
Open-source cola is any
cola soft drink produced according to a published and shareable
recipe
A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe.
His ...
. Unlike the secretive
Coca-Cola formula, the recipes are openly published and their re-use is encouraged.
The texts of
OpenCola and Cube-Cola recipes are published under the
GNU General Public License (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
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
or
artificial),
caffeine and the source of acidity,
phosphoric or
citric acid. 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 oil
An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the o ...
s, listed here in approximate order of decreasing volume:
*
orange oil
*
lime oil
*
cassia oil
*
lemon oil
*
nutmeg oil
*
oil
*
lavender oil
*
neroli oil
These are based on the "
Pemberton formula."
Although claimed as the Coca-Cola recipe, this has been refuted by
The Coca-Cola Company.
This recipe is also similar to the Merory and Beal recipes. One ingredient that is missing from these recipes is the eponymous
kola nut
The term kola nut usually refers to the seeds of certain species of plant of the genus ''Cola'', placed formerly in the cocoa family Sterculiaceae and now usually subsumed in the mallow family Malvaceae (as subfamily Sterculioideae). These cola ...
,
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 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
emulsifying 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 or similar rules would require it.
Open colas
Examples include
OpenCola, produced as a promotion by the
Opencola software company; Cube-Cola, an open cola produced by the
Cube Microplex cinema in
Bristol.
Tøyen-Cola from
Norway 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
This article is a list of brand name soft drink products. In some cases, the relevant article is the parent brand or brand family.
By company
Coca-Cola Company
* Ambasa
*Ameyal
*Appletiser
*Aquarius
*Barq's
*Beat
* Beverly (discontinued i ...
* List of soft drink flavors
References
{{Colas
Cola
Cola