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[Ferrari5180]

I had a coke in Italy a few times, and it was amazing. They also sell them in glass bottles. It is really neat. I used to go through 1 L glass bottles of coke per day. It has such a rich taste. You literally taste the pepper and cane sugar in it. It is hard to explain. I have no clue why American coke is so bad, but it sucks.

P.S. I love Root Beer with my cigars

[Totemic]

Originally Posted by Ferrari5180

I have no clue why American coke is so bad, but it sucks.

Like I said, it's probably the use of high fructose corn syrup instead of cane sugar. I know that I've done "blind taste tests" before without really realizing it. Some of my friends are Canadians and occasionally they come over with a six pack of coke and the taste is different.

I recall one comment by a doctor stating that one difference between HFCS and cane sugar is that your body knows when to turn off the "sugar craving" when it metabolizes cane sugar, but not with HFCS. So instead of stopping at a couple of cans/bottles of coke, you end up scarfing more.

Of course, there's contradictory studies indicating there's no difference between HFCS vs. cane sugar (studies funded by the soft drink industry). Personally, I don't drink much soft drinks (may be 1 can every three or four days) and I don't allow my kids to drink it either. But that aside, the taste difference is something no amount of study can convince me of since I can easily pick out cane sugar vs HFCS soft drinks without even really trying.

Ferrari5180 is correct, the flavor of the cola really pops out at you when you drink one made from cane sugar. The one from HFCS is more muted and mostly just "sweet".