Mexican Coke
Product type | Cola |
---|---|
Owner | The Coca-Cola Company |
Country | Mexico |
Introduced | 1921 |
In the United States and Canada, Mexican Coca-Cola, or Mexican Coke (Spanish: Coca Cola de Vidrio, English: Glass Coca Cola, or Coca Cola in a glass bottle) or, informally, "Mexicoke",[1] refers to Coca-Cola produced in and imported from Mexico.[2] Mexican Coca-Cola has become popular in the United States due to its characteristic flavor, which results from being made with cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.[3]
History[]
Coca-Cola opened its first bottling franchise in Mexico around 1921 with Grupo Tampico,[4] and then Grupo ARMA.[5] Monterrey-based FEMSA is currently the largest Coca-Cola bottler in Mexico and most of Latin America.[6]
The Coca-Cola Company originally imported the Mexican-produced version into the U.S. primarily to sell it to Mexican immigrants who grew up with that formula.[2] Mexican Coke was first sold at grocers who served Latino clientele, but as its popularity grew among non-Latinos, larger chains like Costco, Sam's Club and Kroger began to stock it.[2] It is now readily available at most grocery stores throughout the United States.[citation needed]
In 2013, a Mexican Coca-Cola bottler announced it would stop using cane sugar in favor of glucose-fructose syrup.[7] It later clarified this change would not affect those bottles specifically exported to the United States as "Coca-Cola Nostalgia" products.[8]
Although intended for consumption in Mexico, Mexican Coca-Cola has become popular in the United States because of a flavor that Coca-Cola fans call more "natural tasting."[2] This purported difference in taste comes from Mexican Coca-Cola being sweetened with cane sugar, as opposed to American-made Coke, which has been sweetened with fructose since the early 1980s.[8][9]
"Mexican Coke" as sold in America may differ from Coke bottled and sold in Mexico; most of the Mexican Coke exported to the United States is made with cane sugar, while some Mexican bottlers may use high-fructose corn syrup for drinks intended for domestic sale in Mexico.[8] A scientific analysis of Mexican Coke found no sucrose (standard sugar), but instead found total fructose and glucose levels similar to other soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, though in different ratios.[9]
Taste[]
Results from taste tests have been mixed. In a taste test conducted by a local Westchester, New York magazine, tasters noted that the Mexican Coke had "a more complex flavor with an ineffable spicy and herbal note,"[10] and that it contained something "that darkly hinted at root beer or old-fashioned sarsaparilla candies."[10] However, participants in a different double-blind taste test overwhelmingly preferred American Coca-Cola.[11] Participants in taste tests conducted by Coca-Cola and others reported no perceptible differences in flavor between American Coke and the Mexican formulation.[12] In double-blind taste tests conducted in a restaurant with 100 customers and 20 employees, most participants tasted no perceptible difference, however, 1 in 5 said that Mexican Coke had coarser bubbles than those in American Coke.
Bottle[]
Mexican Coca-Cola is sold in a thick 355 ml (12.0 US fl oz) or 500 ml (17 US fl oz) glass bottle, which some have contrasted as being "more elegant, with a pleasingly nostalgic shape," compared to the more common plastic American Coca-Cola bottles. Formerly, Coca-Cola was widely available in refundable and non-refundable glass bottles of various sizes in the U.S., but nearly all bottlers began replacing most glass bottles with plastic during the late 1980s.[10] Most exporters of Mexican Coke affix a paper sticker on each bottle containing the nutrition facts label, ingredients, and bottler and/or exporter's contact information, to meet US food labeling requirements.
Adding to the nostalgia factor, the Mexican Coca-Cola bottle does not have a twist-off cap (as do American glass and plastic bottles) or a pull-tab (as do aluminum cans); a bottle opener is required to open Mexican Coke.
New Zealand[]
A similar phenomenon exists in New Zealand, where Coca-Cola is available both bottled locally (sweetened with cane sugar) and imported from the United States (with high-fructose corn syrup).[13]
See also[]
- Pepsi-Cola Made with Real Sugar, a line of Pepsi products flavored with cane sugar
References[]
- ^ Phillips, Matt; Ferdman, Roberto A. (November 4, 2013). "A New Tax Might Cost Mexicoke Its Signature Sugar". The Atlantic.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Walker, Rob (October 11, 2009). "Cult Classic". New York Times.
- ^ Here’s Why Mexican Coke Tastes Better Than American Coke by Chloë NannestadChloë Nannestad on The Reader's Diggest, Jun. 28, 2021
- ^ Davis, James R.; Davis, Adelaide B. (1998). Effective training strategies. p. 312.
The first Coca-Cola bottling company in Mexico, Grupo Tampico, with eighty-three years of history, operates a series of gas stations, computer stores, automotive retailers, hotels, and radio stations, and they still distribute Coca-Cola
- ^ de Bell, Leendert Andrew (2005). Globalization, regional development and local response. p. 68.
Starting out in the 1920s as a small factory for ice cream and soft drinks, the company acquired one of Mexico's first franchises to bottle soft drinks under license of the Coca-Cola Company in the 1930s. In the following decades, operations...
- ^ FEMSA • Annual Report 2017. FEMSA.com.
- ^ Baral, Susmita (November 4, 2013). "Mexican Coke Switching To Corn Syrup From Cane Sugar; 4 Reasons Why This Shift Is Terrible". Latin Times.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Choi, Candice (November 6, 2013). "Mexican Coke in US will still use cane sugar". yahoo.com.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Ventura, Emily E.; Davis, Jaimie N.; Goran, Michael I. (April 2011). "Sugar Content of Popular Sweetened Beverages Based on Objective Laboratory Analysis: Focus on Fructose Content". Obesity. 19 (4): 868–874. doi:10.1038/oby.2010.255. PMID 20948525.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Sexton, Jule (February 22, 2010). "Mexican Coke Hits the County: A Blind Taste Test". Westchester Magazine. Today Media, Inc.
- ^ López-Alt, J. Kenji. "The Food Lab, Drinks Edition: Is Mexican Coke Better?". Seriouseats.com.
- ^ Wong, Vanessa (November 11, 2013). "The Mexican Coca-Cola Myth: It's Almost American". bloomberg.com.
- ^ Steward, Ian (June 26, 2011). "American Coke fails Kiwi tastebud test". Stuff.co.nz. Fairfax Media.
Further reading[]
- Melnick, Meredith (October 28, 2010). "Study: Hey, Hipsters, Mexican Coke Might Be a Myth". Time.
- Coca-Cola
- Coca-Cola brands
- Mexican drinks