How is "Mexican Coke" different from the Coke sold in the U. S.?

As I understand, they use real sugar in Mexico, and some chemical crap sweetener in the US.

Mexican Coke has cane sugar like the good old days. US Coke has high fructose corn syrup for a sweetner. Also, Mexican Coke is usually sold in the old fashioned glass bottles while typically Coke in America is in plastic bottles or cans.

@longgone Don’t the bottlers use cane sugar in Germany?

What @JLeslie said. It’s amazing how much better it tastes when there is actual sugar in there.

@El_Cadejo Sugar and just the right temp in a cold glass bottle. Have you ever been to the Coke Museum in Atlanta? Best Coca Cola ever. LOL. I think they dispense real sugar Coke there.

@JLeslie No, but I’ve been to coke plants in C.A. and gotten super fresh coke. My favorite is it’s a really hot day and you have a super cold coke that as soon as you open the bottle the whole thing instantly freezes up and turns into a nice slushy.

Where does Mexico get the sugar from?

@Dutchess_III Are you asking which plant? Sugarcane.
Or where does it actually come from? They grow it.

High fructose corn syrup is used in the United States (rather than cane sugar) because it’s a corn by-product and the corn industry is so heavily subsidized by the US government that it’s cheaper for food and beverage to use HFCS rather than cane sugar. Mexico (and probably most other nations) doesn’t have these subsidies in place, so it’s likely cheaper for Mexican bottlers to use cane sugar.

I don’t think sugarcane grows in Mexico….could be wrong, though.

The conversion from sugar to HFCS is the whole reason for the new Coke/Classic Coke. Get the HFCS Coke on the shelves and New Coke just slipped away, never to be seen again.

Coke made with sugar cane is also available in the Untied States for Passover, with a yellow bottle cap.

@Dutchess_III Mexico produces more sugar cane than the United States, it is sixth in the world in production.

@Dutchess_III as @zenvelo Mexico produces a lot of sugar cane ,more so in it’s southern regions

I wrote Coca Cola about 8 years ago suggesting they sell sugar Coke all year at a higher price. I assume the sugar is more expensive and that is why they don’t use it. I argued that HFCS is under fire right now as being very bad for your health. Even Dr. Oz was getting into the lecture, and he reaches a large audience, especially people who are likely to drink soda. Mind you, I personally don’t think HFCS is any worse than sugar for your health, but a lot of people do. My whole thing was Coke lovers would get their Coke back. The flavor; their old addiction. I grew up in a cocaholic household. Fiercely loyal to the brand. I quit caffeine about 15 years ago, so I rarely drink the stuff now, but I still love it when I cheat and have on, especially when the ratio is a little off and it is a little sweeter.

If the actual local water matters for the flavor, then that might partly explain why NY Coke tasted so good when I was little, and why FL Coke will never taste like that.

Learned a lot here, thanks!

@JLeslie I think it’s sugar beets, here. Not sure though.

@longgone Interesting. Actually, there are parts of the US that use beet sugar to sweeten. I am not talking about Coke right now, what I mean is beet sugar is commonly sold in some states, while in other states we utilize cane sugar, so I wonder if Coca Cola used different sugars in different parts of the country. I went to college in the state of Michigan and the sugar on campus was beet sugar. We either had farms on campus, or bought the sugar locally, I am not sure which. My college had huge farms, and some of the food we ate in the residence halls was from our own farms. Michigan has very large crops of sugar beets in the state, and so does neighboring states. Now you have me thinking about my cane sugar answer and Coke. Obviously, since America is so big there are many regional bottlers across the country. I wonder if states like Michigan used to use beet sugar back in the day rather than cane sugar? I don’t know where the syrup was produced. That would be the biggest factor I guess, not where the botttling plant is. I am going to Atlanta soon, and was thinking I might stop by the World of Coke to buy a t-shirt, maybe I will ask about the sugar. I guess we could google it.

That would certainly make sense. If you do ask, let me know!

What I remember about when I was in Germany many years ago was your Coke labels said Trink Coca Cola and ours said Enjoy Coca Cola. I think most countries used Drink, maybe other English Speaking countries used Enjoy.

Good Question.

Coke in the UK is sweetened with real sugar. No HFCS here. Because we don’t grow much corn I think corn syrup would probably be more expensive than sugar. We have a lot of beet sugar but I don’t know if coke has beet or cane.

@downtide Isn’t HFCS banned in the UK? I may be mistaken but I feel I’ve read that before.

Why in the world would HFC be banned? It’s just sugar….

I think trans fats are banned in some countries. Or, that might be a rumour. It wouldn’t surprise me if the same is true for HFCS. Even though I agree it’s just sugar.

@JLeslie and @Dutchess_III

It is not just sugar, it has a high amount of fructose as opposed to glucose, which is metabolized differently by the body.

Not different enough to convince me it matters. But, that is my personal opinion, I’m not going to argue the point. I know some some people in the science and medical field believe it to be different and some don’t. It’s still controversial in my opinion. Even a flipping crackers starts breaking down in the mouth before it even hits the stomach turning into “sugars” in the blood stream and stored as glycogen or fat if there is no room for the calories. Also, sugar has fructose and glucose and HFCS only has slightly more fructose than sugar. It is chemically extremely similar.

“Fructose is frequently derived from sugar cane, sugar beets, and corn. Crystalline fructose is the monosaccharide, dried, ground, and of high purity. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a mixture of glucose and fructose as monosaccharides.” ~ “Natural sources of fructose include fruits, vegetables (including sugar cane), and honey~ Wiki

It’s sugar.

@Dutchess_III and @JLeslie It has more to due with it coming from mostly GMO plants from what I recall.

It predates GMO’s, @El_Cadejo.

@Dutchess_III What are you talking about? I’m referring to the possible ban in the UK….

You said, “It has more to due with it coming from mostly GMO plants from what I recall.”
HFCS predates GMO plants.

@Dutchess_III HFCS being produced before GMOs is irrelevant to what I’m saying here…. no where did I say that I heard HFCS was always banned, just like GMOs weren’t ALWAYS banned in parts of the EU, laws do change over time.