# The secret to clear Coke. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** soda-softdrinks\ **Created:** [January 1, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-to-clear-coke/741936 "2016-01-01T21:02:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-to-clear-coke/741936/1 "2016-01-01T21:02:25Z")
Interesting experiment. Clear Coke. Most definitely not something that can be drunk later. > **[Here’s the viral video showing what happens when you mix Coke and bleach](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/viral-video-showing-happens-mix-coke-bleach-163526097.html)** > > The CrazyRussianHacker YouTube channel that taught us how to hack band-aids returned this week with a new viral video that shows what happens when you mix Coca Cola with bleach. The short clip that shows us the almighty power of bleach has... I’m curious now if Coke is naturally a clear drink (like 7 UP and Sprite) and they just add a dye to color it? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-to-clear-coke/741936/2 "2016-01-01T21:13:33Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’m curious now if Coke is naturally a clear drink (like 7 UP and Sprite) and they just add a dye to color it? I don’t know if it’s clear before they color it with caramel color, but they definitely do color it- on the Coke Zero can I’m drinking, caramel color is the #2 ingredient behind water, and I suspect on regular coke it’s probably in the top 5. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-to-clear-coke/741936/3 "2016-01-01T21:15:22Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’m curious now if Coke is naturally a clear drink (like 7 UP and Sprite) and they just add a dye to color it? Brown soft drinks in general are colored with [caramel color](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramel_color). ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-to-clear-coke/741936/4 "2016-01-01T21:20:57Z")
There was a clear coke in [1992](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_Clear). I tried it once. It was awful. It didn’t last long. There was also one in [1940](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Coke), but that was slightly before my time. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-to-clear-coke/741936/5 "2016-01-01T21:22:14Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Brown soft drinks in general are colored with [caramel color](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramel_color). That must be what the bleach neutralized. Leaving clear Coke behind. I noticed the Coke still fizzed up after he began stirring. So the Coke’s carbonation wasn’t effected. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-to-clear-coke/741936/6 "2016-01-01T21:26:24Z")
Oh, and it seems that adding [milk to coke](http://metro.co.uk/2015/02/27/how-to-mix-coke-and-milk-to-create-a-lip-smacking-clear-drink-5081829/)makes it go clear. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-to-clear-coke/741936/7 "2016-01-01T23:09:40Z")
[Crystal Pepsi and Tab Clear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Pepsi). How soon we forget. And of course, [Crystal Gravy](http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/crystal-gravy/n10459). ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-to-clear-coke/741936/8 "2016-01-01T23:50:44Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Tab Clear. How soon we forget. It didn’t take long to forget post #4 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-to-clear-coke/741936/9 "2016-01-02T05:24:40Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > It didn’t take long to forget post #4 But your post mentioned clear Coke, not Tab. They wouldn’t know you meant Tab unless they bothered to click the link. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-to-clear-coke/741936/10 "2016-01-02T10:17:21Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > And of course, [Crystal Gravy](http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/crystal-gravy/n10459). That looks suspiciously like corn syrup. 😉 Incidentally, if I may thread jack, I immediately knew that ad was fake when they flashed “The world wasn’t created in six days” caption. There’s no way a major company would risk alienating fundie consumers by putting a “controversial” message like that in their commercial. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-to-clear-coke/741936/11 "2016-01-04T02:16:01Z")
If you leave an opened bottle of coke out in high-UV sunlight (for example, a New Zealand summer) the black coke colour will fade as a result of UV light bleaching. It won’t go completely clear, though, but should be drinkable at the end of the process. I have observed this with discarded partial coke bottles, but have never tried the experiment with an unopened bottle to taste the final result.