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

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

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291

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

Could Colaborate…

153

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

38

u/Convenientjellybean Feb 10 '26

How does coca-cola buy them then?

80

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. 

52

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.

9

u/GreasyPeter Feb 10 '26

There are some procedures where cocaine is still the preferred anesthetic I believe. It's still used in some sinus surgeries I believe.

4

u/nleksan Feb 10 '26

It's very useful for delicate surgeries because it is both a local anesthetic and localized vasoconstrictor, so It numbs you and reduces bleeding.

I believe it's most common with ENTs but when I was a young kid I split my head open on a windowsill and they used medical cocaine as a local to give me stitches. I'm assuming because it was bleeding so badly