Do you also see the difference or am I tripping?
In: Chemistry
I can tell it with other drinks. Cans seem to have more impurities and a metallic taste that plastic or especially glass does not.
Glass > aluminum can > plastic
Cola is acidic. The acid leaches off the container most in plastic and to some extent in aluminum. Glass is the cleanest best pleasure
You taste and smell a lot of things.
Coca-Cola has its own flavor.
Plastic has a flavor. (Straws and bottles)
Aluminum has a flavor. (cans)
Glass doesn’t really have a flavor.
When it’s put directly into a glass bottle at the factory, it doesn’t have a chance to pickup any more flavors.
Years ago my mathematics teacher told me that at the Coke factory, they taste all the batches. The better tasting the batch, the smaller container that would house it. I think the real reason smaller containers taste better is that they stay fizzy longer and are more likely to be bought chilled than big bottles.
They’re actually formulated differently, at least at the Coca-Cola size of producer. It’s worse for smaller, regional producers who use a single formula.
Soft drinks can eat away at container materials, and so part of the container becomes of the beverage. Glass is the closest to impervious, aside from the cap, so it’s usually the same as the fountain formula, while Aluminum requires a plastic coating in the can, and the plastics used in plastic bottles are by far the worst. Large producers actually adjust the formula to minimize the taste difference, but it’s only partially effective.
This same phenomenon also occurs in most beverages, including beer, juice, and milk, but the container varieties are far fewer across other beverages so most people don’t notice. Milk out of a glass bottle is definitely better than milk out of a plastic bottle, for instance.
Soft drinks are not nearly as problematic in their concentrated syrup form, as it turns out water is a huge contributor to the problem, so they’re usually just shipped in mylar bags.
As an interesting aside: Coca-cola products out of newer McDonald’s automatic fountains dynamically adjust the syrup/water mix based on the amount of ice the customer asked for, so that when it melts during normal drinking it will be as close as possible to the ideal mixture.
I don’t know why for sure. I do know the one in the can has a nice “bite” to it, you’re not crazy. I always figured it was that the canned one is more likely to be cold, which makes it taste better. Maybe it gets slightly colder due to the can. Also, metals have their own flavor and cokes acidic so it probably picks up a bit of that from the aluminum can
The material of the container can effect the flavor of the contents.
Just like whiskey gets flavor from the barrels it ages in, coke alters its flavor depending on what container it’s stored in.
Aluminum cans have a polymer lining, and plastic bottles are made of plastic. This can affect the flavor of the coke.
Plastic bottles are also sometimes exposed to sunlight while being stored which can also affect the flavor.
Glass bottles don’t effect the flavor the same way.
Fountain coke at a restaurant on the other hand tastes quite different. This is because the coke in bottles and cans is carbonated with carbonic acid where-as the soda fountain carbonates water with CO2 directly and mixing it with the concentrate on demand.
The mix from fountains is often also off, so you might get a more watery product from the fountain, or because the ice it’s served with melted.
This is why canned coke tends to have a more bitter flavor, while fountains tend to be sweeter or watery.
When you drink from a can, your nose is jammed into the tab and top of the can. Smell is a strong contributor to taste.
Most of the glass bottles in my area are made with pure cane sugar, as opposed to high fructose corn syrup. Cans also have a very thin lining of plastic, that separates the liquid from the metal, and plastic degrades and gets leeched into the beverage. Not sure if coca cola has a similar property to beer, as cans, and dark colored glass block out light, which effects the taste of beer. Compare corona, which comes in a clear glass bottle to most other beers that come in dark brown bottles or cans to block out the light.
My response is purely speculation, so YMMV.
.
There’s a study done about why McDonalds coke taste better. They found out that the straw was slightly bigger.
So the bigger the straw, the faster you drink, the more reaction between the coke and your taste buds.
My speculation is that there’s an optional ration of how much and how quickly a soda should go in your mouth. So a can might be the better ratio for you – whereas glass bottle often has a lag because of the smaller orifice and the “glugging” effect
Latest Answers