International / basics / Drinks
OpenCola
OpenCola is unique in that the instructions for making it are freely available and modifiable. Anybody can make the drink, and anyone can modify and improve on the recipe as long as they, too, license their recipe under the GNU General Public License. The legal grounds for this are dubious however, as recipes are exempted from copyright as they are techniques, not artworks. Although originally intended as a promotional tool to explain free software/open source software, the drink took on a life of its own and 150,000 cans were sold. The Toronto-based company Opencola founded by Grad Conn, Cory Doctorow and John Henson became better known for the drink than the software it was supposed to promote. Laird Brown, the company's senior strategist, attributes its success to a widespread mistrust of big corporations and the "proprietary nature of almost everything." As it turns out, mixing up a batch of cola's pretty easy. As with all undertakings of great moment, read and understand the instructions before attempting to commit cola on your own. Note that this is not the recipe for "OpenCola"—that is, the canned beverage from Opencola that you may have received at a trade show, or other …
Ingredients
- orange oil, 3.50 ml3/4 tsp
- lime oil, 2.75 ml1/2 tsp
- cassia oil, 1.25 ml1/4 tsp
- lemon oil, 1 ml1/4 tsp
- nutmeg oil, 1 ml1/4 tsp
- coriander oil, 5 drops0.25 ml
- neroli oil, 5 drops0.25 ml
- lavender oil, 5 drops0.25 ml
- gum arabic, 10.0 g / 10 ml; food-grade2 tsp
- water, 3 ml2/3 tsp
- granulated white sugar, 2.36 kg / 5.2 lb; plain white table sugar11 cup
- water, 2.28 L / 4.41 quarts9 1/2 cup
- caramel color, 30 ml2 tbsp
- 75% phosphoric acid or citric acid, 17.25 ml; 75% phosphoric acid3 1/2 tsp
- flavoring formula, 10 ml; prepared flavoring mixture2 tsp
- caffeine, 2.5 ml; optional1/2 tsp
Quantities are auto-calculated from the original recipe as a guide. Items without numbers (e.g. “to taste”) are not changed.
Method 9 steps
Mix oils together in a cup.
Add gum arabic, and mix with a spoon.
Add water and mix well. A mixer may be used for this step, mixing for 4–5 minutes. You can also transfer to a blender for this step.
Store this mixture in a sealed glass jar in a refrigerator or at room temperature. Please note that this mixture will separate. The gum arabic is essential to this part of the recipe, as you are mixing oil and water.
In a one gallon container, combine 5 ml of the flavoring formula with the phosphoric or citric acid.
Mix in the water, then the sugar.
While mixing, add the caffeine, if desired. Make sure the caffeine is completely dissolved.
Add the caramel color and mix thoroughly.
To finish the drink, mix 1 part syrup with 5 parts carbonated water.
Region evidence: no stated origin (basic dish)
