What is Coca-Cola’s supposed secret formula? YouTube user LabCoatz claims to have determined the recipe using chemistry

YouTuber LabCoatz went viral on social media after he perfectly “imitated” Coca-Cola over the course of a year, and claimed to have determined the recipe using chemistry. On January 9, 2026, the creator uploaded a 25-minute and seven-second video titled Imitating Coca-Cola perfectly (it took me a year)where he concluded everything that went into creating the distinctive taste of soft drinks.

At the 15-minute mark of the video, LabCoatz provided details about Coca-Cola’s supposed secret formula, including the following ingredients:

Per liter of cola (version 111):

soda water

• Sugar (104 g)
• 1 ml of flavor solution A
• 10 ml of flavor solution B

Flavor Solution A: Dilute 20 – 21 ml of the following oil mixture to 1 liter with 95% ethanol

• 45.8 ml lemon oil 36.5 ml lemon oil
• 8 ml tea tree oil
• 4.5 ml of cinnamon oil
• 2.7 ml of nutmeg oil
• 1.2 ml orange oil
• 0.7 ml coriander oil
• 0.6 ml finchol

Flavor Solution B: Dilute the following ingredients to a volume of 1 liter with water

• 320 ml Shank caramel color
• Mickle 175 grams of glycerin (a smaller amount can be used)
• 45 ml 85% phosphoric acid
• 10 ml vinegar (5% acidity)
• 10 ml of vanilla extract
• 8g wine tannins (more can be used) 9.65g caffeine

Proper mixing and aging issue

According to LabCoatz, fenchol is the “main flavor” found in Coca-Cola. He explained:

“Quick note – phenichol dissolves just above room temperature, so you may need to heat it in some hot water before starting. I bought my sample on Amazon, and after testing it, I can confirm that its flavor is in the cola. So, use it if you can (it shows text that says, ‘Phenichol is actually a major flavour!’).”

Timestamp – 16:35

“People overwhelmingly thought it was the real deal” – YouTuber LabCoatz shares details about what people said after tasting his Coca-Cola recipe

At the 23-minute mark of the aforementioned video, LabCoatz mentioned that he conducted a blind taste test to see how people would react after trying the Coca-Cola recipe he developed.

According to the YouTuber, people “overwhelmingly thought” his recipe was “the real deal”:

“Regular Coke drinkers were better at picking my drink out of the mix, but the general consensus was that Lab-Cola would confuse it with Coca-Cola, not another cola like Pepsi. When I tasted it on its own, without using Coca-Cola as a direct reference, people overwhelmingly thought it was the real deal, unlike Pemberton’s Recipe, OpenCola, and other clones I made them try.” Timestamp – 22:47

LabCoatz joined YouTube in July 2017 and has since uploaded 70 videos to his channel. As of this writing, it has more than 227,000 subscribers.