People think they need a passport to come down to Tucson. There's a common misconception that we are located in Mexico. In fact, there is a mere 40-minute drive that separates Tucson from Mexico.As a result, we get all things Mexican out here, including food. My boss gave me a bottle of Mexican Coca Cola a few weeks ago, and I just got around to tasting in. It is illegal to use artificial sweeteners or corn syrup in Mexico, so the Coke is still made with sugar. Plus, they still use those cute little glass bottles and a top you have to use a bottle opener on.
And the Coke does taste different in Mexico. The manufacturer probably has to use a different combination of chemicals to keep the sugar from settling to the bottom of the bottle. I thought it tasted slightly metallic. It could have also been the metal top. Another thing to consider is that when you get Coke in a plastic bottle, the acids interact with the plastic, perhaps skewing the taste.
I'm not much of a Coke drinker anyhow, but I could stomach this again. It's definitely different.
5 comments:
The coke bottle looks like the coke we used to get in Malaysia when I was really young!
It's great that you get loads of mexican food in Tucson - yum!
Sadly, it looks like HFCS may be soon inundating Mexico: http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=70388-adm-hfcs-corn
I'm not sure if it is technically illegal for Mexican soft drinks to be made with HFCS -- it may be a side effect of the high import tax on HFCS versus cheap Mexican sugar 9see http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/09/business/worldbusiness/09sugar.html?ei=5007&en=520200b79c552b81&ex=1402113600&adxnnl=1&partner=USERLAND&adxnnlx=1108711343-qWL3Hc4+NrqDyXPrPQ8kdQ). But I'd be curious to learn more. Do you have a source for the statement that it's illegal?
All I know is that my boss said some arcane regulation prohibits additives in order to protect the local agriculture. Beyond that, I can't speak to the voracity of that.
I like my coke from a glass bottle but we hardly get that down here.
I've totally wanted to find this!
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