Why Does Coca-Cola Style So Good at McDonald’s?

Posted On Mar 29, 2024 By admin With Comments Off

Coca-Cola tastes better at McDonald’s than at other restaurants. That’s not just your taste buds playing tricks on you.

It’s a cool, refreshing fact that both McDonald’s and the Coca-Cola company are happy to share with their customers.

Why Does Coke Taste Better at McDonalds?

Image Credit: Dirk Tussing – CC BY-SA 2.0/Wiki Commons.

The process of pouring the perfect ice-cold cup of Coca-Cola is a surprisingly complex one, and according to the fast-food giant, they follow specific guidelines handed to them by the Coca-Cola corporation to ensure that the Coca-Cola that flows from its fountains tastes the best it can.

Crystal Clear Filtered Water

fountain drinks — Image Credit: Shutterstock.

McDonald’s cleans and uses filtered water in its soda fountains, ensuring that fewer particulates in regular tap water find their way into beverages, thus having a cleaner, crisper taste and maintaining a higher quality product and better flavor profile even in areas where water straight from the faucet may be poor quality to begin with.

Keeping It Chill

A young girl holding a Mcdonald's cup in a Mcdonald's location. — Image Credit: New Africa/Shutterstock.

The filtered water and syrup used to make Coca-Cola at McDonald’s are pre-chilled before entering your cup by an insulated tube that runs from the coolers in the back to the soda fountain at the front of the restaurant, which ensures the water used in the fountain is always just above freezing. This technique is similar to how specific beers are pre-chilled on their way to the glass in a bar to ensure a more refreshing taste.

These lower temperatures also help maintain high carbon dioxide levels within the soda once it is carbonated, allowing it to stay crisp and bubbly for longer, ensuring customers should never have a flat Coke.

Also, rather than flash chilling soda as it’s dispensed or keeping it in bags under the counter or a warm storeroom like most other restaurants, McDonald’s pre-chills its syrup by keeping it in tanks in the cooler before it goes into the machine.

McDonald’s pre-chills the syrup before placing it in the machine. So, while other fast-food restaurants leave their soda syrup bags out in the kitchen, McDonald’s syrup is getting chilly and ready for your cup.

Special Tanks and a Special Deal

Mcdonald's cup being held by a customer showing the restaurant in the background. — Image Credit: 8th.creator/Shutterstock.

While most restaurants have their fountain machine syrups kept in sealed plastic bags under the bar or pumped in from out back, McDonald’s Coke syrup is delivered in special sealed stainless-steel tanks that help keep the syrup fresher and protect it from other outside factors that might alter its flavor like light, changes in temperature, and the air, which plastic bags can’t do.

This particular perk came about after McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc and Coca-Cola struck an exclusive partnership deal in 1955, which has given the Golden Arches certain privileges to this day.

It’s All About the Mix

A closeup of condensation on a Mcondald's cup in a car cup holder. — Image Credit: Patchareeloveson/Shutterstock.

As Eric rightfully points out in Carol and the End of the World, “It’s all about the mix.” He may have been talking about homemade trail mix, but it still rings true for drinks, and Coca-Cola is no exception. Unlike most other restaurants, McDonald’s sets its coke machines up to account for ice added to the cup. This means the syrup-to-water ratio is higher than other fast-food outlets, ensuring that your ice-cold beverage won’t be watered down as the ice melts and will taste just as good from the first sip to the last.

That’s why if you order a Coke from McDonald’s without ice, it often tastes sweeter. In short, having ice in drinks from McDonald’s is better for maintaining the carefully calculated ratio.

Bigger Straws for Better Sips

Closeup of Mcdonald's straws. — Image Credit: Lenscap Photography/Shutterstock.

McDonald’s straws are wider than your average straw. According to McDonald’s marketing types: “It’s slightly wider than a typical straw, so all that Coke taste can hit your taste buds,” though the truth is probably closer to being able to drink your soda quicker, so you’re more likely to buy another.

Now, if they could figure out how to make a paper straw that doesn’t dissolve halfway through trying to drink a milkshake, that would make us all happy.

Although it seems like a lot of work for a simple drink, the fact you’re craving one just reading this means they must be doing something right. After all, McDonald’s is reportedly seeing the “fastest period of growth” in the company’s history and plans to open a drink-centric Starbucks-style spin-off called CosMc’s throughout 2024. People are lovin’ it.

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