The coke recipe, well actually it’s a coke clone. Normal coke apparently has decocainized coca leaf in it and this one does not. Instead Zach from the youtube channel labcoatz set about trying to replicate the same mass spectrometry peaks by using other essential oils. Yes, you heard that correctly, essential oils. I have discussed in detail the safety / dangers or essential in the video above.

The original recipe made a very large quantity of flavour solution A, so I have scaled it down here for you. It still makes an awful lot when compared to solution B. You will need a micropipette to accurately measure the oils. Accuracy is important due to their potency if taken in larger quantities.

FLAVOR SOLUTION A: (makes 500mL (16.91 fluid ounces) or enough for 500 x 1L (0.26 gallons) bottles of coke)
4.55mL (0.15 fluid ounces) lemon oil
3.63mL (0.12 fluid ounces) lime oil
0.8mL (0.03 fluid ounces) tea tree oil (Melaleuca Alternifolia)
477.5uL cassia cinnamon oil
268uL nutmeg oil
120uL orange oil (regular sweet orange)
70uL coriander oil
60uL fenchol (any version of alpha-fenchol should work)
480mL (16.23 fluid ounces) food-grade 95% alcohol
Do not taste this straight it is 95% alcohol with concentrated flavour oils, keep out of reach of children and label with appropriate warnings.
After diluting flavour solution A in water, to the concentration it is in the finished drink. On it’s own it has a very, very subtle lemon or lime flavour, it’s so slight. Much less than what you’d get by putting a squeeze of fresh lemon juice into water. The biggest smell I noticed , and again it’s subtle, is medicinal from the fenchol and tea tree oil. It is definitely tiny. But when I tasted the coke made without it, it is missing something.

FLAVOR SOLUTION B: makes 250mL (8.45 fluid ounces), (enough for 25 x 1L (0.26 gallons) bottles of coke)
46mL (1.56 fluid ounces) Durkee caramel color or E150D (sulphite ammonia caramel liquid)
38 grams (1.34 ounces) food-grade vegetable glycerin
10.75mL (0.36 fluid ounces) 85% phosphoric acid
2.5 grams (0.09 ounces) wine tannin
2.41 grams (0.09 ounces) caffeine
2.5mL (0.08 fluid ounces) 5% vinegar
2.5mL (0.08 fluid ounces) vanilla extract (or a solution containing 0.95 grams (0.03 ounces) per liter of vanillin)
145.3mL (4.91 fluid ounces) water

TO MAKE ONE LITER OF SODA
104 grams (3.67 ounces) sugar
125mL (4.23 fluid ounces) water
1mL (0.03 fluid ounces) flavor solution A (alcohol-based)
10mL (0.34 fluid ounces) flavor solution B (water-based)
Heat until it boils to allow the sugar and tannins to dissolve and to speed up the chemical reactions of the flavours with the acid.
Allow to cool.

Carbonate 855mL (28.91 fluid ounces) of cold water then pour the coke mixture in slowly. Add the lid and leave in the fridge overnight before serving.

Note: We found that this coke did not retain its carbonation very well at all. Actual coke contains Gum arabic which lowers the surface tension and helps it stay carbonated for longer.

Extracts

Want to have a go with extracts instead of oils? You can use alcohol to extract flavours, the alcohol kills any bacteria and pulls out the oils and other flavour compounds from the plant matter. They produce a more complex flavour than straight oils do.

For each of these, place in a glass jar and seal with a lid so the alcohol does not evaporate. Leave away from sunlight for at least 2 weeks, shake occasionally. Strain and bottle the extract. Remember these are 95% alcohol so do not taste or drink and keep out of reach of children.

Note: you can use vodka instead of 95% alcohol but you will have to leave it for longer to draw out the flavours.

Vanilla
6 vanilla beans
20mL (0.68 fluid ounces) 95% alcohol

Nutmeg
19g (0.67 ounces) whole nutmeg coarsely crushed with a hammer
20mL (0.68 fluid ounces) 95% alcohol
I did also try this one using freshly grated nutmeg and it turned into a sludge making it very difficult to drain any of the extract off.

Corriander
19g (0.67 ounces) corriander seeds crushed with a hammer
40mL (1.35 fluid ounces) 95% alcohol
This one didn’t smell of much at all, I wouldn’t bother.

Cinnamon
2 1/2 cinnamon sticks broken up
40mL (1.35 fluid ounces) 95% alcohol

Lime
10g (0.35 ounces) grated lime zest (green only no white)
25mL (0.85 fluid ounces) 95% alcohol

Orange
Zest of 4 oranges
20mL (0.68 fluid ounces) 95% alcohol

Lemon
18g (0.63 ounces) grated lemon zest, approximately 4 lemons (yellow outer only no white)
60mL (2.03 fluid ounces) 95% alcohol)

Extract Coke
For the one tasted by Matt in the video I left the above extracts for only 2 weeks. Matt could taste the cinnamon and nutmeg so try decreasing them. I made up one litre of cola as above but omitted flavour solution A. I then added
1260uL lime extract, 420uL lemon extract, 840uL cinnamon extract, 250uL nutmeg extract and 500uL orange extract.

For those of you wanting to experiment with a cheaper option: After tasting the flavour solution A diluted to what’s in a glass I think I’d skip the extracts approach altogether. Instead experiment with replacing flavour solution A with fresh lemon and lime juice with the tiny amounts of tea tree oil and fenchol that he used. This could be a much cheaper option. But you’d have to do your own experiments.