Thursday, March 08, 2007

A Guilty Indulgence

It's true, I must be a hedonist. Everywhere I go and in everything I do, I seek pleasure. I want pleasure. Give me pleasure and then a double-scoop of pleasure on top, please.

As I write this, I am nearing the bottom fourth of this mornings' greatest pleasure: an ice cold 500ml bottle of Coca-Cola.

Yes, it's the High Fructose Corn Syrup version of Coke so it's not the Ultimate Pleasure but an indulgence nonetheless that was sparked by my unique (but not unusual) storage method. The Coke was part of Spro Coffee's stock that I keep in the garage. It snowed yesterday and it was bitterly cold this morning as I loaded the crates of Coke into the back of the Sonoma for the fifteen minute commute to Towson.

When it came time to unload the bottles, there they were, in their fizzy, frozen state. That weird, brackish-looking color of frozen coke. It's a classic look and a tempting fate. I couldn't resist.

There's nothing like the feeling of the frozen Coke sizzling down your throat and into your gullet. It's cold. It's crisp. It's refreshing (until that syrupy hell makes you thirsty again ten minutes later). It's what Coke was meant to be.

So go ahead, gentle reader, freeze your Cokes. Let the ice crystals form and indulge yourself with hedonistic abandon.

3 comments:

Liz Wetterhahn said...

What's wrong with HFCS? It's not any worse for you than normal sugar! I am a soda addict - and your post made me REALLY thirsty ;)

Southern Skies Coffee Roasters said...

BuzzFeed explains that some Coca Cola is made with cane sugar during Passover. Just look for the yellow caps.

Anonymous said...

When Coke is made with sucrose (table sugar), the phosphoric acid, which is actually a primary flavor component of the drink, slowly breaks down the sucrose to fructose and glucose, which in turn are the components of HFCS. The mix of sucrose, fructose, and glucose gives a different mouthfeel and sweetness profile to the drink, which can certainly be discerned by anyone who is not just guzzling it down freezing cold. One week after bottling is said to be ideal. Coke made with HFCS is stable and unchanging over time.