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Comment by jhawk28 | Hacker News Reader

They didn't actually use the original formula. They used the opportunity to switch from Cane sugar to Corn Syrup. Since people didn't have the ability to taste the difference any more, no one noticed. This let them cut the cost of a major ingredient which then translated into profit. They gained a LOT more from the failed product.

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The sweetener isn't part of the Coca-Cola formula (or more specifically, isn't part of the Coca-Cola concentrate). Coca-Cola provides unsweetened concentrate to independent bottlers, and the bottlers add high fructose corn syrup, sugar, or both during the bottling process. Some US Coca-Cola bottlers still only use sugar for sweetener.

No, but the formula needs to be adjusted for different sweeteners in order to keep the same final flavor.

Ahh, that's interesting. I remember Coke (KO) bought out the US distribution/bottling from Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE) in 2010 but Wikipedia says 5-10% of US Coke is still bottled by a handful of independent bottlers.

Allegedly, Kosher For Passover Coke (which should be available soon if not already) uses sugar.

Yes, Coke that's kosher for Passover can't contain grain, including corn, so they use sugar.

Some history: http://time.com/3769657/coke-passover-kosher/

Also, so called Mexican Coke is made with sugar. Though not necessarily all Coke sold in Mexico.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Coke

And decades later, we all still talk about it. Classic Coke is so awesome that it cannot be changed because EVERYBODY WILL REVOLT!

Achieving that level of mythos about a product is an astonishing accomplishment.

They revolt if they know its happening. Even today Coke has lots of different recipes. A bottle is very different from a fountain machine at a restaurant for instance. And folks don't get out the torches and pitchforks.

Yeah, I don't see how it's possible for all fountains to get the exact same syrup and gas concentrations. Especially with ice and temperature also being factors.

> don't see how it's possible

It could be computerized pretty easily, it's just not.

They use different sweeteners in bottled Diet Coke and fountain Diet Coke. Bottled Diet Coke uses aspartame, while fountain uses a combination (one being AceK, can't remember the other(s)).

I want to contrast this with your (!) earlier comment:

> Maybe they [Kraft] worried too much. Even though the change was written on the box, nobody noticed or commented. That's how much people cared.

I agree with the comment I'm responding to; I think Kraft was completely correct to worry, for exactly the reason you state here.

But it played out differently here. Kraft mentioned it; nobody blinked. They made the change and marked it on the box; nobody commented. That's a very different result than Coke's experience.

And I think we can attribute that to the strategy Kraft used to specifically avoid what happened to Coke. What if Kraft had made the change and announced it?

The switch to HFCS started 5 years before New Coke. Some bottlers were already using only HFCS at the time New Coke happened.

The switch happened here like two years ago (or less), and I couldn't notice any difference. But I don't drink Coke more than once or twice per month, so perhaps that helped me (to not notice the change).

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