What is Coca-Cola’s so-called secret formula? YouTuber LabCoatz claims to have identified a recipe using chemistry

YouTuber LabCoatz went viral on social media after “perfectly replicating” Coca-Cola over the course of a year and claiming to have identified the recipe using chemistry. On January 9, 2026, the content creator uploaded a 25-minute, seven-second video titled Perfectly reproduce Coca Cola (it took me a year)in which he deduced everything that went into creating the soft drink’s iconic taste.

About 15 minutes into the video, LabCoatz provided details about Coca-Cola’s alleged secret formula, including the following ingredients:

PER LITER OF COLA (VERSION 111):

Carbonated water

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

FLAVOR SOLUTION A: Dilute 20 to 21 mL of the following oil blend in 1 L using 95% ethanol

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

FLAVOR SOLUTION B: Dilute the following ingredients to a volume of 1 L with water.

• 320 ml Shank’s caramel coloring
• MICAL 175g of glycerin (you can use less)
• 45 ml of 85% phosphoric acid
• 10 ml of vinegar (5% acidity)
• 10 ml of vanilla extract
• 8g wine tannins (can use more) 9.65g caffeine

Suitable mixing and aging material

According to LabCoatz, Fenchol is a “key flavor” found in Coca-Cola. He clarified:

“Quick note: Fenchol melts just above room temperature, so you may need to warm it in hot water before you begin. I purchased my sample on Amazon and after testing it, I can confirm that its flavor is present in Coca-Cola. So use it if you can (the text saying: “Fenchol is actually a key flavor!” appears).”

Timestamp – 4:35 p.m.

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

At the 23-minute mark of the aforementioned video, LabCoatz said 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 mine out of the mix, but the general consensus was that Lab-Cola would be confused with Coke, not other colas like Pepsi. When tasted alone, without Coca-Cola as a direct reference, people overwhelmingly thought it was the real deal, unlike Pemberton’s recipe, OpenCola, and other clones I had them try.” Timestamp – 22:47

LabCoatz joined YouTube in July 2017 and has since uploaded 70 videos to its channel. As of this writing, he has over 227,000 subscribers.