The Coca-Cola formula is one of humanity’s great mysteries. A secret that is said to be kept in a vault in Atlanta. Many brands have tried to copy this strategy that worked so well for John Stith Pemberton. Off the top of our heads, we can think of the 11 spices in KFC’s chicken marinade, a secret discovered by Sanders and known only to his family.
Well, a content creator named LabCoatz on YouTube claims to have uncovered the secret of Coca-Cola. According to him, he has accurately replicated the chemistry and flavor of the original Coca-Cola. All this, of course, after a year of research and analysis. Is this the end of the drink of happiness?
Replicating the taste of Coca-Cola
The title of the video is the perfect combination of clickbait and impossible promise: “Perfectly Replicating Coca-Cola (It Took Me A Year)”. It’s no surprise that the video went viral in a matter of days. Nor are we surprised that this video has reignited the debate about whether or not trade secrets exist in the 21st century, now that any user with a little knowledge on a subject can become an expert.
Unlike other channels that attempt to replicate the taste of Coca-Cola by mixing soda, syrup, and lemon juice, LabCoatz began his challenge not as a cook, but as a forensic chemist. Basically, he used mass spectrometry and gas chromatography to deconstruct the drink at the molecular level.
The premise of the project was simple. If Coca-Cola is a drink made from a mixture of chemical compounds, then it is possible to measure and quantify them. LabCoatz, whose channel specializes in scientific experiments, took on the challenge and ended up using equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from advanced laboratories to achieve his goal.
The first thing he discovered was that the homemade Coca-Cola recipes we’ve been seeing for years on social media are incorrect. Although the Coca-Cola “formula” is written on the label of each drink and is public knowledge, the real flavor comes from the mixture of natural flavors. To put it simply, producing the flavor of Coca-Cola is similar to creating a perfume. This blend of flavors is called “7X merchandise.” And that’s where the secret lies.
Finally, after much research, the YouTuber deciphered the flavor by finding the exact amounts of lemon, lime, nutmeg, orange, cassia cinnamon, and coriander. But despite this, the mouthfeel of the drink was not identical. The profile of the coca leaves was missing. To emulate it, he used microscopic amounts of tea tree oil. The result, after a series of tests, is a drink indistinguishable from the original.
Is it legal to make your own Coca-Cola?
According to experts in the field, Coca-Cola cannot sue LabCoatz for revealing the secret. The explanation is that reverse engineering is legal. In other words, LabCoatz discovered the formula through scientific methods, not by stealing documents or bribing Coca-Cola employees.
Furthermore, the Coca-Cola formula is not a patent, but a trade secret. When a patent is registered, the information is made public in exchange for protection by the state for a period of time. In trade secrets, such as the Coca-Cola formula or KFC’s spices, commercial protection depends on the company’s ability to keep the secret. In the latter case, the law does not cover your back if someone “takes apart” your product to find out how it works or replicates it. As long as counterfeiting is not involved, of course.
What’s interesting about the video is that it raises a serious issue. Do trade secrets exist in the 21st century? In the past, if someone had wanted to crack the Coca-Cola formula, they would have had to infiltrate the company and spend years engaged in industrial espionage. Today, a YouTuber can achieve the same goal by renting industrial machinery without doing anything illegal.
In any case, we hardly doubt Coca Cola executes are crying their eyes out, thinking it’s the end of the beverage company. It is also unlikely that you will receive a letter from their lawyers. The real formula for success for The Coca-Cola Company is the drink’s 140-year history. The incredible business apparatus surrounding it. And all the publicity that has been generated around it. Furthermore, if you have traveled a bit, you will have noticed something obvious: Coca-Cola does not taste the same in every country. Don’t give us any nonsense about there being a single formula for Coca-Cola.