A YouTuber broke the internet after discovering Coca-Cola's 'secret recipe' that's been hidden for over 100 years.
There are many mysteries in the world that we probably won't find the answers to in our lifetime like what really goes on at Area 51 or whether aliens exist.
But one YouTuber refused to accept the secrecy behind Coca-Cola's recipe.
For the last 140 years, the formula for making the world's most popular non-alcoholic beverage has been among the most heavily guarded trade secrets. Even Coca-Cola factory workers don't know the ingredients, as they arrive unlabelled from different facilities.
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According to the company, only two people on the entire planet know the recipe, and they are forbidden from travelling together.
That number could now be three, as after extensive trial and error, YouTuber LabCoatz claims to have cracked the code using science.
The internet's reaction has been explosive, with the 25-minute YouTube video accumulating 715,000 views in less than 17 hours. At the time of writing, the video is just shy of three million views.
LabCoatz spent the past year experimenting and recreating recipes published online, but nothing came close to the original.
“None of them tasted like real Coke,” the man explained in the video.
With help from two other science-y YouTubers, LabCoatz and his team analysed Coca-Cola down to its chemical formula. The data confirmed the obvious ingredients that are stated on the label which are sugar, caffeine, phosphoric acid and caramel colouring.
But there was more to the drink than just that, as the label vaguely disguises extra 'natural flavours.'
LabCoatz’s early experiments ruled out popular guesses like neroli and lavender as they made the beverage taste floral and artificial.
Orange barely qualified at one to two percent, while clove completely failed. Other guesses that didn't make the cut were nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, lemon, and lime.
But then LabCoatz and his team discovered the missing puzzle piece, which turned out to be tannins. These are dry, mouth-coating compounds found in tea, which explains the elusive freshness typically attributed to coca leaves.
Once wine tannins were added to the mixture, the final product was almost identical to the original Coca-Cola.
The YouTuber then decided to do a taste test among his peer group and the results were remarkably positive.
“I wasn’t expecting it to taste so much like Coke,” one tester said before following up with: “If you sold this on the shelves, I’d buy it.”
Another tester gave the recipe a solid 9.5 out of 10.
Regular Coke drinkers could detect minor differences when comparing the replica directly to original Coke, but many struggled when they didn't have the real Coke to taste as a reference point.
For a home creation of a 140-year-old trade secret, the results are pretty impressive!