The big Cola-Producers like Coca-Cola (R) and Pepsi Cola (R) are hardly criticized for their practices concerning human rights, labour rights and ecological impact. The offensive strategies are conquering traditional markets all over the world. Coca-Cola is criticised as well on health issues, because it contains a lot of sugar. The Coca-Cola Company is the worlds biggest soft-drink seller. With it’s franchising-system they only produce the syrup of the Cola and sell it to local franchise-companies who exclusively produce and distribute it in their region. The local franchisers mix and bottle the syrup with local water-sources. The franchise companies are selling as well a couple of other Cola-products like Fanta and Sprite or table-waters like Apollinaris etc. Of these, beverages bearing the trademark “Coca-Cola” accounted for approximately 78% of the company’s total gallon sales. The recipe of “coke” his kept strictly secret and since the global success a lot of companies tried to copy it.
The main competitor of Coca Cola is the Pepsi Cola (R) Company “PepsiCo”. PepsiCo is the second biggest food and beverages producer and seller in the world after Nestlé (R)
Open Cola on the other hand is a brand of open-source cola, where the instructions for making it are freely available and modifiable. Anybody can make the drink, and anyone can modify and improve the recipe. You can use the Open Cola recipe to make your own home-made Cola with an own flavouring. The drink can be distributed licence-free if you mind the rules of the GNU General Public License.
Open Cola can easily be produced by everyone. We produced Open Cola in our association and offered the final product on a anniversary celebration of our Project-network “KuBiZ”. The reactions have been controversial but mostly very positive about the taste of the Open Cola. Especially the possibility to design your own Cola with the right amount of ingredients and with know origin of the ingredients was mentioned very positive. In combination with our home carbonation system we could use local tab-water. As well we tried to use organic flavours and fair-trade organic sugar for the production. The syrup for the Cola can be produced in bigger amounts and stored space-saving in the fridge.
Here is the way of Open Cola production we choose:
Step 1: Preparing the 7X (Top SeekrutTM) flavoring formula
3.50 ml orange oil
1.00 ml lemon oil
1.00 ml nutmeg oil
1.25 ml cassia oil
0.25 ml coriander oil
0.25 ml neroli oil
2.75 ml lime oil
0.25 ml lavender oil
10.0 g gum arabic
3.00 ml water
Mix the oils together in a cup*. Add gum arabic (natural!), mix it with a spoon or a hand-mixer.
Add water and mix it well. Use the mixer for 4-5 minutes. You can also transfer to a blender for this step. Can be kept in a sealed glass jar in the fridge or at room temperature.
Please note that this mixture will separate. The Gum Arabic is essential to this part of the recipe, as you are mixing oil and water.The ready-mixed flavours can be stored in a closed glas in the fridge.
* Oils: Can cause skin irritation. If oils come in contact with skin, wash with soap and water.
Step 2: Preparing the Syrup-concentrate
2.00 tsp.7X formula
3.50 tsp.75% phosphoric acid or citric acid*
2.28 l water
2.36 kg plain granulated white table sugar
0.50 tsp. caffeine (optional)**
30.0 ml caramel color
Mix it In a 5 l container
Take 5 ml of the 7X formula
add the 75% phosphoric or citric acid
Add the water, then the sugar.
While mixing, add the caffeine, if desired.
Make sure the caffeine is completely dissolved.
Then add the caramel color. Mix thoroughly.
The concentrate is ready!
* 75% Phosphoric Acid: Due to its acidity, this product is corrosive to the eyes and skin. Handle with gloved hands, and use extreme caution. If comes in contact with the eyes or skin, immediately flush with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes. Get medical attention. Rinse any spills on clothing or other surfaces thoroughly. Store in a secure area. Do not store more than 50.0 ml.
** It‘s best not to store caffeine in any amount. Caffeine can kill people in relatively small doses. The median lethal dose for an adult human is around 10 grams, or approximately one third of an ounce
Step 3: Preparing the Cola-Drink
To finish the drink, take one part of the syrup and add 5-8 parts (home-)carbonated water.
Further information…
….is available on the wikipedia-website
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCola_(drink)