Outer Rim Territories

Is Mexican Coke the real thing?

Is Mexican Coke the real thing? | The San Diego Union-Tribune

At Las Tarascas Latino Supermarket, 30 miles from the soft drink giant's world headquarters in Atlanta, store manager Eric Carvallo adjusts prized bottles of Mexican Coke displayed at the front of the store. He then points over his shoulder to a noticeably smaller display of American Cokes tucked in the corner. Carvallo says his store goes through 10 to 15 cases of Mexican Coke a week – his entire stock – while he's barely able to push five cases of the domestic version. "Sometimes I have it left over," he said of the domestic Coke he orders. "Sometimes a case, case and a half. So it's a lot of difference." Taste is the main reason why his discriminating shoppers buy Mexican Coke – they say the cane sugar sweetener used in Mexican Coke has a sweeter, cleaner flavor than the high-fructose corn syrup in the American version. Many are willing to pay $1.10 per 12-ounce bottle for the imports, even with cans of American Coke sitting nearby for 49 cents each. "You drink it and taste it – it's something you tasted all your life," said Carvallo, referring to the many immigrants who prefer Mexican Coke. While the flavor of Mexican Coke provides a taste of nostalgia for immigrants hundreds of miles from home, its retro green-tinted contour glass bottles have also caught on among some baby boomers, who can recall a time when their cola was made with sugar – before rising costs drove U.S. bottlers to switch to corn syrup in the 1980s.