Open-source cola is any
cola
Cola is a carbonated soft drink flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, citrus oils and other flavorings. Cola became popular worldwide after the American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, a trademarked brand, in 1886, which was imi ...
soft drink produced according to a published and shareable
recipe. Unlike the secretive
Coca-Cola formula
The Coca-Cola Company's formula for Coca-Cola syrup, which bottlers combine with carbonated water to create the company's flagship cola soft drink, is a closely guarded trade secret. Company founder Asa Candler initiated the veil of secrecy tha ...
, the recipes are openly published and their re-use is encouraged.
The texts of
OpenCola OpenCola, Opencola, or open cola may refer to:
* Open-source cola, cola with an openly available recipe.
* Opencola, the free-software P2P company started by Grad Conn, Cory Doctorow, and John Henson.
* OpenCola (drink)
OpenCola is a brand of op ...
and Cube-Cola recipes are published under the
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general ...
(GPL).
Recipe
The colas are produced as a flavour concentrate or syrup that is then mixed with bulk ingredients to produce the drink. Completed flavour concentrates are sold by some of the open cola producers. The bulk ingredients include those such as sweeteners (
sugar or
artificial
Artificiality (the state of being artificial or manmade) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity.
Connotations
Artificiality ...
),
caffeine
Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine to ...
and the source of acidity,
phosphoric or
citric acid
Citric acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula HOC(CO2H)(CH2CO2H)2. It is a colorless weak organic acid. It occurs naturally in citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, which occurs in ...
. As these are added later, after the flavour blending stage, sugar and caffeine levels per batch can be tailored to a market's particular taste.
Coca-Cola's own flavouring syrup is known in-house as "Merchandise 7X", which is cross-referenced in the open recipes.
A typical recipe is based on eight
essential oils, listed here in approximate order of decreasing volume:
*
orange oil
Orange oil is an essential oil produced by cells within the rind of an orange fruit (''Citrus sinensis'' fruit). In contrast to most essential oils, it is extracted as a by-product of orange juice production by centrifugation, producing a co ...
*
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
oil
*
cassia oil
*
lemon
The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China.
The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...
oil
*
nutmeg
Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...
oil
*
coriander oil
*
lavender
''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and easte ...
oil
*
neroli
Neroli oil is an essential oil produced from the blossom of the bitter orange tree (''Citrus aurantium subsp. amara'' or ''Bigaradia''). Its scent is sweet, honeyed and somewhat metallic with green and spicy facets. Orange blossom is also extract ...
oil
These are based on the "
Pemberton formula."
Although claimed as the Coca-Cola recipe, this has been refuted by
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrup ...
.
This recipe is also similar to the Merory and Beal recipes. One ingredient that is missing from these recipes is the eponymous
kola nut,
although this did appear in
Reed's recipe.
The use of lavender oil is considered something of a personal taste. Neroli is frequently omitted altogether, owing to its high cost and relatively small contribution to the overall flavour.
Neroli alone may represent a third of the concentrate ingredients cost.
As well as the basic list of flavouring ingredients, there are other ingredients such as food grade
gum arabic
Gum arabic, also known as gum sudani, acacia gum, Arabic gum, gum acacia, acacia, Senegal gum, Indian gum, and by other names, is a natural gum originally consisting of the hardened sap of two species of the ''Acacia'' tree, '' Senegalia se ...
and a considerable degree of "art" in its manufacture. The precise quality and sourcing of ingredients makes an appreciable difference, particularly in the process of
emulsify
An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Altho ...
ing the concentrate.
Small quantities of alcohol may be used to facilitate this process; as an open recipe, this is under the control of the manufacturer who may avoid such ingredients if
halal
''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with '' haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification k ...
or similar rules would require it.
Open colas
Examples include
OpenCola OpenCola, Opencola, or open cola may refer to:
* Open-source cola, cola with an openly available recipe.
* Opencola, the free-software P2P company started by Grad Conn, Cory Doctorow, and John Henson.
* OpenCola (drink)
OpenCola is a brand of op ...
, produced as a promotion by the
Opencola OpenCola, Opencola, or open cola may refer to:
* Open-source cola, cola with an openly available recipe.
* Opencola, the free-software P2P company started by Grad Conn, Cory Doctorow, and John Henson.
* OpenCola (drink)
OpenCola is a brand of op ...
software company; Cube-Cola, an open cola produced by the
Cube Microplex
The Cube Microplex is cinema and event venue in Bristol, England. It operates as a non-profit cooperative and is entirely staffed by volunteers. Since opening in 1998 it has hosted international and local artistic and cultural events including f ...
cinema in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
.
Tøyen-Cola from
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
is one of the Cube-Cola offsprings.
Tøyen Cola is a local Speciality in Oslo, Norway that You need to Try!
on distrita.com (Jun 23, 2017)
See also
* List of brand name soft drink products
* List of soft drink flavors
A soft drink is a beverage that typically contains carbonated water, one or more flavourings and sweeteners such as sugar, HFCS, fruit juices, and/or sugar substitutes such as sucralose, acesulfame-K, aspartame and cyclamate. Soft drinks ...
References
{{Colas
Cola
Cola
Cola is a carbonated soft drink flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, citrus oils and other flavorings. Cola became popular worldwide after the American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, a trademarked brand, in 1886, which was imi ...