Originally published at: Coca Cola cans from the 1930's looked like cans of paint thinner | Boing Boing
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And beer cans of the era looked like motor oil cans (also extinct in the modern era as far as I can find.) I was once part of an archeological dig that found a buried midden that had dozens of well-preserved beer cans, each with a couple of triangular holes punched in the top with a church key. The actual archeologist was ecstatic with the find, and explained to the rest of us why a bunch of rusty old tin cans was important.
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I find it interesting that these were cans of syrup rather than an already prepared beverage. Coke doesn’t seem like it’s really in that sort of market anymore (at least directly to consumers).
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The first production consumer can of Coca-Cola was made in 1960. Before that it was all bottles.
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Ah yes, the syrup. It’s always about the syrup, really.
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I doubt this was a consumer product; likely for soda fountains and pharmacies. They still sell syrup for retail, but it comes as a bag-in-box now. Not too long ago it came in Cornelius-style kegs, but I’m not sure if it still does.
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woah! just looked it up and you can get 30 gallons worth of coke syrup for $100? and I imagine it’s quite shelf stable…co2 must add a pretty penny, but were I a soda drinker I’d be doing the math…
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It’s not the CO2 or the syrup that costs a lot.
The actual soda fountains used to mix them cost multiple thousands of dollars.
Even on Aliexpress, the price is around $1,000.
I think it’s because restaurant-grade equipment is engineered to last for decades, while consumer-grade equipment is not. Or not.
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This is all true, but honestly all they’re doing is blending in cold water and CO2. The refrigeration is the most complicated part and some bars just use a well plate, which is a block of steel that sits in the bottom of your ice well and chills the ingredients on their way to the dispenser. You could replicate this at home with a soda stream or just cold seltzer.
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No comment.
ETA: I really, really would like to taste the original beverage. I have no objection to coca, and Cola I tried. Several species, if I am not mistaken. It tasted terrible, but is great stuff.
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CO2 is not that expensive, depending on what you looking to get. I had a coworker that welded as part of his hobbies, he had a large CO2 tank for that and he would carbonate drinks with it. It wasn’t food grade, so it would probably have been illegal to try and sell the results, but for his personal use he was fine with it.
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Packaging design from that era makes me wonder if they viewed stacking things as sinful, wicked behavior to be discouraged.
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Sitzen machen.
Say what you will, they really nailed how Entnazifizierung turned out.
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Apparently it’s been a long-sought goal of certain engineers to make a vending machine that can reliably mix carbonated beverages by plumbing the thing into a building’s water supply, thus radically reducing shipping costs. Last I checked no one cracked the problem, or at least wasn’t able to do so in a way that was more economical than traditional vending machines.
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I’m inclined to wonder if there was an issue with strength under compression that made being visibly unstackable a virtue.
There are definitely less noble reasons that design decisions get made; but sometimes people do take steps to make non-obviously bad ideas into obviously bad ideas as a reliability thing.
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After chewing coca leaves on the Inca trail up to Machu Picchu, I’d agree, it’s a genius ingredient for ypur cure-all tonic. Never tried the " refined" stuff tho…
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Sure, with six tea bags in one cup! (Is that your own photo?)
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Yes - taken in a hotel room in Bogotá. The teabags were all used - it was for comic effect.
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