Mexican Coca-Cola makes inroads north of the border

More consumers in the United States are cluing in to a secret that immigrants, Mexican Americans and ardent foodies have known for years: Mexican-made Coca-Cola is said to taste better than U.S.-made Coke. The cited reason? Mexican Coca-Cola still uses cane sugar as its main sweetener, while U.S. Coca-Cola is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.

The drink is popular among Mexican Americans and migrants yearning for a fizzy and familiar taste from south of the border, and among foodies who insist  that the taste difference is evident, despite a stated position by Coca-Cola's international headquarters that no difference can be discerned. Additionally, Mexican Coke is still usually bottled in glass, contributing to what some consider an authenticity factor that U.S. Coke loses when it comes in plastic or aluminum.

According to Daily Finance, in 2005, a Coca-Cola bottler in Texas started a pilot program to import  Mexican Coke into the state. In 2006, Mexican Coke muscled its way into California, and in 2009, into Florida, Georgia, and several other states.

The result? Blogs and food websites raving about the crisp, more "natural" taste of Mexican Coke compared with U.S. Coke, and plenty of Facebook chatter.

One fan of Mexican Coca-Cola on Facebook recently wrote: "We sell Coke with real sugar at my cigar shop by the bottle and I can't keep it in stock it's so popular! I don't like calling it Mexican Coke because it's just real old school Coke -- like when I was a kid."

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Photo: A bottle of Mexican-made Coca-Cola.

Comments

[Hollywood101]

Coke Cola made with real cane sugar and in a bottle is the best... I have been buying them by the case when I go to Mexico. I hope they never stop selling the bottle coke. It's great, it's a shame they only sell Coke in plastic bottles-YUCK!

[Michael]

What's this... Mexican Coca-Cola has been widely available here in Kansas City for years, easily prior to 2005 (if not considerably earlier). Any self respecting Latin market in the KC metro keeps it on the shelves. Heck, any grocery store with a decent Latin food section has it on their shelves.

Costco has it by the case for chrissakes!!!

[Victor]

Noooo!!! The secret is out!! haha. I have converted so many people to mexican coke is funny. Just one taste is all it takes.........enough said.

[Cory]

Don't they know that Coke with cane sugar is called Coca-Cola (original formula) and Coke with fructose is called Coca-Cola Classic. That's what "Classic" means - reformulated with fructose substituted for sugar.

[dick]

So that's why there is that stupid ad on TV with that mother telling us that high fructose corn syrup is the same as cane sugar. We all learned in school that it is different so another lie on TV ads. The Gov hs subsidized corn so much that they have to sell it somewhere so into our food it goes. Too bad they don't just ship the corn around the world to hungary people and leave the sugar cane to sugar. Oh, I know, we subsidized corn and let cane go and now we would have to buy cane sugar from Haiti and other countries that really really need the business but if we don't keep them poor, we can't control them. Ask Chavez.

[Pascual hernandez]

Wow Finally a story about something to do wit Mexico that hasn't attracted racist remarks by the anti-immigration crowd. There is still hope for America.

[Ronal Chavin]

What? Las Cocacolas don't all follow the "secret formula?"

[John]

I've been drinking the real old school coke a.k.a. Mexican coke l;since 2006 and its the best. I just recently stumbled onto Mexican Pepsi as well. Again, it tastes like old school Pepsi. Hopefully, the FDA will realize that corn syrup is poison one day and that we don't want it in our food. It's in everything.

[the prime suspects"TPSK"]

I like the peruvian or columbian version of coke better
...LMAO J/k.. sriously though, little mexican mom n pop shops have imported it for decades, since i was a kid...wthe only change is that they're are big companies doing the importing now.

[Caustikwit]

One of the other great things about the Mexican product is it comes in honest to goodness glass bottles with cap that actually require a bottle opener (or the creative equivalent) to open.
Delicious...I had one yesterday!

[Greg Naciuk]

Mexican Coke with cane sugar is great but Dr Pepper from Dublin Texas, made with Imperial Cane Sugar, blows Coke out of the water. Now LATimes, do a story about the one store in the Southand that carries a smorgasbord of sodas new and old, sweetened with Cane Sugar. Soda Pop Stop on York Blvd. http://www.sodapopstop.com

[Lawrence Dietz]

Mexican Pepsi with real sugar in glass bottles is also available. (Pancho's Tacos in Santa Monica and Culver City, among other places, sells it). And PepsiCo, perhaps a more nimble company than Coca-Cola, sells "Throwback" Pepsi on a limited basis. It's in supermarkets right now. Granted, it's in cans or 20-ounce plastic bottles, but it has real sugar flavor. There have been articles pointing out that high fructose corn syrup has a different effect on the body's insulin production than real sugar. However, the high-powered PR operation of high fructose corn syrup manufacturers has drowned out that alarming news.

[IngaTuMa]

Even Bigger Secret, Pepsi Throwback has the Same Taste as Mexican Coca Cola but at 1.50 per each MX coke, vs 2.00 bucks for a whole 12pk of pepsi Throwback? hmmm.... I will admit, I always go back to Mexican Coca Cola when my supply of throwback runs out....this time i bought 36 12pks.

[Joseph L Cooke]

We used to cross at TJ and take empty bottles to the Coke sales truck permanently parked outside the Tijuana bottling plant. We'd save up about 4 cases (wooden in those days) worth and swap the empty bottles for full ones at the truck. The Coke was that much better it was worth the hassle. Years later, a neighborhood kid made a business of unofficially importing the good stuff in a big Econoline delivery van.

[134 Freeway]

This is also true for Coca-Cola made in some Asian countries, such as Indonesia, which uses local cane sugar. Delicious!

[Gerhard Peters]

Shhhh. I wish the LA Times had kept a lid on this great secret! I first grabbed a bottle at Santa Cruz Market in Santa Barbara some time in 2006 or 2007. I liked the retro look and feel of the bottle. Then I saw the "Hecho in Mexico" on the bottle and wondered why on earth would we need to import Coke from Mexico. Then I drank it. Wow...a real refreshing old-school taste. Not overly sweet like I am used to with American Coke. Crisp and refreshing. The nice 355ml bottles keep the caloric intake modest.

Now that the LA Times has published this, I better grab some cases and stock up before my local convenience store (which I will selfishly not reveal) gets cleared out.

All fun aside, LA Times has let the rest of LA in on a great secret. Give it a try and you will never go back to the lower quality Coke made and sold in America.

[Compton]

Mexican Coca-Cola has a better flavor. I would prefer 100% more a Mexican Coca-Cola than an American Coca-Cola. They are so good. This weekend it is going to be hot, I would be drink one.

[Alejandro]

I was recently pleased to find Mexican-Coke being sold by the new German-Turkish restaurant down the street from my new place. Another pleaser: it only costs $1.50. You know there are places in Los Feliz that sell canned coke (no fountain bubbles) for $3 a pop? I question myself for living in a neighborhood that tolerates absurdity of this kind.

[jeff prescott]

We used to buy out "kosher" Coke during Passover at our local Encino delis...but then the Rabbis blessed 'high fructose corn syrup.'

That killed the fun..........Coke would sell so much more product if they went back to real sugar.

There IS a difference.......

[Logic and Reason]

Quit drinking it when they went corn syrup. They say you can't sate the difference, but why can I?

[Figgins]

This is really old news. Coke from Mexico tasted better even back when I went to school in San Diego (late 70's) and we crossed into Tijuana.

[allen wilson]

Everybody knows you can taste the difference.

[PasadenaDave]

The world will eventually figure out that our bodies don't know what to do with high-fructose sweetner, so it converts it to fat. Wake up, people, the food companies are fattening us up! Bring back genuine sugar - cane (or beet) sugar!

[Geox]

Make sure to read the label; I've seen Coke bottles imported from Mexico made with HFCS.

[RealisticExpectations]

Officials at Coca Cola are spitting into the wind.

There is a definite taste difference between U.S. Coke and Mexican Coke.

That's what all of us were complaining about when Coca Cola first started using High Fructose Corn Syrup all those years ago with "new" Coke.

I much prefer Mexican Coke to the U.S. bottled dreck.

[Leecal]

I bought some and it just doesn't have the fizz punch of the other coke.

[Searking]

Very true....I love the taste of it and the glass bottle just makes it authentic.