drank coca cola which my brother ordered and then after a few days, I decided to drink diet coca cola because I was discussing it with my brother and he mentioned that diet and normal coke are the same price and I started wondering if there are negative effects to normal coke and not much for diet coke and they both are same price and I am drinking it for the taste, then diet coke makes the most sense so I decided to order it Not sure if its just me though but after drinking both diet coke and normal coke the taste gap between diet coke and normal coke felt really huge to me. You mention about Dr pepper and how strikingly similar Dr Pepper zero is, what are some other drinks which have a genuinely similar. But now realizing this, I think that there is a difference between diet, zero and normal variants, this is the first time I am discovering this. Time to drink coke zero and coke but the winters are really cold so I might have to wait this winter season
- layer8 10mo agoCoke isn’t even consistent between factories, different bottle sizes and cans.
- piskov 10mo agoIt is true: sweetness is very different across the globe due to nation preferences
- epolanski 10mo agoNot just across nations, but across packaging.
- hilbert42 10mo agoI recall when I was a kid decades ago Coke wasn't as sweet as it is now (nowadays, I find it so sweet I no longer drink it). It would be informative if we actually knew how much sugar was in say tbe wartime Coke of the 1940s compared with that of today. I reckon the difference would startle us.
- userbinator 10mo agoProbably a different type of sugar too.
- hilbert42 10mo agoYeah, likely so. Back then it was almost certainty sucrose (cane sugar), today it'll be likely fructose (from maize) or a fructose/sucrose combo. Weight for weight fructose is considerably sweeter than sucrose. Also where I am (Australia) it's always sucrose (unless fully imported) because of the large cane sugar industry in Queensland.
- WillPostForFood 10mo agoThe amount of sugar in Coke hasn't changed in the last 40 years, and probably longer than that. It's been consistent at ~39g/12oz, even through the "New Coke" debacle. Wouldn't be surprised if Coke in the 40s, with sugar rationing, had less sugar though.
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]