
How Coca-Cola won the war  - Ardit20
http://www.damninteresting.com/the-american-gustation-crisis-of-1985
======
dwwoelfel
The following is from a blog that no longer exists, except in my Google Reader
archive. Its author worked in a flavor factory that produced Coke:

"I’ll explain why Pepsi sucks so bad, yet somehow manages to win taste tests.
If you take Coke and Pepsi side by side in a blind test, Pepsi will win. This
is because the bad taste of Pepsi cumulates from several sips (it is an
aftertaste effect). So even though I hate Pepsi, I can take a sip or two and
enjoy it. After half a can, I’m grossed out. Coke on the other hand tastes
good no matter how much you drink, because its aftertaste is the same as its,
uh… during taste. Thus, Coke is also better for mixing (who likes rum and
Pepsi? Anyone?) because its taste is a constant. People who are expert tasters
can tell Pepsi is garbage from sip one. But mortals like you and I fall for
the trick, allowing Pepsi to claim that it wins taste tests."

~~~
axod
Coke has a horrible aftertaste IMHO. I can't drink much of it at all. Pepsi is
far sweeter. Pepsi Max is the best though.

~~~
petercooper
Taste is hilariously subjective. Pepsi Max tastes, to me, how cat piss smells.
That said, Diet Coke is even worse.. perhaps I'm overly sensitive to
artificial sweeteners in some way.

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old-gregg
This doesn't explain why Coke tastes much, much better in Europe: when I'm
traveling I always enjoy Coke. But when I'm back to US I tend to avoid soft
drinks entirely - they all taste like gasoline here.

I lived in Texas for a while and I remember people were always looking for
Mexican Coke: some gas stations would stock it. It was significantly more
expensive, about $2 per bottle, and indeed, it had the taste of the real
thing.

Could this dramatic degradation in quality be explained by HFCS alone?

~~~
stcredzero
There's also much more awareness about flavors on the continent than in the
US. The greater relative persistence of traditional food processing methods in
Europe and the greater preponderance of industrialized food production in the
US mean that industrial food manufacturers can simply _get away with more_ in
the US. The population here has been more conditioned to accept it.

I find that much the same is true with sensitivity to micro-pulse within
rhythm. A large portion of the North American public hasn't a clue such a
thing exists. Heck, a lot of North Americans don't understand how to clap in
time on the downbeat! (Unfortunately, you can also find the same cluelessnes
in Europe pretty easily as well. The counterpart cluefulness is much easier to
find there, though.)

~~~
axod
This is also why all cheese in the US tastes to Europeans like plastic. It's
extremely surprising that people actually buy cheese in the US, and they seem
to have it with everything as well :/

To anyone who has tasted real cheese, it's just bizarre.

The other oddity is chocolate. In the US it seems to come universally without
any milk or sugar added. Hersheys is bitter. Even the "Cadburys" (made under
license) is quite hard to eat, and not anything like real chocolate.

And agreed. HFCS tastes pretty gross compared to the same drink with real
sugar.

~~~
jrockway
Where do you guys shop in the US? If you explore stores beyond 7/11, you'll
see that there is plenty of "normal food" in the US.

Some people choose to eat artificially-produced cheese substitute, but despite
the ads you see on TV, not everyone does.

The same goes for coffee and beer, mentioned in comments below. I always buy
coffee within a day or two of roasting, and even if I buy it at the grocery
store, it's still within two weeks. Sure, you _can_ buy old coffee and save
money, but you don't have to. (As for pre-ground coffee, many people value the
convenience of not having to buy a $200 coffee grinder and grind their own
coffee over having the best coffee possible. In America, you get to decide!)

Finally, we have a lot of good beer over here. In Chicago we have Two Brothers
and Goose Island (who sometimes produce a good beer; Green Line Pale Ale --
tasty), and New Belgium and Dogfish Head are good American beers that are
widely distributed throughout the country.

I think you Europeans need to watch a little less TV before you judge.

~~~
davidw
As an American who has spent significant time in Europe, I'll agree with you
that it's quite _possible_ to get good food in the US. However, the average
quality of what the average person eats is indubitably lower and includes more
processed crap.

I do think that things are changing for the better, however. On my most recent
trip back home, I went to a supermarket that had large areas dedicated to
speciality/high quality/non-cheezit-whiz stuff, something that you wouldn't
have seen 20 years ago.

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joe_bleau
My absolute favorite coke vs. pepsi taste test story is near the end of this
blog post (search for "About 10 years ago I did a year long part-time course
in quality assurance"):
[http://davesmechanicalpencils.blogspot.com/2006/11/pentel-
ai...](http://davesmechanicalpencils.blogspot.com/2006/11/pentel-ain-
lead.html)

~~~
marcinw
I don't know what's better... the Coke vs Pepsi story in the article, or the
fact that this entire website is dedicated to mechanical pencils.

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poundy
Coca-Cola outsells Pepsi in most parts of the U.S., notable exceptions being
central Appalachia, North Dakota, and Utah. In the city of Buffalo, New York,
Pepsi outsells Coca-Cola by a two-to-one margin.

Overall, Coca-Cola continues to outsell Pepsi in almost all areas of the
world. However, exceptions include India; Saudi Arabia; Pakistan, the
Dominican Republic; Guatemala the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Newfoundland
and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island; and Northern Ontario

~~~
eli
Well, of course. There's a Pepsi bottling plant in Buffalo. I'm sure Coke
outsells Pepsi by an obscene margin in Atlanta.

~~~
nirmal
It does. Also as far as the Georgia Tech campus goes you won't find a Pepsi
vending machine anywhere. Even the on-campus Pizza Hut sells Coke.

~~~
eli
My understanding is that it's common for college campuses to sign exclusive
contracts with one vendor or another.

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thethimble
Mirror:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8Owe47L...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8Owe47LK_EkJ:www.damninteresting.com/the-
american-gustation-crisis-
of-1985+damninteresting+coca+cola&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

------
Figs
In the future, could you please remove the #more-... anchor from the links?
They jump you into the middle of the article, which is somewhat annoying.

~~~
Ardit20
Yeah sorry realised that after I posted when I tested the link but
unfortunately you can not edit links apparently.

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Revisor
It's an interesting read from a marketing point of view, but as for our
health, coke (oversweetened dilluted acid), chips (carcinogenic fried potato
dough with monosodium glutamate) and sweet chocolate are the most unhealthy
things one can inflict upon oneself. I have never understood some of my
friends, gulping litres of coke everyday, basically drinking nothing else.

I for myself prefer tap water (capital city, central Europe).

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marcinw
I've always preferred the taste of Coke out of a can to any other cola. Pepsi
is too sweet, and it has a slightly different aftertaste; Coke on the
otherhand, tastes pretty consistent throughout, making it an excellent choice
as a mixer. I don't know how people can like Coke out of a glass bottle
though... it has always tasted too flat for me.

Anyone ever notice how Subway (chain restaurant) always has a different
tasting Coke than what you're used to? I could never figure out why they
consistently screw up the mix.

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thereddestruby
Coke always tastes better out of a glass bottle than a can, as well.

~~~
whakojacko
Is this really true? If so, why would it be? Ive had friends say that, but Ive
only had Coke from glass that was from Mexico/Europe and hence had real sugar,
which is obviously better for a completely different reason.

~~~
dzlobin
This is true for most things. There is a reason specific wines have specific
glasses, as does beer and whisky.

Taste is overwhelmingly defendant on smell, so drinking it out of a bottle
where your nose is not in much contact with the aroma, and drinking it out of
a glass where your nose is almost next to the drink, are two entirely
different sensation.

For example budweiser in a bottle/can, is very bad; almost gasoline-y like bud
light, natty ice. Out of a proper glass though its much smoother and lighter
tasting, not bad at all.

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tron_carter
In my stats class in school, I volunteered for the coke vs. pepsi blind taste
test. I had to guess which was which, and I was right 9/10 trials. Teacher was
a bit shocked at that, calling me an outlier.

~~~
gaius
Pepsi is sweeter. It tastes better for one mouthful, but Coke wins in the
market because most people find an entire can of Pepsi too sweet.

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zeynel1
'Although the foods were identical aside from their wrappings, the children
said they preferred the taste of the McDonald’s-branded burgers, carrots, and
apple juice in the vast majority of tests.'

interesting

