Mexican Coke in Short Supply

LTH-ers, most of my Mexican Coke suppliers have run out of product and fear getting more. It seems that the importers of this beverage are being sued by the local distributor of Coke. The argument, as I have heard it, is that now that Coke is available in glass bottles, the importers can no longer distribute said product. For those of you that care, better buy up what you see. If you do not care, but notice the product on the shelves, please let the rest of us know so we can hoard the good stuff.

There has to be some irony with it soon (perhaps) to be legal to possess a half gram of cocaine in Mexico and my inability to purchase Coke from Mexico locally.

For new-com(b)ers let me tell you why I prize Mexican Coke:

1) The most obvious is that it is sold in glass bottles.

These are similar / same to the old, thick-as-a-brick, returnable bottles of my youth. Swigging this sweet nectar straight from the bottle can precipitate wondrous flash backs of my sometime-mispent youth. I have not tried the locally glass bottled product, but I suspect the reaction will not be the same. Of course, the bottles are not returnable unless you’re headed for the border. Anyone a volunteer minuteman? Call me!

What makes bottled beer taste better than canned? What makes canned food taste, well, canned? Why does Asian food taste funny when eaten with a metal fork (chopsticks only, please)? Why should caviar never be served off a metal spoon? Why did my little sister torture me in my youth by repeatably bouncing the back of a spoon against her abnormally large front teeth at the family dinner table?

2) It tastes different!

Mexican Coke seems to taste just like the Coke I drank before the Coke II/ Classic Coke fiasco. One can argue the reasons for this marketing blunder, but the bottom line is that Classic Coke does not taste like Coke used to. Coke’s ingredient list used to fudge on the actual sweeteners used with and/ors, so they can probably, in good conscious say, that Coke Classic is the same as Coke of yore. “It’s the same formula,” they contend. When you consider the amount of sweetener that is in Coke (it’s the second ingredient listed, after water) altering this source would certainly alter taste.

So bottom line, buy it while you can -- it may already be too late.

-ramon

I just got back from the Morse Avenue Market where they sell Mexican versions of Coke, Sprite, 7 Up and Squirt. The Coke display did look a little thin. There were only about 12 bottles on the shelf instead of the usual 24. I don't know if that is due to a shortage, panic buying or just weekend business. Maybe one day soon we will be buying Mexican Coke and Foie Gras out of some guy's trunk in the parking lot of Jewel.

Morse Fruit & Meat Market
(773) 973-3765
1430 W Morse Ave
Chicago, IL 60626

Last Thursday, I stopped in at Treasure Island on Elm and Clark. Imagine my surprise when I saw that they had Mexican Coke in the refrigerated section (with the orange juice and the butter)! They did not, however, have that many bottles on the shelf. Mexican Coke did seem to be available in abundance at the Maxwell Street Market yesterday, though.

Well, perhaps my report of Mexican Coke's demise was premature. My secret cooler is quite well stocked at the moment.

Nevermind ...

-ramon

There is one additional and very important reason why glass Coke elsewhere is usually better than in America. In the pursuit of higher profit margins, most of the sodas we drink are now created with cheap cost-efficient corn syrup instead of better tasting and more expensive cane sugar. However, in most Carribean and tropical places cane sugar is still cheaper and is used instead, which is why Mexican bottled coke probably tastes better.

As for why stuff in glass taste better than in aluminum, I think the reason is more than just nostalgia. Glass is inert and non-reactive while aluminum is still metal and has free traveling electrons which I believe may take away from flavor. If you've ever gotten the hard to wash off garlic odor on your hands, one trick to rid yourself of it is to wash your hands while rubbing a metal spoon. The eletrons from the spoon help remove the odor. In the same way, I think something similar happens with a soda's flavor and metal containers.

There was a ton of Mexican coke at the Maxwell street market this weekend...no problems there.

So it wasn't our imagination that 7-up tastes soooo much better in Mexico than here in the U.S.!!!

We always crave Mexican 7-up when we return home from Mexico. Are Maxwell street market, Treasure Island and the Morse Avenue market the only spots to get the good 7-up?

We have a week stay in Chicago coming up at the end of June, we will make sure to bring back some GOOD 7-up.

You must all know but I guess I don't-- is the 7-up bottle marked "made in Mexico" or how do we know which 7-up is which?

It's in a 12oz glass bottle. That's how you tell it apart. It also usually says "hecho en mexico" on it and often has a stick-on paper label.

It's not as easy to find as mexican coke, but is still around. I've seen it at the Cermak Produce near Cermak and Wood (a few blocks away from the center of Pilsen).

Note that it runs $1 or $1.25 a bottle.

Thank you gleam! $1/bottle is worth a splurge to us. Aaaahhh, I can taste it now....

joby wrote:So it wasn't our imagination that 7-up tastes soooo much better in Mexico than here in the U.S.!!!

You know, in the case of 7-Up and Squirt, it seems that the flavor difference goes beyond just the type of sugar. I think the flavor is made a little more tart for the Mexican market (at least I like to think so). However, in the heat and dust of Mexico, anything cold and wet and bubbly and lemony is refreshing. When I was working in Mexico, I loved Squirt, but I never drink it here. Then again, here I can just go to the sink and get a glass of water when I am thirsty. I will have to pick up a couple of bottles at Morse ave. and compare them side-by-side to the US versions.

is the 7-up bottle marked "made in Mexico" or how do we know which 7-up is which?

As mentioned earlier, they have white paper ingredient labels attached. More noticably, they are in really thick, and obviously recycled glass bottles with lots of scratches (just like you get in Mexico). At Morse Avenue, they are on a shelf near the Mexican specialties along with Jarritos, Jamaican ginger beer and other imported beverages rather than with the domestic pop. The display is in the last aisle close to the registers.

The first time we went to Mexico we drank 7-up and thought it was sooo good. When we got home we immediately went out and bought 7-up here and were surprised that it seemed to taste different. We too thought it was the Mexican surroundings that may have made it so tasty. We even wondered if the Mexican limes that we squeezed into the 7-up may have made the difference in taste.

The next year in Mexico we bought it again and --wow--the taste was there. Something we craved when we returned to the U.S.

I'm glad to hear of others that think the Mexican counter part of 7-up is better too!

Leave a few bottles for us, we'll be there soon.

If anyone is looking for a supplier on the NW side, I happened to notice bottles of Mexican coke for sale at the Family Fruit Market on Cicero just east of Berteau yesterday. I didn't check the price though. They also have a nice deli and avocados were $.59/ea.

*Major parking lot warning: Try to park on Cicero or in their lot accross the street. I've witnessed some serious ugliness between people jockying for spots in that lot!

Family Fruit Market
4118 N Cicero
Chicago

I've more or less started drinking the Jarritos stuff from Mexico exclusively when I want soda. I think the taste of sugar is far superior to high fructose corn syrup. We have become so accustomed to the taste of HFCS that we don't notice the difference until you try the sugar version, which is pretty hard to do because almost all of the US soft drink manufacturers are only using HFCS. Sometimes you can find domestic Coke sweetened with sugar in some Kosher food stores. HFCS ain't Kosher!

It is true that HFCS is cheaper than sugar here, but that is only because the corn lobby got an import duty put on foreign sugar so it wouldn't cut into their profits.

I read somewhere that HFCS doesn't trigger some enzyme in our digestive system that tells us we are "full." So you sit around slugging down can after can of Coke like it's nothing, whereas the sugar version would "fill" you up much quicker. Is it any wonder so many people are overweight?

Cogito wrote:Sometimes you can find domestic Coke sweetened with sugar in some Kosher food stores. HFCS ain't Kosher!

This is true only during Passover. HFCS is kosher all the rest of the time.

stevez wrote:

Cogito wrote:Sometimes you can find domestic Coke sweetened with sugar in some Kosher food stores. HFCS ain't Kosher!

This is true only during Passover. HFCS is kosher all the rest of the time.

OK, that explains why the sugar-based Coke is not available all the time. Is the HFCS Coke marked as kosher or how does that work? If I recall, I think the sugar version has a different colored cap on the bottle....

Cogito wrote:OK, that explains why the sugar-based Coke is not available all the time. Is the HFCS Coke marked as kosher or how does that work? If I recall, I think the sugar version has a different colored cap on the bottle....

Kosher-for-Passover Coke and Pepsi will be marked "kosher for Passover" or with a symbol from the certifying agency and a small P. This product is typically available for maybe three to four weeks in the spring. (The dates of Passover move.)

Corn sweetener is perfectly kosher all year round and even during Passover for most Sephardim and Mizrachim (and likely the Beta Israel, too). But Ashkenazim (the vast majority of U.S. Jews) don't eat grain products except for matzo during Passover, so manufacturers clean their equipment under supervision and make special batches using beet or cane sugar and CO2 from a nongrain source.
__________________
LAZ

Cogito wrote:I read somewhere that HFCS doesn't trigger some enzyme in our digestive system that tells us we are "full." So you sit around slugging down can after can of Coke like it's nothing, whereas the sugar version would "fill" you up much quicker. Is it any wonder so many people are overweight?

I can drink equal amounts of HFCS coke or sucrose coke and not feel full. A study on satiety was done with colas containing HFCS 55, HFCS 42, sucrose, and aspartame, and they found that all of the colas containing caloric sweeteners produced similar satiety responses. Also, HFCS 55, the type most commonly used in colas, is not called high fructose corn syrup because it contains almost all frutose. It contains a blend off 55% fructose and 45% glucose, which is almost the ratio found in sucrose (which is metabolized by the body into 50% fructose and 50% glucose). It is called high fructose corn syrup to differentiate it from corn syrup which is almost 100% glucose.

In other news, the Grand Mart on North & Cicero has a ton of Mexican coke in stock.

Fujisan,

I now have absolutely no idea which sugar I prefer in my Coke.

To complicate matters, due to the elevating costs of corn, Coke is looking at changing the sweetner again.

Coke looking to change sweetener

-ramon

FYI: Picked some up, along with some Pepsi, on Saturday (3/24) at a place on 18th Street, a block or two east of Ashland. I forget the name of the place, but it was on the northeast corner of the intersection.

Ramon wrote:Fujisan,

I now have absolutely no idea which sugar I prefer in my Coke.

To complicate matters, due to the elevating costs of corn, Coke is looking at changing the sweetner again.

Coke looking to change sweetener

-ramon

I believe Coke is just posturing. The cost of HFCS would have to at least double before sugar becomes cheaper to use. The small company I work for can buy HFCS 42 for 11.5 cents/lb, and I'm sure Coke can buy it cheaper than that. The cost of HFCS 42 would have to climb to 21 cents/lb in order for it to cost the same to use as sugar priced at 30 cents/lb. I'm pretty sure the cost of HFCS 55 is close to HFCS 42.

Fujisan wrote:I believe Coke is just posturing. The cost of HFCS would have to at least double before sugar becomes cheaper to use. The small company I work for can buy HFCS 42 for 11.5 cents/lb, and I'm sure Coke can buy it cheaper than that. The cost of HFCS 42 would have to climb to 21 cents/lb in order for it to cost the same to use as sugar priced at 30 cents/lb. I'm pretty sure the cost of HFCS 55 is close to HFCS 42.

Did you read to the end of the article?

However he said he did not have enough information to say whether this could involve a move to sugar or Splenda from corn syrup.

The intent is to get a syrup with less volume, and removing HFCS for sugar won't do much for that. An artificial sweetener is probably the only way to do that, unless they can manage to more thoroughly saturate the solution (less water) without fears of crystallizing (mmmmm)

JoelF wrote:Did you read to the end of the article?

However he said he did not have enough information to say whether this could involve a move to sugar or Splenda from corn syrup.

The intent is to get a syrup with less volume, and removing HFCS for sugar won't do much for that. An artificial sweetener is probably the only way to do that, unless they can manage to more thoroughly saturate the solution (less water) without fears of crystallizing (mmmmm)

As I understood it, the article mentioned higher-yield concentrated syrups to show the practical cost-saving measures applied to the HFCS currently purchased (and then sold to customers with less packaging waste and fuel required to help reduce costs). Saving on volume with an alternative artificial sweetener would be nice, but this new higher-yield measure seems to be serving as a stopgap measure until either HFCS costs come down or a cheaper sweetener is found, whether resulting from Splenda or a competitively priced sugar product.

What I guess I'm saying is that lower volumes and higher yields are only a means to lower prices; the primary intent is to save money, whether with lower volume (artificial sweetener) or not (sugar). I don't think Splenda or any other artificial sweetener can ever replace the taste from a natural sweetener (or even the joys of HFCS), either, so cost is not the only consideration here, unless you can realistically equate the taste of sugar and Splenda (which I don't think we're doing here). Coke wants to save money, but I don't think they'll go to the extreme of going with Splenda or the like in future versions of its flagship Coke Classic (that is, the non-Diet/Zero version).

'Course, it wouldn't be the first time I was ever proven wrong.

Just thinkin',
Dan

JoelF wrote:

Fujisan wrote:I believe Coke is just posturing. The cost of HFCS would have to at least double before sugar becomes cheaper to use. The small company I work for can buy HFCS 42 for 11.5 cents/lb, and I'm sure Coke can buy it cheaper than that. The cost of HFCS 42 would have to climb to 21 cents/lb in order for it to cost the same to use as sugar priced at 30 cents/lb. I'm pretty sure the cost of HFCS 55 is close to HFCS 42.

Did you read to the end of the article?

However he said he did not have enough information to say whether this could involve a move to sugar or Splenda from corn syrup.

The intent is to get a syrup with less volume, and removing HFCS for sugar won't do much for that. An artificial sweetener is probably the only way to do that, unless they can manage to more thoroughly saturate the solution (less water) without fears of crystallizing (mmmmm)

Yes, I did read the whole article. The total change in price for us because of increased ethanol production was to raise our price for HFCS from 9.5 cents to 11.5 cents. That's still a long way away from 21 cents. I didn't address Splenda because I don't believe it is a viable solution. People who don't like artificial sweeteners will simply stop drinking Coke if the artificial sweeteners are forced on them. That, and McNeil could not handle the additional volume of Splenda that a change like that would require. There were times last year that we could not even buy a gallon of liquid Splenda concentrate because they didn't have enough to go around.

Found a supply of Passover Coke in the Dominicks on Buffalo Grove Rd. just north of Dundee. It's not on the racks with the other Coca-Cola products, but with the Passover stuff in the front of the store. $1.20 for 2L, in Classic and Diet. Cans also available.

Has anyone seen Mexican Coke lately? I've been buying it at Grand Mart in Melrose Park (strangely, the Coke in cases has HFCS, while the loose bottles have cane sugar) but they are out and not expecting any for another 30 days or so. Grand Mart around Austin/North Ave. is also out. I'm going to swing by Tony's tonight but any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Grace

Grace,
You might try Supermercado Morelia at Diversey and Cicero. They usually have a good supply of Mexican Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, 7Up, Fanta, Crush and Fresca (with sugar). However, I have not been there lately.
Their Barbacoa de Chivo and Carnitas are great also.



Morelia Supermarket Incorporated
(773) 622-0995
4833 W Diversey Ave
Chicago, IL 60639

I stopped by Morelia on my way home last night and they did have Mexican Coke on the shelves but it was the kind with HFCS. Thanks for the tip about carnitas though!

I did find Mexicoke with sugar at the Tony's in Melrose Park.

Tony's
2099 N. Manheim
Melrose Park, IL 60160

grace

d4v3 wrote:Grace,
You might try Supermercado Morelia at Diversey and Cicero. They usually have a good supply of Mexican Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, 7Up, Fanta, Crush and Fresca (with sugar). However, I have not been there lately.
Their Barbacoa de Chivo and Carnitas are great also.

Morelia Supermarket Incorporated
(773) 622-0995
4833 W Diversey Ave
Chicago, IL 60639

swine dining wrote:I stopped by Morelia on my way home last night and they did have Mexican Coke on the shelves but it was the kind with HFCS.

Grace,

Have you done a side by side tasting of the Mexicoke that is labeled with sugar and the stuff labeled HFCS? The reason I am asking is that on a visit a while back to "Ifs Ands or Butts" in Dallas, the proprietor, Hamilton Rousseau, who is something of an authority on the subject, stocking Coke and other beverages from around the world (including Coke from Amsterdam allegedly using the original Coke formula from way back when...minus the cocaine for $15/bottle) claims that the Coke coming in from Mexico was all labeled HFCS despite the fact that it was really made with cane sugar. He said it had something to do with the sugar subsidies in this country and was done to skirt some sort of tariff. The reason I'm asking is that only recently have I begun to see some bottles of Mexican Coke that actually say cane sugar in the ingredients list.

Hi Steve,

No I haven't... I've never purchased the Mexicoke that I see labeled with HFCS. But a side-by-side-by-side blind tasting of 'merican coke, cane sugar Mexicoke and HFCS Mexicoke would be interesting. I'll post results.

Hopefully I can sort through the mysteries of wholesale Mexican coke distribution soon.

grace

stevez wrote:Have you done a side by side tasting of the Mexicoke that is labeled with sugar and the stuff labeled HFCS?

IIRC, nearly every Mexican Coke I've bought has the English nutrition label sticker listing HFCS perhaps as an and/or to cane sugar. I was long ago told not to pay it any mind, that it was cane sugar, but I don't remember my source.

Anyways, its been a while since I had a ready supply. Last Mexican Coke I had was at La Unica and I lacked the cash to by a case that day. In the markets I've been to of late, I readily see Mexican Pepsi and other soft drinks, but rarely Coke.

A trip to Tony's is scheduled.

-ramon