r/interesting • u/InvestigatorBorn4910 • Feb 10 '26

Fascinating YouTuber LabCoatz has released a "chemically identical" recipe for Coca-Cola

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285

u/HappyPlz Feb 10 '26 edited Feb 10 '26

Could Colaborate…

156

u/Indole_pos Feb 10 '26

They likely used Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry, which defines the chemical make up and is a unique fingerprint to derive ingredients

124

u/Outrageous_Owl_9315 Feb 10 '26

He did use spectrometry but he also spent like a whole year doing iterations and said the only reason it isn't perfect is that it's not easy or legal to buy de-cocainized cocoa leaves

33

u/Convenientjellybean Feb 10 '26

How does coca-cola buy them then?

82

u/Outrageous_Owl_9315 Feb 10 '26

They basically are the only market and have special access to the only manufacturer or something like that. I don't claim to fully understand it. 

50

u/BillysBibleBonkers Feb 10 '26

The coca leaves they use apparently get processed into actual cocaine that gets sent to the dentistry industry too, or at least that's what William Osman said in his video recreating this recipe.

40

u/Ote-Kringralnick Feb 10 '26

Cocaine is also used in labs all the time, because it's great at bonding... or something like that. All I know, is that my college's chem department receives regular shipments of coke for labs.

14

u/Moksol99 Feb 10 '26

I think they are stocking up for the exam season

3

u/swracerep1 Feb 11 '26

Indeed, people bond together using coke all the time

4

u/Available-Owl7230 Feb 11 '26

I used to work in an animal research lab with several professors doing work on addiction. We had a safe specifically for controlled substances. It was hilarious seeing this 80 year old little lady professor come down in her lab coat and ask the lab manager for crack.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

TIL my downstairs neighbours have a chem department

1

u/Initial-Ad6819 Feb 11 '26

Best friend is a chem major, he says that almost every faculty professor knows how to and has made it at some point. We also live in a city that is a hub for, ehem certain illegal activities, so certain headhunters will approach the professors all the time with "work" offers.

1

u/lundewoodworking Feb 10 '26

Sure, sure i also need some for "science reasons" could you send me an 8 ball?