Cookbook:Cola IV

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Cola IV
Category	Beverages
Yield	>8 ounces (251 ml) syrup
Servings	5
Energy	80 kcal/100 g
Time	30 minutes
Difficulty

Cola is a type of soda that flavored with citrus and spices. The word "cola" derives from kola nuts, a plant originating in West Africa and originally used as a source of caffeine to make this soda. Most modern recipes do not contain kola nuts.

This recipe is derived from a LabCoatz video where he tries to replicate modern Coca-Cola through mass spectrometry.

Note that consuming high levels of caffeine can be very dangerous. If you are scaling the recipe up or down, make sure you scale the caffeine accordingly so that the per-serving caffeine amount stays the same or is lower. Absolutely do not use more than triple the listed proportion of caffeine.

Ingredients

Flavor solution A:

• 1 drop coriander oil
• 1 drop fenchol (optional, hard to find)
• 2 drops orange oil
• 4 drops nutmeg oil
• 7 drops cassia oil
• 12 drops tea tree oil (optional, read important warning below)
• 61 drops lime oil
• 76 drops lemon oil
• 50 ml 150+ proof unflavored spirit or a mixture of 25 ml water with 25 ml gum arabic

Flavor solution B:

• 0.08 g wine tannins
• 0.0965 g caffeine (optional)
• 0.1 ml or 2 drops vanilla extract
• 0.1 ml or 2 drops 5% vinegar
• 0.45 ml or 9 drops 85% phosphoric acid
• 1.75 g glycerin
• 3.2 ml or 64 drops caramel color
• 10 ml water

Syrup:

• ½ cup (120 ml) white sugar
• ½ cup (120 ml) water
• Carbonated water, as needed

Procedure

1. Mix the oils in flavor solution A in a container.
2. Transfer 1 ml of flavor solution A into another container and dilute it with the spirit or gum arabic water.
3. Mix flavor solution B in a third container.
4. Combine ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) of the finished flavor solution A, all of flavor solution B, the white sugar, and the water to make the syrup.
5. To make the finished soda, combine 1 volume of syrup with 5 volumes of carbonated water.

Notes, tips, and variations

• Tea tree oil is very dangerous in large quantities. Do not, under any circumstances, increase the proportion of tea tree oil in your beverage. You may choose to omit it as it is a minor ingredient.
• Use a clean eye dropper to measure drops. Do not use a pipette, an eye dropper previously used for dispensing medication, or a spoon to measure drops.
• Use water from a carbonating machine or a brand of pure carbonated water such as Polar Original Sparkling Water, Great Value Seltzer Water, or Signature Select Seltzer Water. Do not use a brand of mineral water such as Perrier, San Pellegrino, or Mineragua because the added minerals will ruin the taste. Avoid flavored sparkling water such as La Croix or Spindrift because the preexisting fruit flavors will ruin the drink.
• You can substitute the caramel color with browning the sugar in a saucepan and immediately adding the other syrup ingredients immediately afterward.
• You can omit the caramel color and use brown sugar or piloncillo instead.
• You can substitute the wine tannins and caffeine with 2 drops of tea extract or a mixture of 2 parts water to 1 part matcha.
• You can substitute the phosphoric acid with ¼ tsp (0.13 ml) citric acid.
• You can make cherry cola by adding 1 tsp (5 ml) of cherry extract in step 4.
• You can make vanilla cola by adding an additional teaspoon (5 ml) of vanilla extract in step 4.