The secret recipe of Coca Cola revealed

For nearly a century and a half, the formula for Coca-Cola remained one of the world's most impenetrable trade secrets. But thanks to the painstaking work of a youtuber who specializes in chemistry, this veil of secrecy can finally be lifted.

The chemist behind LabCoatz, the name of the YouTube channel behind the feat, spent 12 whole months on an ambitious project to reconstruct the formula of the famous drink using advanced laboratory techniques. The result? A replica that proved nearly identical to the original in blind taste tests.

The Youtuber's approach was strictly scientific: mass spectrometry to identify the substances present, comparative sensory testing and precise analysis of all the data. Dismantling such an established commercial myth required an almost manial patience, but eventually the puzzle was put together.

And here's the first surprise: more than 99% of Coca-Cola simply consists of sugar, caffeine and phosphoric acid. Nothing magical, nothing special. It's that tiny remaining 1% - the 'natural flavors' listed on the label - that make the difference, a blend of essential oils including lemon, lime and orange, with a touch of tea tree oil to mimic the freshness of Cacao leaf. Added to this are cassia cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander and phenchol, an aromatic compound found in plants such as basil and pine.

But the surprising element that the expert found were the tannins in the wine, present in a separate aqueous solution with vinegar, glycerin, vanilla, caramel dye and the other main ingredients. The tannins, also present in the original cacao leaves, do not easily stand out in standard tests and were only discovered after many unsuccessful attempts. Yet, it's these tannins that give the drink its characteristic sense of freshness and balance the overall flavor.

(MP/©GreenMe.it/Translation and editing: The Global Lifestyle/Illustration: Unsplash)