Did You Know There’s A Reason McDonald’s Coke Tastes Better?
Almost anyone with kids has spent more than their fair share of time sitting on those little plastic/metal chairs at McDonald’s, sipping away at a Coke, while the kids were burning off energy on the playground. And during that time, you may have also noticed that the Coke’s at Micky D’s are way better than what you can get anywhere else…did you ever wonder why though? Here’s the real reason why McDonald’s Coke Tastes Better.
Did You Know There’s A Reason McDonald’s Coke Tastes Better?
First, it isn’t the syrup. I know you think that’s why, but you’re wrong. Actually, while most restaurants have their syrups delivered in plastic bags, Coca-Cola brings McDonalds special stainless steel containers that keep things just a little fresher and  preserve the ingredients better. So while they don’t add extra syrup, they do take steps to make sure the syrup is served as identically as possible at all of their restaurants.
You should know, too, that while they don’t give you extra syrup, the melting ice and how much it dilutes the drinks is taken into consideration with their syrup ratio. So if you’re like me and ask them to hold the ice, you actually ARE getting a slightly sweeter drink than those who go full cube.
Second, it’s cold. Like, really cold. While McDonald’s has been known in the past for their hot coffee, it should probably be recognized for its cold carbonated beverages. Cold temperatures hold carbonation better, so by serving it just a little cooler than their competitors, McDonalds is able to make the carbonation last longer and more bubbly means a better taste.
Not only that, but their straws are slightly bigger so more of that carbonated goodness hits your tastebuds all at once. Apparently, with straws at least, bigger really IS better.
Third, McDonalds really wants you to love your soda, so they actually filter the water more than most to keep the quality even higher. In fact, they invest a lot of money into keeping their double filtration system well maintained and working better than anyone else’s system.
I mean, think about it…better drinks means parents don’t mind sitting as long to watch the littles run in circles through the playground.
Pretty smart, McDonalds!
HEY, REDDIT! I was scrolling through the front page before I went to bed tonight and saw you all reading this!! Thank you so much!! You made my night!!! ~Mary
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Sorry, but maybe don’t regurgitate the same useless knowledge that many others before you have shared. McDonald’s gets their syrup in plain Boxed Bags just like anyone else. The only thing delivered in a stainless container is the soda water which is pumped into a 250 Gallon container directly from a delivery trunk through a port (much like a fireman’s outlet) on the side of the building.
The syrup nor the carbonation are pre-chilled, the soda water is delivered from the stainless tank (or sometimes tanks in larger populated stores) through a proprietary system developed by CocaCola FOR McDonalds which aerates the water to increase carbonation and releases it under high pressure which chills it upon dispensing. This creates the right amount of head (bubbles, suds, foam, whatever) and delivers the drink at the optimal temperature (34.4 F)
McDonald’s soda water is sweetened with Saccharin to make it sweeter, previously it was sweetened with raw cane sugar which actually resulted in a Diet Coke having 5 calories per serving (8oz without ice, 12oz with ice).
Billy…While you’re correct that McDonald’s does have syrup in boxed bags, just about everything else you’ve written is incorrect. McDonald’s does get their Coke syrup delivered in bulk to two 50 gallon tanks installed in each restaurant. Their other flavors do come in boxed bags. In the back of the restaurant is an elaborate beverage system that works as follows:
1) The water is filtered to eliminate 99.999% of all minerals and such.
2) This water goes to a carbonation machine where the CO2 is mixed to make carbonated water (soda water). The big stainless steel tank you reference holds the CO2 gas….not carbonated water.
3) The soda water is now continuously recirculated though stainless steel tubes immersed in a water bath kept at 33-36 degrees. This is why McDonald’s drinks are so cold when they’re dispensed.
4) You are correct that the syrup is not pre-chilled. The syrup lines from the back of the store to the drink stations are wrapped inside the chilled soda water lines (to keep the syrup from getting too warm) and the entire collection of soda water and syrup lines are wrapped in a 1/2″ insulated cover. Most people don’t know that the syrup and soda water do not mix until they both reach the nozzle when the drink is dispensed.
5) While some of the sweetener in DIET Coke is Saccharine, it’s only a small part. Regular Coke is not sweetened with Saccharine at all…..and neither are any other of their non-diet drinks.
No other restaurant I’m aware of has this elaborate of a drink system and THAT’S why McDonald’s soda tastes better than anywhere else!
If you’ve ever been to Panera bread and gotten a salad, to give you the tiniest portions of salad dressing possible. And if you ask for an extra one, they look at you like you’re crazy. Btw, two isn’t enough. Because not only do they have tiny cups for it, they only fill it halfway. Are they saving me from myself, or trying to save money. I’ve stopped.ordering salads there, too aggravating.
There’s an old dieting tip that Weight Watchers and various other sources have hawked for a long, long time now:
To save calories without sacrificing taste, dip the tip of your fork into your salad dressing cup and then grab a forkful of salad. The dressing will hit your taste buds and make you think your mouth is saturated in the stuff. Instead of using 2 ounces, which is the recommended serving size on most dressings, you’ll use much less.
Panera Bread’s food is carefully designed. They have calorie guidelines and try to keep their meals within those guidelines. Dressings are generally very calorific and fatty. So, yes, they are trying to save you from yourself… and maintain their branding as a healthy alternative to fast food. If you mix your salad pretty well after applying the dressing, the dressing will distribute more and you’ll be happier with the results.
all pop needs a huge health warning – so bad for you- diet pop is probably even worse
Who cares how they got their Coke to taste differently. Their main goal is to keep you fat and keep coming to spend more money. They want you to be addicted to this stuff. Glad I quit drinking pop 3 years ago.
Or just be active and drink all the pop you want. I’ve been drinking 3-4 cans of Coke a day since I was 20, now I’m 30 and have almost no fat. Lifestyle is the biggest factor, activity and excersise is important. Diabetes on the other hand could be bad news for soda, but that’s generally an overweight person problem. Lol
Wouldn’t 4.75 to 1 actually be less than 4.5 to 1? I’m assuming there is a lot more water than syrup so wouldn’t the 4.75 be the water?
That’s bull lmao
Their diet coke, at least in the restaurants in my area, is terrible. I have complained repeatedly to the managers. They usually give me a cup from the drive through which is always better than from the self serve dispensers…which makes no sense to me.
Hey Mary,
You seem like a knowledgable kind of gal that has her ear to the ground and eye to the sky so I have a question: why did women stop wearing stockings? I see weddings. Proms and other events where ALL the ladies in skirts and dresses are not wearing any coverings on their legs. I know it can be “fad-ish” to not wear, but wonder if they think they look Good?
Your thoughts??
OK, here you go:
I am a Coca Cola technician. Been doing the job for over a decade and have worked in every McDonalds in TX, LA, and lower half of CA.
Coca Cola ratio for all restaurants is 4.5:1. McDonalds is 4.75:1. It’s is just a tad more syrup in every cup.
The syrup being delivered in stainless steel containers is bullshit. They haven’t done that in over 15 years. It had nothing to do with better taste either. It was a pressurized tank that pushed the syrup through A 100′ or more line to the front of the store where the soda machines are at.
Now they do store Coke syrup in stainless tanks at the McDonalds still. They are 75 gallon tanks and there are usually 2-3 in every store. It still has nothing to do with taste and doesn’t change the flavoring at all. It’s under 60 PSI of Co2 pressure. This pressure pushes the syrup through the store. Without the giant tanks, employees would have to change 5 gallon boxes of syrup every 39 minutes to keep up with the syrup being used. That’s how much more Coca Cola is sold than any other Coke product.
Coke is NOT colder at McDonalds. All Coke is served between 32.2- 40 degrees. It has to be in order to stay carbonated. Once soda gets above 40 degrees the Co2 starts escaping fast and that’s why drinks go flat.
There are 3 lines on the side of a McDonalds cup. These lines are measurements for ice. The first line at the bottom of the cup is the optimal amount of ice for that cup of soda. 1/3 of the cup should be ice (cubed ice only) crushed ice is too compact and melts faster, so it’s not used for Coca Cola). All McDonalds use cubed ice. The 2nd line is for extra ice. When a customer asks for extra ice, this is where it’s supposed to be filled. The top line is where the finished drink with Ice should stop.
McDonalds is the only restaurant (besides Chipotle and some Boston Markets, which both used to be owned by McDonalds) to lay Cica Cola to have certified CoCa Cola technicians (myself) inspect the entire store twice a year to make sure the Coke recipe is still perfect.
We check the carbonation levels, brix, temperature, all the equipments, literally every part of the entire beverage system. There is a giant box of ice, motors, and lumps in the back of most of the stores about the size of a smart car that controls all of this.
As for the water filters, there is not two sets of filters. Just one. It’s a commercial grade set of filters, but there is only one. The majority consist of a pre filter that runs into 4 carbon filters and then into an IMF filter (which adds minerals like magnesium and calcium back into the water). Now a lot of locations have converted to a newer Taylor Wharton filter system, but it’s still only one. They may be getting confused with the reverse osmosis filter system in the stores. Cike technicians also change those, but they are not connected to the soda system. Those are for the coffee only and are for areas with high amounts of hard water.
Maybe I’m missing something, but 4.75:1 ratio would be less syrup, than 4.5:1. If the “1” is the syrup, and the other number is the water, than there is more water in the 4.75 version.
are you guys retarded? he obviously meant syrup : water.
Tony, thank you for this insider info. Fascinating. I think McDonald’s Coke is superb. Thank you and all the Coke technicians who keep it that way!
Thanks for the information. I love Coca Cola and don’t like some of the Coke at other vendors that have flat or over carbonated Coke. I try not to drink it all the time but when I do, I like to enjoy it perfectly blended. I had no idea McDonalds went to all that trouble. Good to know.
I’ve been a Coca Vila tech for over a decade. I serviced every single McDonald’s in the state of Texas Louisiana and the southern half of California. You did a fairly decent job, but about half of your information is incorrect.
They should invest as much n the quality and taste of their food.
While all those things may well be true, the real reason it is delivered in ss containers is that it is mixed with real sugar, not corn sweeteners. They are the only Outlet that sells it in the us.
I am a Coca-Cola technician. This is absolute horse shit. They aren’t even shipped in stainless steel containers. They stop doing that about a decade ago. They do store them in 75 gallon tanks at the store, but that is because Coca-Cola outsells every other soda by massive margins And the employees would have to change the boxes out every hour to keep up. It has corn syrup just like all the other sodas. They don’t use real sugar.
The mcdonalds coke isnt better in new zealand, but we dont use high fructose corn syrup in anything so sucks to be you if you live in a country where tht happens
Actually I don’t like their cokes at all. They are too syrupy to me. If I go to McD’s, I get unsweet tea, then drive to Sonic for a fantastic coke.
I HATE the large straws! HATE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!
This is no longer true as McDonald’s has changed to the coke machines that deliver many flavors and usually your Coke is mixed with one of the other flavors I never buy Coke at McDonald’s anymore
Wrong. Each flavor has a syrup line that runs together in a bundle of tubes called a “Python” either through a chase in the floor or overhead in the ceiling. The tubes of syrup run over 100 feet to the front of the store and down to each soda machine. The Coke is not mixed with any other flavors. The only machine that doesn’t use these lines is the freestyle (the big red box with the touchscreen that lets you choose over 100 flavors). That machine uses printer cartridges of highly concentrated syrup to make your drink.
I like the there because it is weaker than the bottled or canned coke. I drank Coke for years but am off coke all together. Even diet coke is a weight gainer. So I drink a diet drink called BlueBerry mmmmmm so good. I have felt so much better since I quit Coke.
Sorry, it is slightly stronger than regular recipe canned Coke. Regular Coke is a 4.5 ratio. McDonalds is 4.75.
Ask Mc Donalds what happened to their tea. My boyfriend and I has always loved getting their iced tea, but suddenly there is an awful change of taste.. we thought maybe they haven’t cleaned the dispenser out in awhile. Well, that was before we discovered three others are same way. So awful that we had to dump it!!
I avoid getting cokes at McD’s because they often taste watered down and “off” in a way that reminds me of cleaning products. Wonder if they fail to rinse the machines adequately after cleaning them.
As a retired service tech in the soft drink industry I concur
I actually worked with Coke last year and had a one on one with the execs where this very topic was discussed.
First of all, do you know that McDonald’s and Coca-Cola do not have a written contract?! yep – their partnership is on a handshake.
As for why Coke tastes better at McDonalds….they have people who only service the McDonalds Coke machines to make sure they are always super clean and performing at peak performance = producing the perfect pour every time.
The secret is the Ice. Because they not only double filter their water, but they also double filter the water in their Ice Machines!
Neither the ice or water is double filtered. The water for the ice machine comes from the same water filters that the sodas do. They are a single group of filters. They are commercial grade and are changed every 6 months by technicians like myself. There are a few different brands that they use (Cuno, TW, and ever pure). There IS another set of filters in McDinalds, but these are not attached to the soda likes. They are RO filters (reverse osmosis) and are used for the coffee and tea only because they would never be able to keep up with the demand of a soda machine. Soda machines also don’t hear water, so there is no need for an RO system.
Googling that question brought me here because I always thought so. I’m drinking a coke right now and its so cold you get a kick in your throat. Bruger King can learn a lesson here because their soda is awful…watered down dirty machines.
You know, I’d actually wondered this before. I quite McDonalds a long time ago, but even then their Coke was second to none
I don’t remember what show it was but I remember watching one that stated McDonald’s had their own specially formulated version of Coke. I see in the comments where someone wrote their formula has cinnamon in it. While I don’t know if that is true or not, I really think that may be it. There’s always a different taste to McDonald’s Coke that, in my opinion, makes it better than most and the difference may very well be cinnamon.
I’m a Coke technician. The recipe is the same. They don’t change the ingredients. The formula is different in that there is slightly more syrup in McDonalds Coke than I’m regular Coke. 4.75 instead of 4.5. Also the Mr. Pon and diet drinks also have slightly more syrup as well. 4.5 instead of the usual 4.25.
Tony, thank you for the info from an insider. Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it. McDonald’s Coke is superb. Thank you and all the Coke technicians who keep it that way!