From cinnamon to caramel: People can't agree on the flavour of Coke

Coca-Cola has their 'secret formula' under lock and key, but that doesn't stop the internet from guessing...

Have you ever sipped a Coke and found yourself wondering, "What exactly am I tasting?"

Well, you're not the only one.

The iconic flavour of Coca-Cola has been a subject of fascination and mystery for decades, often sparking passionate disagreement among fans. 

Recently, this age-old debate re-surfaced on TikTok, when a user sparked controversy for revealing she'd discovered the 'real' flavour of Coke. 

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Image: TikTok

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"You're drinking cinnamon juice"

Anita Forbes took to her account to share her theory in a video that's now amassed over 1.3 million views. 

"I was at dinner and my friend brought up the flavour of Coke and I said, 'It's cola flavour'. And she said, 'Nooo, it's cinnamon'," Anita began.

Visibly taken aback, she repeats to the camera, "Cinnamon!"

"Cinnamon flavour. Cinnamon and vanilla. You're drinking cinnamon juice," she states.

"Why did nobody tell me? Did everyone know? We gotta make people aware."

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People shared their many and varied theories

But people immediately ran to the comments to set the record straight - or at least, share their own theories. 

"It's Cola... Kola nut, citrus, cinnamon and vanilla," one user confidently wrote. 

Someone else claimed, "It's caramel. The bottle even says caramel flavour on the ingredients."

"Yeah, but that's just to get the colour," someone else replied.

"Coke literally just tastes like lemon to me," one person shared.

"OMG I thought I was the only one who thought that," someone responded.

Others said it couldn't possibly be cinnamon-flavoured because they "hate" cinnamon.

"I would know if it was cinnamon because that sh*t is disgusting," someone wrote.

So, what's the real flavour of Coke?

Well, it's hard to know. Coca-Cola has their 'secret formula' under lock and key, even shipping ingredients to its syrup factories in the form of anonymous 'merchandises' numbered one-nine. 

Factory managers aren't even told the ingredients, rather, they're just informed of the relative proportions of each numbered merchandise. 

However, Merchandise one is known to be sugar, in the form of high-fructose corn syrup or sucrose, caramel colouring is assumed to be number two, caffeine is number three, and phosphoric acid is number four.

Merchandise five through nine are a matter of debate — particularly merchandise seven, which is thought to be a mixture of essential oils such as orange, lime, lemon, and lavender.

As for the main taste of Coca-Cola, most people believe that is is in fact... drum roll please... vanilla and cinnamon!

We'll never really know though, so just sip your Coke and let your imagination run wild. 

Originally published as From cinnamon to caramel: People can't agree on the flavour of Coke