COCA COLA FORMULA: ALMOST PERFECT! (Patreon)

It took only ten trials (and about 27 additional ones on an orthogonal array to assess different flavor properties), but I think I've finally arrived at a reasonable approximation of the Coca Cola secret formula! I might tweak it slightly, especially after its mass spectrum is compared to the real deal, but here is what we've arrived at (in terms of percent by volume):

25% orange oil, 20% tea tree oil, 8% nutmeg oil, 16% pressed coriander oil, 5% cassia (or cinnamon) oil, 6.5% lime oil, 13% lemon oil, 4.5% black pepper oil, 1% neroli oil, and 1% lavender oil. 10uL of this oil mix is diluted with 290uL (or 0.29mL) of 95% ethanol. For the roughly 90mL portions of soda I've been tasting, there is 12g syrup (made in bulk from 607.5g sugar, 15mL caramel color, and 340mL water), 45uL vanilla extract, 80g carbonated water (with 0.4mL 85% phosphoric acid per liter for a pH of roughly 2.5, like coke), and 75uL of the alcohol/oil mix (2.5uL of oil total). Is this complicated? Yes. Does it taste like Coca Cola? Kinda...as an update, from tasting more than a day later (after my taste buds are no longer saturated from a whole day of tasting coke lol), it's a bit too floral. Real coke is more lemon/orangy with a nutmegy spice, so I'm thinking I'll lower the other ingredients, maybe drop lavender (coriander has a similar flavor component, but much less potent), and boost the citrus. We'll see what happens, I also learned I've been using PRESSED coriander oil, not the pure essential oil, so I bought some (as well as a-terpineol, which GC-MS shows as a major peak that few of these oils possess).

This recipe is honestly quite similar to some "open-source" Colas, like Cube Cola or OpenCola...even "Glen and Friends Cooking" squozen cola. The main difference is in the citrus: the other recipes use anywhere from 25-35% lime oil and up to 35% orange. I found this to be WAY too much, and the drinks reminded me more of floor cleaner or even Pez candy lol. Nutmeg and coriander seem to be the two flavors that contribute the "cola flavor" when mixed with lemon/orange oil, so I increased them a bit and also added my new game-changer ingredient: tea tree oil. This seems to mimic coca leaf extract, and also brings in a lot of terpineols that the other oils don't have, but are found in coke. It needs to be balanced though, otherwise it tastes too much like tea!

Most of the other ingredients are fairly dilute (especially lavender and neroli, which can be soapy or bitter if too much is present), and contribute either a spiced or floral note. Black pepper oil is probably the most surprising flavor here. An expert who actually works with cola flavors said it's in the mix, and surprisingly, "Neptunium" found piperidine (a breakdown product of piperine: the spicy component of pepper) in Coca Cola!! It's flavor is exactly that of black pepper, but the oil isn't too overpowering, so I added a bit and it seems to help!

At this point, it's mostly a balancing game to see which flavors need to be increased or decreased to match Coca Cola. Once I get it as perfect as possible, I'll send it off to "Mass Spec Everything" and "Neptunium" to be compared with real coke, along with the oils so we know which oils contribute which peaks. After analysis, we'll know which oils need to be tweaked, and make adjustments from there to get it perfect! Wish us luck, this is super exciting!