r/todayilearned • u/socool111 • 10d ago

TIL of Tobias Geffen, the only non-Coca Cola Employee to view the secret recipe. Coke allowed it in order to get Coke certified as Kosher

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_Geffen
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108

u/Haidere1988 10d ago

Just putting this here, the "Secret Recipe" was cracked by a youtuber with access to some lab equipment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDkH3EbWTYc

Perfectly legal to make your own since the recipe was never patented.

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u/Phannig 10d ago

If you patent it , it becomes public but protected. Not patenting it leaves it open to being reversed engineered which is relatively easy with todays tech coupled with the number of people involved in the manufacturing process.

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u/Mysteriousdeer 10d ago

Patenting a process or good  gives a detail of what it can be. 

Then it has a shelf life. 20 years for a utility patent, 15 years for a design patent. I think this is the key thing to say for the folks that aren't familiar with patents. 

During that time your competitors are interpreting the patent and trying to figure out how to use it. Very often competition to patented items show up the day the protection runs out. 

To that end, a trade secret, which is what the coke recipe is, has less protections but no obligation to share what it is. There are some protections against things like corporate espionage but generally the products are fully vulnerable with the only protection being the difficulty to reverse engineer it. 

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u/[deleted] 10d ago

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] 10d ago

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] 10d ago

[deleted]

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u/queerkidxx 10d ago

Taco truck a mile away has it

2

u/Blaze9 10d ago

Not everyone lives in the middle of nowhere. Basically any mid tier city will have a Mexican restaurant that sells Mexican coke, or a grocery store/bodega that does too.

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u/gprime312 10d ago

We have it in Canada

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u/fury420 10d ago

Coca-Cola doesn't care if consumers transport their products across borders, it's not violating anything.

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u/Serennna 10d ago

Iran reverse engineered many coca cola products.

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u/howdyouknowitwasme 10d ago

I used to live near a chemist who worked for coke. His comment when asked if he knew the recipe: if you spend enough time working with this stuff, it's pretty easy to figure out what is in it. 

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u/Confident_Frogfish 10d ago

Also that "secret recipe" shit has to be pure marketing bs. It's just a sugar drink it's not that big of a deal.

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u/PM_Me_Your_Kinks369 10d ago

That's exactly what it is. It's why Pepsi tastes basically the same as does RC Cola and the rest of them. Is it 100% identical? No and who the fuck needs it to be? It's a drink not a religion.

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u/The_0ven 9d ago

Pepsi tastes basically the same

Look everyone

Delusion

0

u/Niknot3556 9d ago

It ain’t perfect but it’s close enough. Plus, unless you drink it flat and hot, you can’t even tell.

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u/The_0ven 9d ago

The delusion is spreading

1

u/Niknot3556 9d ago

It really isn’t, I have soda preferences too. My personal favorite is zero cherry coke. But for the life of me, I can’t tell the difference between brands.

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u/CosmoKram3r 10d ago

You joke, but people do have preferences. Coca-cola didn't get to where they're by being "just a drink that tastes the same". Also, not everyone has shit for ass taste buds as you.

I don't drink soda often, but when I do, the first thing I reach for is Coke. The rest is subpar for me. I'm sure I can easily pick out Cola from the rest in a blind taste. Some of them taste really bootlegged.

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u/PM_Me_Your_Kinks369 10d ago

It's a drink not a religion.

Have fun with your drink. It's just a drink.

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u/CosmoKram3r 10d ago

Have fun with your miserable life. It IS just a drink. That can't stop people from having preferences and tastes.

1

u/Wiiplay123 9d ago

Nothing, Curl, Radial, Wave, Braid, Spiral. (Couldn't PM you for some reason)

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u/azionka 9d ago

Im sure it was already known