Some people give their moms flowers, chocolates, and cards for Mother’s Day. My son, Aaron, gave his a case of Mexican Coca-Cola.
Stephanie, his mom/ my wife, loves the sugar-sweetened version of the "Real Thing," and, apparently, she’s not alone. Friends, gourmands, and, of course, Mexican Coke salesmen have touted the stuff. Pepsi even recently starting selling – for a limited time, they say – a sugar-sweetened version of their cola called Pepsi Throwback. (Both companies also make a Kosher version of their colas for Passover that are sweetened with sugar.)
Being a curious lot – and the owners of a whole case of south-of-the-border Cokes – we decided we’d see just how different the sugar drinks were from the high-fructose ones. So, my wife, kid, and the latter’s buddy Heath, and I decided to administer a taste test to several friends this past Sunday. Participants blindly tasted Mexican Coca-Cola, which is sweetened with cane sugar; Pepsi Throwback, reportedly sweetened with sugar made from cane and beets; and Coca-Cola Classic and regular Pepsi, both of which are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. The results shocked us.
First, let me say this was not a scientific tasting by any measure. Our methodology was simple: Each participant got a sampling of the four colas listed above and a glass of water to cleanse the palette. Only the administrators knew what was in each cup. (A shout out, here, to Heath and Aaron for planning and conducting this test with great aplomb. They both have a bright future in mall-based surveys.)
The nine participants then ranked the drinks and most tried to guess which cola was which. The biggest surprise was that in the first tasting all six participants rated Mexican Coke their least favorite – this among a group who said they were all fans of sugar. The second group was less harsh, but the Mexican variety still finished last and Pepsi Throwback finished third.
Overall, the order of the group’s rankings was 1) Coca-Cola Classic, 2) regular Pepsi, 3)Pepsi Throwback, and 4) Mexican Coca-Cola. But results, sch-mults – Aaron, your mother still loves her Mother’s Day gift.
Richard, a senior writer for Southern Living, works mainly for the magazine's Travel and Livings departments and contributes frequently to SL's Tales from the Road blog.
