Mexican Coca Cola

by Nick Vagnoni, Posted Jan 11th 2006 @ 6:29PM

Today's Wall Street Journal featured a front-page article about the demand for Mexican-made Coca Cola in the U.S. Mexican Coke is made with cane sugar, unlike American Coke, which is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. While some soda aficionados like Mexican Coke for its supposedly cleaner taste and better mouth feel, its main market in the U.S. is to Mexican immigrants. While Coca Cola authorizes several bottlers to distribute its products in Mexico, the company is continually trying to stop the importation of those soft drinks into the U.S. for fear that they'll compete with the sodas bottled here. Since the bottles aren't actually counterfeit, they're still legal to import. The results are slightly covert networks of distributors that import Mexican Coke to the U.S. and then distribute it throughout the country. The WSJ traces a few bottles from Mexico to Georgia.

Filed Under: Business, Newspapers
Tags: coca cola, CocaCola, importation, latin america, mexico, soda, soft drinks

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Reader comments (Page 2 of 2)

1-12-2006 @10:37AM DanGarion said... I guess I will need to start checking the Mexican markets here for REAL coke. I'm trying to cut as much HFCS out of my diet as possible but still crave coke every so often, and if I can get it with real sugar that will be great.
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1-12-2006 @11:18AM Huck said... In some US cities, Coke makes a special batch with cane sugar to be Kosher for passover. It usually has a yellow cap with hebrew writing on it. I try to stock up every spring.
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1-12-2006 @11:36AM Blue Balloon said... I live about 100 miles away from Dr Pepper where they made with sugar cane. It's very expensive. $1.19 in 12 oz glasses bottle. Usually, I get it from Central Market where it actually sell most import soda you can find. Gotta love Central Market!
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1-12-2006 @1:17PM william said... I didn't know that there was still Coke with real sugar and now I'm really curious. I've been wanting to try the Dublin Dr. Pepper but haven't found any up in my neck of the woods (I'm disappointed Jungle Jim's didn't have it). I'm due a shopping expedition so I'll have to keep my eyes open for some Mexican Coke. To me that would be even better than the Dr. Pepper.
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1-12-2006 @6:32PM Al said... I get a bottle every time I go to a taqeria. Canadian coke is the same way (although in the US you're far less likely to find a poutine stand with imported Canadian coke rather than a taco stand with imported Mexican coke, but if you live near the Canadian border it's worth it to snag some on your next visit). The main difference is you don't get that feeling of sticky glop in the back of your mouth after you drink it -- that's the corn syrup.
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