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White Coke
- t0 13y agoIs there any actual evidence this actually existed, such as a picture?
- richforrester 13y agoI could be way off here, but I could've sworn I've worked for a supermarket that, apart from blue Pepsi, at some point sold white Coca Cola. This was in either the 90's or early 2000 though. And again, perhaps it's my memory playing tricks on me.
- mlebel 13y agoCrystal Pepsi? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Pepsi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Pepsi
- richforrester 13y agoThat might've been it :] Cheers!
- longwave 13y agoTab Clear? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_Clear http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_Clear
- fekberg 13y agoHow would you really know it's Coca-Cola by just looking at it? Could just as well be something else.
- georgemcbay 13y agoOn a vaguely related tangent to this, Coca Cola does not block infrared and near infrared light making it mostly transparent if viewed through an IR capable sensor with the visible spectrum filtered out.
- chrisrogers 13y agoYour best bet is to comb the references cited in the article. There is a good chance the published non-fiction books themselves have further citations.
- frik 13y agoCoca Cola Austria had it's plant in Lambach back then. http://en.coca-colahellenic.at/about-us/History/ http://en.coca-colahellenic.at/about-us/History/ Lambach is a small city in Austria and it's a few miles from my hometown. I assume Coca Cola produced it in the old beer plant building. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambach http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambach
- justincormack 13y agoMark Pendergast's book For God, Country, and Coca-Cola linked in the references covers this and more and is a good read. It also has the recipe for Coke in the back and the story of how he found it.
- zalew 13y agorelated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanta#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanta#History
- RRRA 13y agoI was to post the same thing! So yeah, unethical business as usual, way to go (not) :/
- hkmurakami 13y agoTotally expected to see an article about a white form of carbon (which would have been fascinating!) but this is a decent second option! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_%28fuel%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_%28fuel%29
- mcv 13y agoI thought it was about coke, which is normally white, as far as I know. (No personal experience.)
- prof_hobart 13y agoDo you mean like this (http://www.shrinivasagro.com/whitecoal.html http://www.shrinivasagro.com/whitecoal.html)?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- sageikosa 13y agoI thought it was the street name for some new drug, which I had some cognitive dissonance on, since coke is already white.
- VLM 13y agoI was expecting an article for the youth pretending they don't know about the "new coke" debacle and/or possibly a new product "white coke" being released as a repeat of "new coke". Personally I'd rather have the choice to buy HFCS free soft drinks rather than carmel-4 free soft drinks. Completely sweetener free, both natural and artificial, would be a unique experience, probably taste much like tea.
- nealabq 13y agoI've occasionally wondered what food would taste like if you could selectively (and temporarily) disable the sweet taste-buds on your tongue. Same with salt taste-buds. Perhaps numbing your tongue would work? A dentist could do that, but you'd only want to numb the surface. Is white coke (the illegal kind) a topical anesthetic?
- jlgreco 13y agoThe article doesn't seem quite clear on this: did they simply remove the coloring, or did they add something to the drink that would break down/bind to the coloring molecules and render them colorless? I'm not really sure why you would need a chemist to do the first.
- geon 13y agoModern Coke use caramel color (E150b). Perhaps the color used to be natural from the ingredients, or there are some ingredients that are not colorless. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramel_color http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramel_color
- nodata 13y ago> The article doesn't seem quite clear on this: did they simply remove the coloring.. "Zarubica found a chemist who could remove the coloring from the beverage, thereby granting Marshal Zhukov's wish."
- jlgreco 13y agoBut why would they need a chemist to tell them how to simply not add color?
- adlpz 13y agoI assume in the original recipe the color wasn't added, but was a consequence of how it was produced then.
- edias 13y agoI think you're answering your own question here. Coke without coloring isn't completely clear, so they hired a chemist to mask whatever natural color coke has. At least that's the impression I got from that sentence.
- roel_v 13y agoJlgreco probably meant: "did they not add coloring [during production]", for which to make sense the color would have to be added during the production, which could very well be; the article probably meant "found a chemist who could remove the color", implying the color is a by-product of the production and comes from other ingredients. So, the article is not explicit about this, but the whole context would lead me to believe that it is the second explanation that was meant.
- ck2 13y agoBecause mixing in a little milk to make it look like coffee would have been too efficient and inexpensive.
- dreen 13y agoLol. Have you ever tried mixing coke and milk? I saw it happen once. My friend ordered a white russian (vodka and milk) for our other friend and a black russian (vodka with coke) for himself - the bartender was pretty drunk and he mixed the two together, forming a greyish foaming abomination of a drink. My mate left it in the middle of the pub and noone even touched it.
- yardie 13y ago> a black russian (vodka with coke) The barman doesn't know what the fuck they are doing and I used to work amongst functionally drunk barmen. A black russian is vodka, coffee liquor (like Kahlua) and milk (optional). Even if he wasn't drunk what he gave your friend was shit.
- adlpz 13y agoTo be specific: a black russian is a white russian without the milk.
- jlgreco 13y agoA tall black russian tops off a black russian with coke, so maybe that is what was ordered (or what the drunk bartender heard).
- dreen 13y agoFair enough, it was some time ago and I wouldn't really order either (what a waste of vodka), so I stand corrected.
- Moto7451 13y agoA brown cow (or white cow in this application) is yummy but quite different than an unadulterated coke. The suggestion is the same as telling people to add milk or sugar to their tea. And people are opinionated enough about that[1][2][3]. Besides, a little chemistry to break into a new market isn't a bad expenditure. [1]http://www.brainofshawn.com/2008/03/14/sweet-tea-is-an-abomination/ http://www.brainofshawn.com/2008/03/14/sweet-tea-is-an-abomi... [2]http://hikiculture.net/topic4148.html http://hikiculture.net/topic4148.html [3]http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10913-milk-wrecks-the-health-benefits-of-tea.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10913-milk-wrecks-the-...
- davidw 13y agoThis anecdote is mentioned in this book: ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002STNBRK/?tag=dedasys-20 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002STNBRK/?tag=dedasys-20 ) which is an interesting look at world history via popular drinks: beer, wine, distilled alcohol, tea, coffee and coca cola. None of it is probably all that new in terms of the history portions, but it's an interesting and novel way of looking at things and makes for pleasant reading.
- TezzellEnt 13y agoAnd without the referral link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002STNBRK http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002STNBRK
- davidw 13y agoGod forbid I should get a few cents for recommending a good book to a community I participate in.
- TezzellEnt 13y agoWhile ycombinator does not have a policy of posting affiliate/referral links (that I know of), usually forums explicitly forbid this practice. On the forums that do allow it, typical etiquette is to notify the reader of a posted referral link, and also give them the choice of a non-affiliate link - and then let them decide.
- davidw 13y agoHere, we're capitalists - we believe in startups, and are not philosophically opposed to making money. If someone is spamming this site with referral links, they should be dealt with harshly and kicked out. Otherwise, if you don't like a book recommendation you can downvote. I don't post books I don't think are interesting, and only where appropriate - a few cents are not worth it to me to appear coming across as a shill. But I do enjoy receiving a bit of money to reinvest in more books.
- roel_v 13y agoIs this just an interesting tidbit about the history of a popular drink, or a subtle anecdote about how under socialism all animals are equal, some just more than others?
- sdoering 13y agoOr how bribes work every time, if you know, what the persons really wants. Or that it pays for big corp to rub with the ones in power. Or...
- roel_v 13y ago"Or that it pays for big corp to rub with the ones in power." Yeah, because producing 50 cases of a special brew for one general in a totalitarian state is a well-known strategy to get rich...
- lifeisstillgood 13y agoCoca-cola could not care less if the General got the coke or not, if it made any money or not - what mattered was the US Army's support in creating a global manufacturing and distribution chain - and a ready made global consumer group in the form of GIs who would then glamourise the drink to the native populations
- sdoering 13y ago> Coca-cola could not care less if the General got the coke or not[...] Well from the OP: "A practical consequence of White Coke was circumvention of the red tape imposed by the Soviet occupation authorities. While cargo shipments transiting the Soviet occupation zone in Austria normally took weeks to clear with the authorities, Coca-Cola supplies passing through the zone on their way back and forth between the Lambach plant and the Vienna warehouse were never stopped." Would not say, that it didn't make sense economically to produce these 50 cases...
- arethuza 13y ago
- chewxy 13y agoYou can make your own white/clear Coca Cola too! I play with my food a lot and have experimented with this. All you need is an old/used Brita filter and a beverage carbonator (or if you're like me, you have some sort of multigas siphon). 1. Pour Coke into Brita jug (with filter in place) 2. Retrieve colourless solution, and then recarbonate. It tastes like Coke but is colourless. I had also messed with other variants that require fancier filtration (special carbon filters for example) and centrifuging, but the Brita filter has pretty good results.
- quackerhacker 13y agoMakes me wonder what Brita is actually filtering out.
- enraged_camel 13y agoThe coloring agent, presumably.
- raverbashing 13y agoWhich is caramel, presumably
- bane 13y agolooks to be "caramel color" [1] whatever that is http://www.bevreview.com/wp-content/image_kosherforpassovercoke4.jpg http://www.bevreview.com/wp-content/image_kosherforpassoverc...
- raverbashing 13y agoLooks like it's caramel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramel_color https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramel_color That is, sugars that underwent Caramelization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramelization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramelization
- 13y ago
- philwelch 13y agoZhukov wasn't the only communist with a taste for Coca-Cola: http://m.taringa.net/post/info/El_Che_y_la_Coca_cola-4575995.htm http://m.taringa.net/post/info/El_Che_y_la_Coca_cola-4575995... (Disclaimer: I speak zero Spanish so I have no idea what that article says. I just like the photo.)
- mseebach 13y agoI Google-translated the article, and it seems to talk about the many Coke bottles in Cuba post-revolution being re-cycled to contain a local drink, the name of which I wasn't quite able to pick out of the translation, but which wasn't "Coke".
- mdpye 13y agoEl nuevo producto, que se llama refresco de cola It was just called "cola drink", you could translate it as "cola tonic". I guess it makes sense that it wasn't particularly branded.
- probably_wrong 13y agoShort version: when Cuba cut relations with the US, they wanted to get rid of Coke as an imperialist symbol, but they still needed the bottles, because they didn't have means of replacing them all at once. Coke was not that popular, though, but the Cuba libre (rum and Coke) was a slightly different problem. So they used the bottles for other things, and at the same time they came up with a Coke substitute (sold in other bottles, because the mixture was too close to the imperialist one). When they presented the substitute to Che Guevara, he said "it tastes like st" (or "like cockroach" on TV). E entually they improved the formula, and mixed with rum it was decent. But it wasn't actual Coke.
- weavie 13y agoOnly in Russia do you disguise your coke as vodka to look respectable.
- lifeisstillgood 13y agoNear perfect HN fodder - intellectual curiosity satisfied, just enough food-tech for a perfect top comment and a little bit of politics to garnish My hat is tipped to annapowellsmith and of course all Wikipedians.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- pud 13y agoPepsi made a clear cola in the early 90's called Crystal Pepsi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Pepsi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Pepsi Here's an old pic of me drinking it. (and eating a turkey leg). http://i.imgur.com/T1rZc39.jpg http://i.imgur.com/T1rZc39.jpg
- unimpressive 13y agoWhat camera was that photo taken with? The quality is really good. (For the early nineties) Is it a scan of a film camera?
- xuki 13y agoMost likely a scan of a film. You can see small white particles on the photo at full size.
- ygra 13y agoThe dust and other spots imply a scan of a developed photo (not the negative, as the dust would be dark there, not bright). And I'm amazed that people are amazed by photo quality from two decades ago. The resolution of standard 35-mm film was fairly hard to achieve in consumer digital cameras until recently (or maybe it still is, but I guess DSLRs have gone consumer enough by now).
- finnw 13y ago> I'm amazed that people are amazed by photo quality from two decades ago It's partly because the media (especially TV news) deliberately blurs and desaturates pictures to indicate what decade they are from. Which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the film technology of the time. But it is easy to forget that they are doing this and assume that the original photos are really like this. Why would 70s and 80s photos be desaturated more than 60s photos for example. Even for digital media (e.g. youtube) tools like this are popular: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChY8IIc_fv4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChY8IIc_fv4
- 13y ago
- billpg 13y agoVodka is white? I thought it was transparent. (I've only ever seen the drink on TV, so I really don't know.)
- mseebach 13y agoIt is transparent, and so is "white coke".
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- panacea 13y ago'White coke' was transparent coke. 'Black' coke is transparent too (hold it up to the light). You've never seen vodka in person?
- billpg 13y agoIts a cultural thing I guess. I don't drink alcohol, but I hang about with people who do. I don't recall my friends ever drinking vodka. I'm a little bothered by this use of the word "white" for something colour-less. If you tell me that a liquid is "white", I'm going to think it would look like a glass of milk before I think of a glass of water. I read "White coke" and I thought of a carbonated milky looking drink.
- jhull 13y agoI bet it's these types of missions that Presidents really love. It's not the obvious stuff that is asked of (one of) the most powerful people in the world, like declaring war or making executive orders or living in the White house. It's the slightly quirkier stuff, like brokering a clear version of Coke. I bet Truman loved this. It's like working at a company doing the same thing everyday, but being most excited for this little side project you have going on.
- mr_luc 13y agoAnd those side projects can be pretty significant, as well as fun. One of Churchill's side projects was corresponding under the nickname "Former Naval Person."
- sailfast 13y agoIn addition, you have to think that by even receiving this request we had an inkling early on that we were winning many more cultural battles in the cold war than the USSR. Pretty great article.
- kayoone 13y agoIgnoring the special circumstances its funny how drinking vodka in public was more acceptable than coke. Gotta love the russians...
- rfctr 13y agoThis is the typical BS. [Edit] Are you expecting Zhukov, the top Russian commander, to drink vodka where it is not appropriate? I couldn't stop be amused at how much Westerners' image of the world is distorted.
- dfc 13y agoIt is always interesting to see how people from other cultures view my culture. I am afraid that your english grammar is getting in the way of your comment. Did you mean to point out that "drinking vodka in public is always appropriate" or that "anytime the top soviet commander drank vodka it was a public event"? Or something else entirely?
- rfctr 13y ago[Edit] Updated it for better clarity. Sorry for imperfect English.
- dfc 13y agoNo need to be a dick, I was genuinely interested in your opinion and trying to be helpful. But if you want to go down that road it is worth pointing out that you did not update it just for me; you updated it for anyone accustomed to well formed english sentences.
- rfctr 13y agoSorry, got upset as I usually get when I hear "Russians did something we do not fully understand. Simple: vodka must be involved!". Zhukov couldn't drink Coke when others drink vodka. For one thing, vodka is not consumed from individual bottles; the same bottle is shared. Second, it is considered impolite to drink and do not offer it to the guest. Zhukov may have had an idea of introducing Coke as a popular drink, but Stalin wouldn't allow it. Stalin knew that colour is not important; essence (and origin) is.
- Trufa 13y agoWhile this is pretty interesting/amusing I don't see how it has anything to do with HN, maybe http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/ http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/
- finnw 13y agoIt passes the "gratifies one's intellectual curiosity" test for me.
- moomin 13y agoWhite Coke: Made for Reds.
- squozzer 13y agoHey, what can one say? Amerika uber alles in the consumer product department. In other news, McDonald's is setting up shop in Vietnam. Now we can REALLY declare victory and go home.
- grumpusbumpus 13y agoI am baffled and amused that this is a top story on HN.
- scotty79 13y agoFunny how the wiki mentions all the names of stupid politicians/soldiers, Managers down to a "technical supervisor" but it credits the guy that actually made white coke as "a chemist". F##k historians.
- snowwrestler 13y ago"One, Two, Three" is an hilarious comedy about the establishment of Coca Cola bottling plants in Europe--specifically in Western Germany, where of course hijinks ensue with East Germans. The daughter of the Coke CEO visits, falls in love with, and marries a young "true believer" East German communist. When the CEO comes for a visit, they have to turn the communist into a proper American capitalist in 2 days.
- notahacker 13y ago"Good By Lenin" is another fine comedy in which a son trying to maintain the illusion the Berlin Wall hasn't fallen for the sake of his dying mother creates fake TV broadcasts announcing the Coca Cola billboards appearing everywhere are a celebration of Coca Cola's socialist, East German origins.
- colkassad 13y agoThis is one of my favorite foreign films.
- saryant 13y agoDefinitely one of Cagney's best films.
- lucastheisen 13y agoI love how it was more acceptable for your general to be drinking vodka by the glass full than it would have been to drink the "American Imperialist" drink.
- sp332 13y agoOld joke: During the Cold War, the Russians paint the moon red. An American general immediately sends up a team with white paint... to add a Coca-Cola logo.
- cehlen 13y agoThis is why I love Hacker News!
- racl101 13y agoWhat is the point of this link?
- sodafountan 13y agoGod if you had an original unopened bottle of that it would be worth a fortune.
- swamp40 13y agoI've never seen a Hacker News thread get so off track...