my soda is better than anyone's soda

Happiness means one of the stores on my way to work sells Mexican Pepsi and Coke. In actual bottles. Which means I had the dubious pleasure of trying to remember a.) what a bottle opener looked like and b.) how they worked while fumbling around with the can opener (on the side, btw), but humiliation at my own fumbling is totes worth it.

The thing is, pretty much every country in the world makes better Coke and Pepsi than the US. I mean, yes, drinking something with delicious sugar does help, and yes, I actually do think glass bottles give better flavor than plastic (but I have no objection to metal cans; maybe I like a faint metallic aftertaste? IDK), but it also just tastes more cola-ish. Like the spirit of cola is strong in this one or something; having this discussion in real life always ends up with a lot of wary looks, but it's true.

You wouldn't think a good day would hinge on so little. Believe me when I say, this will be the best part of my day. The code push didn't go through, so the code for the tests we were supposed to start last Monday isn't there. And yet when we say that we haven't tested this, everyone, including the people who do code pushes, will be totally surprised by this. Because I work in goddamn Dilbert, but I have no sociopathic dog, which you would think would be an improvement but it totally is not.

I have Mexican Pepsi. Right now, I will interpretive dance our answer to testing delays. And maybe sing. Bring it.

Comments

[meigui]

I totally get what you mean; a lot of American soda just kind of tastes like sugar. Or high fructose corn syrup, anyway.

[seperis]

YES. Cola-colored corn syrup, thinned with carbonated water.

I'm using that and not the spirit of cola next time I announce this in public.

[meigui]

This is something I have been trying to explain to people since I was eight years old and had my first Chinese coke. American soda doesn't taste like soda!

Later I went to college and became a cognitive science major and learned that taste (as in "the five basic", which happens on the tongue) is only half of flavor, the other half being essentially the same thing as smell, which makes a lot of sense--I think what a lot of companies do for the American market, since production costs are so high around here, is cut costs by using less of the flavorful components and make up for it by adding more basic taste components, particularly salt and sweet. In this case, sweet. So you end up with a product that is paradoxically both flavorless and too strong.

[scy]

You are adorable, you realize I can visualize this?

*grins*

[sobelle]

Real sugar, carbonation & in a bottle. Oh Yeah!!

When I was a kid (growing up in the back woods of the Ozarks) we loved turning the bottles upside down to see where the glass had been manufactured... and dream of far away cities.

We only got to drink NeHi sodas, no caffeine for us yet =D

[cyprinella]

We get kosher Coke here around Passover and it's so tasty.

[icarus]

*gives you a sociopathic dog*

*or a misanthropic dog, which may be stranger, knowing dogs*

[out_there]

The thing is, pretty much every country in the world makes better Coke and Pepsi than the US.

Each country's cola is different. I think Australia has an especially horrid Diet Coke -- which is why Coke Zero has taken off so well (oh, look, a low-sugar cola that still tastes like cola, not like sugar-replacing-chemicals!) but was virtually impossible to find when we were in the US.

... you know, I totally should have tried the US Diet Coke to see if that tasted better than the Aussie version. (I didn't, though. Years living here has taught me that Diet Coke is evil and should be avoided.)

[selenay]

Because I work in goddamn Dilbert

I totally know this. I got asked to write a new Oracle report, but the business analyst didn't know what was supposed to be in it.

When we finally, painfully got the requirements done, the code written, the pretty bits done...

The BA realised the data actually needed to come from a new table that didn't exist anywhere yet. Not development, not prod, not anywhere. But please could I produce a sample of the report using the new table by 5pm.

I have two soppy cats, neither of whom are sociopaths although they could just be concealing it well. I haven't spotted either of them in HR yet, either.

[averzierlia.livejournal.com]

Right now, I will interpretive dance our answer to testing delays. And maybe sing.

Pics or it didn't happen.

[paraka]

The thing is, pretty much every country in the world makes better Coke and Pepsi than the US.
I don't actually drink cola but this sentiment applies to all soft drinks. I won't even touch 7 Up in North America but it was the best drink ever when I was in China.

Every once in a while I'll remember the China flavour and try it here, then I'll remember why I don't touch it anymore. :(

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Huh, I should have guessed. God, that's depressing.

[mockingbirdq.livejournal.com]

I am so jealous. There is nothing as good as Mexican Coke and. I've never even tried the Pepsi! do they also carry Mexican chips and candy?

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Yep. Our local grocery store does, too; this area has a very high Hispanic population and the grocery store reflects that. They even make tortillas fresh every day.

[eternallycait.livejournal.com]

Do you know I just spent several minutes googling mexican pepsi, because I thought it was cinnamon flavoured? DO YOU KNOW THAT?

[druidspell.livejournal.com]

Oh god, when I was in Austin last spring, I bought a 6 pack of Mexican Pepsi in glass bottles and a 6 pack of Dr. Pepper in glass bottles. I can't wait til I'm back in February (and possibly April)--I need to remember what heaven in my mouth was like.

[jazzy-peaches.livejournal.com]

When I lived in Italy, they did not have Diet Coke but rather Coke Light, and they are not the same thing at all because people who swear by regular Coke adored Coke Light (as did Diet Coke people). It was just. better. Or something.

and I lol'd at the fact that you basically said the force of cola is strong in that soda.

[park-hye-in.livejournal.com]

drinking something with delicious sugar does help

so true. i once did a blind taste test with regular coke from a bottle, regular coke from a can, regular pepsi from a bottle, regular pepsi from a can, mexican coke, throwback pepsi, and passover coke, and you can definitely tell them all apart.

there's a coca cola plant in pennsylvania that still uses sucrose (one of only two or three in the US, i believe), so i always stock up when i'm over there.

[nekare.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm Mexican, and yet I hardly ever have sodas, but I do agree that coke tastes a bit different whenever I've tried it in the US or Europe. I have a friend that's OBSESSIVE about her coke, and will yell at waiters if they bring her pepsi when they're out of it, lol. But really, for me? Fanta's best. But only Mexican fanta, haha.

[ms-nerd.livejournal.com]

When my brother was working in Uganda with the UN, these kids would come around in the afternoon with HUGE metal containers filled with ice and small bottles of Coke. They'd scrape the bottle openers against the ridged side of the metal coolers in a rhythm and everyone would come out and buy a coke and drink it right there because you had to give the bottle back. My brother said it was the best Coke he'd ever tasted in his LIFE.

[edit] I think it's the cane sugar and not the corn fructose stuff that makes it taste better.

[moojja.livejournal.com]

I have to be the only person that actually like US coke better. I've tried Mexican coke and liked US better. I guess I just like the taste of fructose better.

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

I agree that American coke or pepsi isn't very good compared to overseas. I always enjoy it more in the UK.

[clari-clyde.livejournal.com]

I’m told it’s the difference between corn syrup (U.S.), beet sugar (Europe) and cane sugar (tropical areas like Mexico and south Asia).

Also, american sodas are sweetened so much but someone told me this is because americans like to put ice cubes in their drinks; but if that’s so, then that seems like a chicken/egg kind of situation.

The Costco near me sells mexican Coke. Wow, but if only I could deal with a palette of it, lol. I’ve weaned myself off sodas. And when the craving hits, I try to limit myself. I could tell myself that a palette would be a year’s supply but, the reality is it would be gone in a week.

Paletas and delurking.

[mannalee.livejournal.com]

Thankyouthankyouthankyou. I just read War Games for the bajillionth time. Delurking to thank you for a great read. Also you made me remember Mexican Ice Cream Bars which I like even *more* than Mexican Soda. Paletas, Yum!

[phoenix4.livejournal.com]

Totally agree. I may have stockpiled six cases of Pepsi Throwback when it came out again last October. (But I'm not telling where it's hidden.) We ration it to one each Friday, in hopes that we can make it last until April when it might come out again.

Hmm. We have a Mexican grocery not too far from the house. I think a field trip is in order this weekend.