# Coca cola with cane sugar - different taste than with corn syrup? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** soda-softdrinks\ **Created:** [March 5, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-with-cane-sugar-different-taste-than-with-corn-syrup/531356 "2010-03-05T00:13:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cgg419](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cgg419/32/2847_2.png) [@cgg419](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cgg419)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-with-cane-sugar-different-taste-than-with-corn-syrup/531356/41 "2010-03-09T16:43:33Z")
There is certainly a difference, IMHO, but that is coming from someone that has drank pop with “real” sugar my entire life. The only time that I know of I drank a US made carbonated drink with HFCS (that didn’t have liquor mixed in) I noticed the difference instantly. I know, I know, anecdotes are not actual data, but it was obvious to me. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-with-cane-sugar-different-taste-than-with-corn-syrup/531356/42 "2010-03-09T18:36:58Z")
I tried Coke with Cane Sugar in Canada. I… didn’t like it as well as HFCS, but that may be more of a factor of me being used to the one, not the other. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-with-cane-sugar-different-taste-than-with-corn-syrup/531356/43 "2010-03-09T23:58:56Z")
I wonder how this “mouth-feel” thing is explained chemically… ? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-with-cane-sugar-different-taste-than-with-corn-syrup/531356/44 "2010-03-10T00:02:25Z")
I’ve heard or read, can’t find any cite now, that the whole Coke-New Coke-Classic Coke thing was just Coca Cola’s way of diverting attention from its shift from cane sugar to the cheaper corn syrup. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-with-cane-sugar-different-taste-than-with-corn-syrup/531356/45 "2010-03-10T03:26:52Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > I wonder how this “mouth-feel” thing is explained chemically… ? Emperor’s clothes, mostly. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-with-cane-sugar-different-taste-than-with-corn-syrup/531356/46 "2010-03-10T15:59:54Z")
> [@](#): > > I must give credit to the OP for using the term ‘Coca-Cola’ instead of ‘Coke’–possibly in an attempt to preemptively avoid the sort of lame post that I just made. That would be correct. 🙂 > [@](#): > > For tasters under 30, who grew up with HFCS in their soft drinks, cane sugar didn’t evoke any memories, or have any special appeal. On the contrary, they thought that HFCS tasted normal. Being under thirty, that’s probably why I felt the way I do. My sister, who’s sixteen, was drinking one of the bottles last night and asked if I was going to buy more. I said no, one reason being that it tasted the same as ‘regular’ coke, but were more expensive (the other being that I don’t want to stock up on soda). She didn’t disagree with my opinion on taste, but said she liked the novelty of the bottle. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-with-cane-sugar-different-taste-than-with-corn-syrup/531356/47 "2010-03-10T17:08:38Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I’ve heard or read, can’t find any cite now, that the whole Coke-New Coke-Classic Coke thing was just Coca Cola’s way of diverting attention from its shift from cane sugar to the cheaper corn syrup. I’d heard that, but I’d also heard that Coke rolled out the HFCS before the switch. > [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > I wonder how this “mouth-feel” thing is explained chemically… ? > [@Kylede](#): > > Um…Sucrose is a disaccaride (meaning a larger sugar molecule made of two simpler sugar molecules) made from a dehydration reaction of Glucose and Fructose…once you add water to it, it splits to 50% of each…so in the end it is a 5% difference. I don’t see why a 5% difference would not be detectable, at least by some. Combine that with the fact that likely not all the sucrose would be converted, and you might have a significant difference for those who are trying to taste it. I really, really want to try it, and do it right with having it unmarked, but I don’t know how to get a hold of a caffeine-free cane-sugar variety, and I can’t have caffeine. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-with-cane-sugar-different-taste-than-with-corn-syrup/531356/48 "2010-03-10T17:19:41Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’d heard that, but I’d also heard that Coke rolled out the HFCS before the switch. Snopes says the sweetener switch started in 1980, and cane sugar had already been completely phased out by the time new coke was released in 1985. > **[Was the 'New Coke' Fiasco Just a Clever Marketing Ploy?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/new-coke-fiasco/)** > > Was the 'New Coke' fiasco really a clever marketing ploy? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-with-cane-sugar-different-taste-than-with-corn-syrup/531356.md?page=2)