# Analysing cola
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/analysing-cola/390133
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 30, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/analysing-cola/390133 "2007-01-30T16:56:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/analysing-cola/390133/1 "2007-01-30T16:56:56Z")
Is it possible to analyse an unlabeled sample of cola and determine whether it is Coke or Pepsi or something else?
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### Author:  [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/analysing-cola/390133/2 "2007-01-30T16:59:27Z")
Sure, just taste it.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2007, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/analysing-cola/390133/3 "2007-01-30T17:05:26Z")
[QUOTE=Terminus Est]
Sure, just taste it.
[/QUOTE]
:smack: I wasn’t thinking of that… but cola varies from country to country, and taste memory is unreliable (at least mine is). Can the test be made without anyone tasting it?
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### Author:  [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/analysing-cola/390133/4 "2007-01-30T17:14:26Z")
Well, it’s not like they’re going to put in a molecule that spells out “Pepsi,” so you’ll need known samples to compare against, but sure. They’re chemically different, so you could take them apart in a mass spec. and look at their signatures, or use other tools to examine them if you knew a particular chemical or ratio that was specific to one.
Easier, though, would be to shine a known light through them and measure it with a light meter: at least in my area, Coke is slightly lighter in color than Pepsi when strongly illuminated, and the diet versions of both are significantly darker than the non-diet ones.
I suspect (but haven’t tried) that if you were to dump yeast into “non-diet” cola, it would foam much more than if you dumped it into the diet versions – so there might be other “tricks” that could narrow it down.
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### Author:  [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2007, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/analysing-cola/390133/5 "2007-01-30T17:22:57Z")
[QUOTE=TimeWinder]
I suspect (but haven’t tried) that if you were to dump yeast into “non-diet” cola, it would foam much more than if you dumped it into the diet versions – so there might be other “tricks” that could narrow it down.
[/QUOTE]
Well, I can certainly taste the difference between diet and non-diet cola, but for something more dramatic, drop some Mentos in the cola. Diet Coke reacts [more violently](http://www.eepybird.com/dcm1.html) than regular Coke.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/analysing-cola/390133/6 "2007-01-30T18:16:03Z")
Coke has more Spice and Pepsi more citrus. Pepsi also has a little more sugar, although due to the way Coke is made is has a sweeter “mouth feel”.