A few weeks back, we asked readers if they would buy a cane sugar version of Coca Cola and an overwhelming 89% of you said “yes.” So Consumerist asked Coke if the company had any plans to introduce non-HFCS version — a la Pepsi Throwback — on a national scale. The answer — no, because we already have Mexican Coke.
“We already provide a Coca-Cola with sugar in the U.S. – is Coca-Cola from Mexico and it’s available year round,” Greg Galvez, vice president and general manager of Importation and Commercialization, Coca-Cola North America, told Consumerist.
Galvez appears to contradict himself on the topic of cane sugar vs. High Fructose Corn Syrup.
First he tells us that the reason for going national — though only “in select grocery stores and bodegas that appeal to a high percentage of Hispanic consumers” — with the cane sugar Mexican Coke was that: “For some Hispanics, the familiarity of Coca-Cola with cane sugar and in a tall glass bottle they recognize is a reassuring ‘piece of home.’”
But then, when asked if there is any difference in taste between Coca Cola sweetened with cane sugar and Coke with HFCS, he replied that “our research shows that there is no perceptible taste difference between the products. Whether sweetened with high fructose corn syrup or sugar, a Coke is a Coke and both are ‘the real thing.’”
If one of the reasons Hispanic immigrants drink the Mexican Coke is the cane sugar, doesn’t that imply that there is a difference in taste? And if there’s no taste difference between the two, then the only reason to import or drink Mexican Coke is because it’s in a glass bottle?
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I’m a daily soda drinker. Now I end up drinking Coke only a few weeks a year, when I can get the Passover version or feel like forking over 8 bucks for a six-pack of Mexican Coke. Hey, I’d rather buy Coke all the time, but if Pepsi is going to give me what I want and Coke won’t, well, then let the invisible hand of the market bitch-slap Coke back into the Stone Age. If they don’t want my money, I’ll give it to Pepsi.
I can only imagine the lower standards of quality that Coca-Cola takes full advantage of by bottling in Mexico. If they could bottle urine and sell it, they would.
And yet, their equivalent of the FDA is still better regulated than ours. The smithfield hog farms they export to us, less so.
I am a massive Coke (as in Coca-Cola) freak. I’m also pretty good at tasting stuff. I thought I’d be able to tell the difference.
Honestly, I can’t. Granted, I did not test with Coke as I couldn’t find sugar coke other than MexiCoke. I tested with Dr. Pepper and DP Throwback. Couldn’t tell the difference, they tasted the same.
OTOH, there *is* a notable difference in taste between plastic, canned, and glass bottles, with glass bottles being FAR better than the other two containers. Note that MexiCoke is only sold in the US in glass… so many people who try to tell you “it’s better because it’s sugar” are likely tasting the difference from the delivery mechanism and not the contents.
Fountain is hit or miss – if the person who setup the fountain has the mix correct, it’s great, but otherwise it’s horrid. I’ve found a local Chipotle who has the Coke of God, they must’ve had an old-timer setup the machine.
We have them in both Sams and Wegmans here in our little town in Central PA. Can’t say we have more than a handful of Hispanics in the whole area but it does sell. Too expensive for every day purchase but it has a distinctive taste from standard HFCS Coke. The stuff we have is not fizzy enough for my taste – not sure if that’s a factory decision or that it takes so long to get here from Mexico that the fizz has left the bottles.
If I want flat tasting super sweet crap, I’ll drink Pepsi.
I don’t know what idiot is running Coke but what a screw ball he or she is. Long ago, they got rid of the good ole sugar in favor of government subsidized HFCS. Next, they claimed the new generation preferred their product “New Coke” which to me tasted like crap or similar to RC Cola which is just an abbreviated version of Real Crap Cola. Ooops the taste testers blew it and so Classic Coke arrives on the scene. Not really classic though, it has HFCS. I am fortunate in that I can purchase Mexican Coke here in AZ and it tastes great.
Some where in the mix of Coke’s follies came Lime Coke, Banana Coke, Fruit Coke, Cherry Coke, Lemon Coke and what ever else. Talk about the prostitution of your brand! None of this stuff was any good. Splenda hit the market and as usual Coke failed to enter the market with a decent product. I guess there was a big campaign to get Coke with Splenda on the market. I was anxious for it to be available and grabbed a 2 litre when it came out. Damn that is disgusting!! I think the taste testers at Coke are so happy with the profits they sit on their big fat HFCS asses and can’t taste anything. Not surprising though, they can’t taste the difference between real Coke and HFCS Coke.
Alas a company with vision sees the rift that HFCS is becoming with educated consumers. Can you spell P E P S I ? Pepsi Through Back never made it to my corner of the world until this year. I love the taste of it and I was never a big Pepsi fan before. We stock piled 10 cases in anticipation of it selling out and now I read the product will not be discontinued. Thanks Pepsi YOU GUYS GET IT!!
Coke is so out of touch. Their answer to what the consumer is telling them they want is go to Tijuana, Nogales or Juarez and bring some Coke back with you. Or you could go to the bario and find a Tienda that has it. Wow. Really?
THANKS ALLOT COKE – NOT ME
How I wish I could wake these arrogant people up.