Making Cola



Taste

I’m ignoring carbonation since everyone is going to probably use something different. However, I used a Soda Stream set to 2 which gave me a very fine carbonation and a very nice head when poured over ice.

Taste wise this is going to be very flowery, cinnamon-y, cola.

Ingredients

Makes 4 cups of syrup total.

Amount Item
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Coriander
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Anise
1/2 tsp Citric Acid
2 Oranges worth of zest
1 Lemon worth of zest
2 Cups Water
2 Cups Sugar

Process

Mix the following together:

  • Cinnamon
  • Nutmeg
  • Coriander
  • Brown Sugar
  • Anise
  • Citric Acid
  • Oranges zest
  • Lemon zest
  • 2 cups of water

Mix this up in a pot and get it to simmer for 20 minutes.

While the pot is simmering take the 2 cups of sugar and blitz it in a food processor. Doing this makes the sugar dissolve more easily later on when we mix everything.

For now while waiting move the sugar to a large bowl.

Once the 20 minutes on the pot is up grab a fine sieve and strain the pot’s mixture through into the bowl with the sugar. Let cool and mix occasionally for about 15 minutes.

You’re looking for a simple-syrup consistency.

Once cool you can mix with club soda, sparkling mineral water, or if you have a Soda Stream use that, to add some carbonation.

Ration for soda

4:1 of Water to syrup.

Additional Notes

You can also add 1 tsp of vanilla bean, or like a splash of vanilla extract near the end when you are mixing with the sugar.

If the final product is too syrupy then turn it down to like a 5:1 ratio. Any lower and you might start to dilute the flavor too much.

Finally if you don’t like the color then you can add blue + red to make the color a bit darker, similar to the pic below. I used 5 blue to 4 red.