Review: Mexican Coke

[BevReview Steve]

Is there a big difference between regular Coca-Cola and an imported version such as Mexican Coke? You bet there is! Learn a little history about HFCS in American beverages, what Mexican Coke and Passover have in common, and how to find a quality cane sugar-sweetened version in your neck of the woods!

Read full update at BevReview.com

[Free Rider]

I've been going to Mexico about every two weeks. Hmm... I see a bit of an opportunity here... Mexicans want our cigarettes and we want their Coke. Too bad it would be contraband.

When I was in South Africa, I had Coke at every opportunity. Same thing with Mexico.

[BevReview Steve]

Originally Posted by Free Rider

Mexicans want our cigarettes and we want their Coke.

"Sir, why are you bringing back 12 cases of Coke?"

[Free Rider]

Originally Posted by BevReview Steve

"Sir, why are you bringing back 12 cases of Coke?"

Steve, I'm female.

Yes, I did get detained by CBP the last time I went through the gate, but they were playing some sort of game. I had my passport, nothing to declare and had only happened to mention to one of the agents that the woman two people ahead of me had kept us waiting for 15 minutes in line while she unpacked her bags to find her papers. I suggested that they move her to the side until she found her documents and let us through. For that, they detained me. They made sure I knew it was their little joke on me.

Therefore... I might as well bring back even more than twelve cases of Coke. Coke that is, not coke.

[deltadoc]

While I try not to drink USA Coke because of the HFCS, it does taste better to me than the Mexican Coke, because Mexican Coke contains Citric Acid. There is no Citric acid in the USA version, never was as far as I can remember back to the 1950's anyway. Once in a while as kids we used to buy RC Cola because for the same price, you'd get 16oz instead of 12oz, but I never really liked the taste of RC Cola because it contained Citric Acid.

Someone once told me if you can find USA Coke made in Hawaii, it uses real cane sugar, but i've never been able to confirm it.

Also, apparently the Jewish grocery store in St Paul sells USA Coke made with sugar for Kosher reasons during certain holiday season(s).

doc

[BevReview Steve]

Originally Posted by deltadoc

While I try not to drink USA Coke because of the HFCS, it does taste better to me than the Mexican Coke, because Mexican Coke contains Citric Acid.

Interesting observation. What exactly do you find distasteful about Citric Acid?

For the record, here's the ingredient list found on my bottle of Mexican Coke which I used for the review, listed exactly the way it shows on the label:

Carbonated Water, High Fructose, Corn Syrup and/Or Sugar, Concentrate, Carmel Color, Phosphoric Acid, Natural Flavors, Caffeine.

[Free Rider]

Originally Posted by BevReview Steve

Interesting observation. What exactly do you find distasteful about Citric Acid?

For the record, here's the ingredient list found on my bottle of Mexican Coke which I used for the review, listed exactly the way it shows on the label:

oooh, somewhere I have a photo of the can of South African Coke I had. It didn't have the corn/sugar option. That corn/sugar labelling is a FDA thing, btw. I wonder if it was packaged for sale in the US? I'm going to Mexico in a few weeks again and I'll take a look at the not-for-export Coke.

[BevReview Steve]

Originally Posted by Free Rider

That corn/sugar labelling is a FDA thing, btw. I wonder if it was packaged for sale in the US?

I believe it was bottled in Mexico, but the added sticker with the ingredients was obviously added for U.S. usage.

[shel]

Originally Posted by deltadoc

While I try not to drink USA Coke because of the HFCS, it does taste better to me than the Mexican Coke, because Mexican Coke contains Citric Acid.

Not in the Mexican Coke I got ...

Shel

[deltadoc]

Originally Posted by shel

Not in the Mexican Coke I got ...

Shel

That's interesting. My Mexican Coke was brought back by a vacationing co-worker. The label was in Spanish, so I had my Puerto Rican co-workers translate the ingredients label. It had both Phosphoric and Citric Acids in it. We both could tell right away that it didn't taste like the USA Coke we were used to. He didn't mind it as much as me, but I wouldn't buy it again.

Interestingly enough, another vacationing co-worker brought me back a Coke and a Pepsi from Brazil! I don't remember what I thought about the taste, but the labels were all in Portuguese. My co-worker doesn't speak much Portuguese but his wife is from Brazil but unfortunately not a co-worker so she wasn't around to translate for us.

And then the same co-worker who brought me back the Mexican Coke went to Arizona I think it was, and brought back bottles of Dr. Pepper from the, per him, first Dr. Pepper bottler! They still use pure cane sugar. It was really good and did taste like Dr. Pepper from the 1950's!

So, while I still remember my Dad standing up in the row boat on the Mississippi down by Muscatine, holding a bottle of Coke up and saying "No matter where you go in the world, this always tastes exactly alike!".

Guess that isn't quite true anymore!

doc

[Papa Perry]

Costco in SoCal has started carrying Mexican Coke.

[nowIamone]

When I was in Nicaragua I had a rum and coke, and loved it! I had never cared for the drink before, I drank them through all of Central America.

I brought back 4 bottles of Rum from Nicaragua, and at my next house party was going to serve the Nicaraguan Rum and Coke.

Very disappointing, it wasn't the rum that was so special, it was the Coke! Ended up making a simple syrup to add to the drinks.

[tilion]

The bottler is in Dublin Texas. Dublin Dr Pepper
We get them here in Austin in stores. Better tasting, IMHO, but pricier.

[MikeLM]

Interesting sidelight on Coke...

My son is a controls engineer who has settled into the food/candy industry. He designs and installs the computer systems that control the machines that make the stuff (he does packaging machinery, too.)

Before his present position, he was with a company that was designing a system to squirt Coca-Cola syrup into the containers for an Indiana bottler. They wanted a machine that would measure the syrup to the fraction of a milliliter! Was it for taste control, I asked him?

He said no, they bought the super-secret Coke syrup in heavy plastic containers which were essentially a cube about two feet on a side.

Each container, about eight or nine years ago, cost $14,000.

They just didn't want to put in an atom of extra syrup.

Never drink it myself, though I have known two or three people who were addicted to it and needed a dozen or more bottles a day.

Mike