526: Coke Flavors

Molly 0:00

Hi I'm Matthew and I'm Molly and this is spilled milk. The show will be cooked something delicious. Eat it all and you can't have any. Today we are talking about coke flavors for Coca Cola flavors or flavors of Coca Cola or flavored Cokes. Okay, yeah, I mean, Coke is already syrupy, but it's about to get more syrupy. Oh, yeah, just like just like us. Is this like a Valentine's Day episode or something? One would think so. That's getting syrupy. Yeah, just with love love oozing out of our pores. Yeah, unfortunately, it's not our Valentine's Day episode. But you know,

Matthew Amster-Burton 0:40

but it's, I mean, it's just like, why don't you start? It's January 27. When this episode airs. Isn't that about when you start like really laying in your your Valentine's Day plans? I do me laying it

Molly 0:51

laying in what are your Valentine's Day plans this year? What What kind of laying in?

Matthew Amster-Burton 0:58

Well, I mean, obviously, I'm gonna make those. A lion. I'm gonna have a lie and a classic lion. Like, that's that's like a big furry carnivore. Right? It is. Um, I'm like a big furry car.

Molly 1:10

You are? Well, I

Matthew Amster-Burton 1:12

mean, I'm gonna start of course, by getting a pack of Valentine's for everyone in my class. Okay. And I'm gonna but like for like, the the person that I like, like, I'm gonna like take a little special care. Okay with her Valentine? Yeah.

Molly 1:25

Okay. Are you gonna give out any Valentine candy to the people in your class? Yeah, I think some of those like, you mean socio economic class? Yes, that's right. I'm getting valentines for everyone in my socio economic class. Like everyone, everyone above or below can suck it. Well, the people in your class will take care of Sure. Yeah.

Matthew Amster-Burton 1:49

But yeah, I'm gonna get some of those. Those foil wrapped. Low quality milk chocolate hearts that ever nobody likes. Oh, good. Somebody likes I'm sorry. No, if you're if those those are the candy for you. Happy Valentine's Day.

Molly 2:02

Okay. But this is not our Valentine's Day episode. No, we just pretended for a minute that it was this is actually our Coke flavors episode. And it was suggested by a listener, wasn't it? Matthew? Yeah, that was from listener Liang, who was a longtime listener. We appreciate the suggestion because we wanted to talk about this. Anyway. Fantastic, Matthew. Let's start on memory lane where I'm gonna go first. Okay. The only coke flavor that I mean, I remember we're gonna talk a little bit about the whole like New Coke versus classic coke thing that happened when you and I were kids. But mostly what I remember was when cherry coke came on the market. That was that was a pivotal moment. If you were nine or 10 It would have been 1985. Don't worry, I don't know this off the top of my head. I did the research for this episode. Okay. So anyway, I remember when cherry coke came out. Cherry Coke was and continues to be the greatest coke flavor that was ever made. I think so too. But what we're gonna do some some coke tasting today. And what if we find out that we're wrong? I'm ready for that. I'm excited. I'm excited to give up my illusions. But first I'm going to use them. But when you say give up your illusions you're not going to start stop doing your magic act. Right? Okay. Can you scared for a second? Okay. But anyway, ah, yeah, my coke flavor Memory Lane contains one thing and that is Cherry Coke.

Matthew Amster-Burton 3:28

Okay, mine contains two things. Maybe three? I don't remember. Like at some point. I think maybe why for the show. Laurie introduced me to the idea of squeezing some fresh lime juice in coke. I think that counts as a coke flavor. Yes. What do you think? I mean, it's not there was not with lime, which I don't think they make anymore at

Molly 3:46

least. So get ready, Matthew. I've got some news for you. Anyway, if that counts, that's really good. Have you heard the good news? Oh, boy. magic magic is real. And you're one of its greatest purveyors? Yes. Are you gonna saw me in half before the end of this episode? I might. I can't wait. I'm really excited. You know, the mural in the de concourse of SeaTac that has the the like weirdly lifelike magician who's saying someone in half and like pulling a rabbit out of a hat? And do you know what I mean? I don't know what you mean. And like when you said de concourse, like it just like a bunch of really dumb dirty jokes. Anyway, I'm sure that all of our like Seattle based listeners are nodding right now. Because when I think of magic, I just think of the weird mural in the de Congo. I don't think I have a concept of like, which concourse is which except for like that that is satellite that you have to like take the little there's also a satellite. Yeah, so other than that, I

Matthew Amster-Burton 4:48

definitely remember cherry coke. That was a big deal. And I remember going to the I think no longer in existence Farrells ice cream parlor in Portland and ordering a chocolate Coke, which was a Just regular Coke with some Hershey syrup stirred into it. That is real good. Really? Yes. It doesn't seem like it would be right but it is ever thought

Molly 5:07

of that. Wow. Okay, I'm pretty excited about trying that, but we're not going to try it today, unfortunately.

Matthew Amster-Burton 5:14

I mean, we could except I have. So in the fridge I have a couple of like literally two coke flavors. Neither of them use regular classic coke. So I don't think we want to stir chocolate into cherry coke. But now,

Molly 5:25

we don't want to do that now. Well, so I want to give a little clarification before we go any further in the episode and it is that is that you're not really a magician. I'm not really a magician. Nor am I the person who give yourself as more of a sorceress I've been thinking of myself more as a mage. Oh, I like that. Did I pronounce that right? It's it's a mug a mage. Anyway, no. Okay, we are here's the clarification everybody in case you were wondering where which part of this was the clarification. So we just clarified which part is the clarification. Okay. We are not going to be going into like all varieties of coke today like we recognize the Diet Coke tastes different from Coke Classic This is not the coke version probably tastes different from like caffeine free coke. We're not going to be we're not gonna I don't think we're even going to go down the coke zero sugar line. No, we're talking today about like Coke with other flavors going on with it. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I just wanted to say like as a baseline if we were cheese plating Yes, I consider Coca Cola Classic to be like the baseline coke flavor.

Matthew Amster-Burton 6:38

I think probably everyone does. I mean, I know like some for some people like Diet Coke is their standard coke. But even then they would probably say the like if you were doing a tasting Coke Classic is the basic flavor. There are probably some like weird New Coke partisans out there who have like stockpiled right?

Molly 6:55

Yeah, but those are really old. Really old stock. Yeah, and the other thing is we're not getting into Pepsi here. I mean, all Yeah. partisans. Maybe this just isn't the show for you. I mean, I do I do like I find the name Wild Cherry Pepsi appealing because like it's wild. I do they have like Girls Gone Wild Pepsi bait. Yeah, they like wild animal Pepsi. Like, like, you know, so like, dips their breast into into the drink. Mm hmm. Okay, I know what you started. I know. I totally did. Anyway, okay. So Matthew, as I was, so it was my job to research this episode. And I kind of didn't know where to go at the beginning. Because if you Google coke flavors, which is what I did the first time, you just wind up in all kinds of random places. Like for instance, a website called quirky travel guy, which is run by someone named Scott Shetler, who happens to be in Seattle, okay. And this website quirky travel guy has a post called I tried 60 Weird Coca Cola flavors from around the world at the Koch Museum in Atlanta, I saw its promise and I thought oh, this sounds great. I'm gonna read this blog post and learn a lot about coke flavors and like maybe I'll even do a coke flavor quiz for Matthew maybe you'll go to Atlanta on your research mission maybe so apparently in Atlanta there's this place called The World of Coca Cola aka the coke Museum at at said museum they have like a section called Taste it Reclamations like the main reason you would go there Yeah. And and what they say I even looked at the website for World of Coca Cola is that you can try 60 Different coke flavors from around the world at this like self serve like a beverage buffet. All right. Okay, but what they really mean it turns out I learned this after reading this entire very long post at quirky travel guy what they mean is they offer 60 Different sodas made by the Coca Cola brand. That is not the same thing at all. No, this is not the same thing. So I actually learned nothing about coke flavors there and I'm not sure why I included it is maybe maybe just like to pad out pad. It makes it your full episode. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. But then I had better luck on a website called Love food.com. Oh, that's perfect for Valentine's Day up. It is which this still? This is not Yeah. Oh, I have a typo here an article from 2019 and lists a ton of coke flavors. Okay. This is where I learned that the cherry coke flavor was launched in 1985. And at the height of its popularity, it was available in 36 countries. Hmm, it's still very popular. I don't know how many countries it's available. I think I might have guessed more countries, actually, how many countries are there in the world? It's a little less than 200. Or maybe around 200? You would think that there would be cherry coke available in like a little less than 200 countries? Yeah, I imagine there's like if it's like because probably regular Coke is available in way more than 36 countries. And if Cherry Coke is not available in many of those countries. There's probably smuggling probably. Yeah,

Matthew Amster-Burton 9:53

I mean, that's how we've been funding this show for years is through our smuggling or to coax specifically Yeah. I've been finding it through arbitrage I consider myself kind of a barge of arbitrage.

Molly 10:06

Just gonna leave that. Okay, so then there's this thing called New Coke. Okay, this launched in 1985. And it was like a reformulation of the original coke flavor. And it was wildly unpopular.

Matthew Amster-Burton 10:18

Yeah, I remember this. Well, I was I was of age meaning 10 at this time. The main thing I remember about the the new coke fiasco was a Pepsi like Pepsi, of course, like jumped on this and made a bunch of commercials capitalizing on how no one like New Coke and like, why would they change their formula? And I remember there was one with this woman who just seemed so sad like, you know, I've been drinking Coke all my life, but then they changed. So today I'm trying my first Pepsi and then and then she like drinks the Pepsi is like, Yeah, that's fine. Okay, I think she's more enthusiastic than that. But she just seems like so like beaten down like, like just has been abandoned by the world because like her favorite sodas slightly changed its flavor.

Molly 10:59

This is what brand loyalty looks like. We could all aspire to this level of brand loyalty. I mean, if we wanted to, which which brand would you say you're as loyal to as this person? And I'm not sure water. Yeah, well, okay. Just just Seattle Public Utilities water. Yeah, it's that's good stuff. It is. It's just the water. I'm into it. Alright. Okay. Anyway, so New Coke was scrapped, but then like, didn't it? I didn't include this on the agenda. But didn't it kind of make a little appearance and stranger things again? Yeah.

Matthew Amster-Burton 11:28

And like I think it's I think it's like occasionally not. I don't know, like when but like that occasionally, like popped back up as like, you know, remember when we when we pulled this shit? We're back.

Molly 11:40

Okay, well, so then there's vanilla. So vanilla is is another very popular and enduring flavor like cherry coke. It was launched in 2002. It was discontinued in 2005. But for black chairs, coke, yeah, it was brought back in 2013. And it is still on the market.

Matthew Amster-Burton 11:59

I was gonna get some but I can only find it in like large quantities. And so I'm hoping we'll be able to taste it today. I think we will. I don't think I'm going to like it. I don't know if I've had it before. It seems like it's just going to be very sweet. What here's, here's what I'm thinking like, we should talk about what a what cola flavor is.

Molly 12:18

Okay, I almost went down this rabbit hole, but then I didn't which is just

Matthew Amster-Burton 12:21

briefly because it's okay. Well, it's it's a mix mix of different citrus oils. Yes, cinnamon and vanilla. So they just turn up the vanilla. So I'm thinking that vanilla Coke is going to taste like unbalanced coke. Like when you get like a store brand cola. And you're like, Yeah, you know, this just kind of tastes like cinnamony

Molly 12:39

What do you think contributes to? When I think of coke, I think of a caramelly flavor. Is that just my brain thinking about caramel color? I think it is I don't think there's really anything brown flavored in coke. You know how the the cookie of an Oreo is really brown flavored? Yeah, I do. I wonder if if I were to remember going with my memory. And in just a moment if I could drink coke with my eyes closed and not remember having ever had it before? If I would say this taste brown. You don't think I would? Oh,

Matthew Amster-Burton 13:16

that's a good question. I mean, first of all, like you you're off, you often erase people's memories during the hypnosis portion of your famous magic act. Yes. So you should just like try and like do that on yourself. Okay. I don't know. That's a good question. Like, I mean, you know, Coke has been brown my whole life. Except for except for Crystal Pepsi, which is not coke. But I know I know. Like there's a there's a real contingent of people who can't forget Crystal Pepsi. I don't think you would. Okay, so So the what you're what you're the scenario you're outlining here is like, you've never tasted a cola beverage.

Molly 13:53

I can't believe how long you're making this go on. And yeah. So you're saying everyone really like understands the scenario here? No, I don't think you would guess it was brown. Okay, okay. I'm just gonna gloss over Coke Zero and coke. Zero sugar. Yeah, who cares? Then there's Coca Cola black, which I would like everyone to know does not have a C in the black portion. Right? I vaguely remember this. So this was an attempt at a coke and coffee fusion drink. It came out like in 2006. It died shortly thereafter. But now there's something that's been more successful called Coca Cola coffee. Would you like to try it right now? Can we take a bathroom break first? Sure. Okay, great. Yeah, let's do it. Wow, okay. So okay, what this is, okay. Coca Cola coffee, zero sugar. No sugar is zero sugar. So this is this is like an energy drink competitor. Is it supposed to taste like Coke and coffee? I don't know, because that actually sounds quite good to me. Well, let's find out. Cheers Matthew. Bottoms up. Cheers. That's pretty good. I like that. It's like, Oh, I get the coffee aftertaste. Yeah. I mean, it's like it's not coffee. It's like a fake sweet coffee flavor. Yeah, it's like coffee syrup. It tastes kind of like that, like Rhode Island coffee syrup. I don't know what that is. I feel like it's a thing they use for making milkshakes in Rhode Island and like flavored milk. I'm curious to compare this to like, I wish we had a Coca Cola Classic because I would love to compare them because since this is my first coke beverage of the day, but far from your last, I'm having trouble. Like I needed a baseline. But this is kind of nice. I don't know. It's got this like a NutraSweet aftertaste. Or as Oh, yeah,

Matthew Amster-Burton 15:40

for sure. And stevia. Like this is the point of the show at which we should let I wish I should say like the terrible thing, which is that I feel like for me the perfect size, serving size of soda is like four ounces.

Molly 15:53

So I'm super fun. Invite me to all your parties. You're also the person who I remember when we did the apple episode literally a decade ago, you claimed that you were full after like four apple slices. I think even recently we were discussing this and you're like oh, apples are really feeling like we got a bunch of apples in the fridge because of our CSA and some of their big apples and like if I eat a big apple that's that's like feels like lunch. I think I eat like a gigantic new a new co host I do. Okay, okay. No, but I would miss you. Let's go on. All right. Okay, so I'm sorry to fall Staffy and figure Okay, so then there's this thing called Diet Coke light. Sango I like the name so it's based on it's a blood orange flavor. Wow. So it uses the like the French word for blood or would it be Latin? I have no idea. Song, right? Yes. Sa N G does does dev Hynes appear in the commercial? Wouldn't that be amazing? Anyway, it's only available outside the US and one place where I found info about it said that it was only in France. I don't know. Okay, can we can we go check it out? Sure. Corporate retreat? Yeah. Okay, then there's coke raspberry, which I'm hoping we're going to be able to taste later today. Yeah, I don't know if that's gonna be in the machine or not, but I've never heard of it. I like the idea so it was launched in New Zealand in 2006 Apparently it's super popular and I wonder if any of our New Zealand listeners can confirm this also in New Zealand as well as Australia is coke ginger which is coma ginger extract, but hold on I want to talk about coke line. Okay. Okay. So this was at one time available in the US and I think only in Romania unclear it was very hard to get consistent information about coke flavors. All this to say regular Coke lime no longer exists but apparently Diet Coke line okay still exists in the machine that we are going to visit. Okay, everybody knows what this machine is that your key thing? Okay. Okay, now I would like to share with you what I think is the worst coke concept. I've never heard of this. And I'm very excited Coca Cola plus launched in 2017 exclusively in Japan. Now this was coke plus five grams of added dietary fiber sounds so wrong, aka dextran which was said to give it a thicker texture I that's what's been missing from coke all these years. That's why I only want to drink four ounces of it is that it isn't viscous and I want it to be like motor oil and it was said to reduce fat absorption from food. I thought you might know about this from your travels in Japan. Okay, I didn't know about that. But it jogged a memory which have a coke product in Japan, which is not a coke flavor. There's a lot of exclusive to Japan coke product I

Matthew Amster-Burton 18:51

have a couple times had a I don't know if they're doing it right now. But like I've seen it in vending machines a few times and had it a couple times in Japan. And extra carbonated coke with like five times the regular amount of carbonation. Did it make you burp like on crazy? Yeah, like before it even gets in your mouth. It's it's pretty good.

Molly 19:10

That sounds fantastic. Yeah, is it like the amount you know how like different sparkling waters have different levels of carbonation like or at least Perrier like has a ton whereas Santos Reno is like kind of only lightly carbonated. Yeah, I thought you're gonna start talking about different champagnes but yeah, no no no. I said sparkling water right that's sparkling wine. You said sparkling water but oh, I didn't know when you said sparkling like water. So what I meant by sparkling water. A lot of brand loyalty to the clique. Can you imagine Okay, anyway, okay. Now I do want to say that I think my personal favorite coke flavor and I am considering this a flavor is Mexican Coca Cola does consider that a flavor No really? No.

Matthew Amster-Burton 19:58

Cuz like we talked like a flavor has to be like an added syrup or apparently dextran I mean, I know I know like, like I said you could like squeeze your own lime in it, but still, that's like adding a flavor like fine. I think Coke is a good

Molly 20:14

flavor of cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. It's not a coke flavor fine. Okay. Lastly, there was something called Coca Cola Apple, which launched in Japan in 2019. And apparently, it's been successful and at least when when it was launched, there were plans to bring it to the States, but we were in Japan in 2020. And we didn't try it. We just didn't know I guess. I guess we didn't know who knows what's really going on. Given that I couldn't find an update on Coke, Apple. Okay, if anyone out there knows what's going on with Coke, Apple, please get in touch contact at spilled milk. podcast.com. So if you look at the US Coca Cola website, you will see the current coke flavors that they sell broadly across the US are cherry, Cherry Vanilla, orange, vanilla, did not see that. And vanilla. So that's all that's out there these days. Unless you do what we're gonna do, which is visit the Coca Cola freestyle magician in a box.

Matthew Amster-Burton 21:19

It's yeah, it is a magician in a box just like how you're gonna put me in a box and then saw the box in half before the end of this episode, in in a futile attempt to to like make a backup co host. Because you've heard that I can like regenerate. Yeah, worm. I don't know if worms can really do that. Okay,

Molly 21:36

occasionally, I text with my colleagues, Matthew and Abby. And they both seemed to know about this thing called Coca Cola freestyle and and they weren't telling me what it was. But then I did the research for this episode, and I found out what it is. Yeah, I was hoping to just like take you there like possibly blindfolded and then rip off the blindfold and say meet your new meet magician friend. Well, this is fine, too. Okay, so let me tell everybody what this is. Because after I researched it, I discovered that I have actually encountered one of these magician machines before, but I didn't know what it was capable of. Okay, I thought that it was just an annoying soda dispenser. Are you still talking about soda dispenser? Or is this like when you first met me? Well, it's hard to tell the difference sometimes. Okay, so this is from Wikipedia, the Coca Cola freestyle capitalize the freestyle. He's a touchscreen. Most product names that are all lowercase. Wait, do you think that most people know that this thing is called freestyle? Because I heard it too and had no idea it was a special? I don't know. I think probably many people just think of it as like the special Coke machine. Okay, well, so I'd venture to guess that a lot of our listeners will have seen this before but did not know that. It was called Coca Cola freestyle. Yeah, that's fair. And what it is is a touchscreen soda fountain that was introduced by the Koch company in 2009. You know, it basically it's like the size of a vending machine, right, but it's a soda fountain. I

Matthew Amster-Burton 23:06

think it comes in a couple different formats. Okay. I think like if you if you like need the there's a space saving one that you can order like depending on the size of your establishment and then there's a bigger like freestanding one. Okay,

Molly 23:18

well, we're about to go deep on this here. So this what this machine does, it basically has the capability to produce 165 Different coca cola drink product that's more than you can taste at world of coke. It is it is so what it does is it allows you to select from mixtures of flavors of Coca Cola branded products, which are then individually dispensed. Apparently Pepsi launched a competing similar machine called the Pepsi spire heard about this but I don't think I've run into one anyway. But so basically and Matthew and I are about to take a field trip to use one Yeah, I'm so nervous that we're going to get there and like it's gonna be closed or the machine will be out of order or something's but whatever. Okay, so basically, what you do is you choose a base product of which there are many, you know, like basic Coca Cola product, yes. And then you can add flavoring and I want to talk a little bit about the design in the machine because it's mildly interesting. Alright, so this is from Wikipedia. The cabinetry was designed by the Italian automotive design firm. Pininfarina. I like that I didn't know that it is it is a pretty striking design. I think technologies involved include micro dispensing technology and proprietary pure pour technology. Both technologies were originally developed to deliver precise doses of drug ready ironic if you think about okay, micro dosing blends one or more concentrated ingredients in like packets, okay with water and sweetener, like right inside the machine. And so you you don't have like this big old like five gallon box of syrup that you would conventionally I suppose have in a soda fountain machine. These are smaller, like one liter packets of concentrated ingredient

Matthew Amster-Burton 25:11

that you could, in principle break into the machine and just drink one liter of Sir, yes, yes, but it also sounds like when it says Add sweetener that like maybe they don't have to have like diet and regular separate syrups that maybe like it can add the aspartame or

Molly 25:27

we're gonna have to figure this out because my understanding was that the base product would be either like Coca Cola, Diet Coke, or whatever to which you could add flavor makes sense. Anyway, so the cartridges inside the machine store these like concentrated ingredients, and they're RFID enabled. Oh, nice. So the machine uses RFID chips to like kind of monitor its supply level and to radio resupplying needs to other units. Basically, these are going to take over the world. And they transmit supply and demand data to both Coca Cola and the owner of the machine. But why does it radio needs to other units? I think so that they are like take over the world. Okay, that's the only reason I can think of also because like, another Coke machine isn't going to like come over and like lend you some Spreitzer up. Okay, anyway, what who's that at the door, if you go to the Wikipedia page for Coca Cola freestyle, which we'll link to in the show notes. It has a chart of possible flavor combinations that is absolutely going to make your eye by looking at this chart. And it was wild. I was wild cherry I tried to find a way to print it. And printers started smoking. It was really intense. Anyway. So this is the point in the show when we are going to walk down the hill to find a Coca Cola freestyle machine. Yeah, I've

Matthew Amster-Burton 26:49

one question before we go, which is about the pure poor technology. And this is like, it sounds like I'm gonna make a joke about the name. But really like, I assume, and I'm wondering if this technology is like to prevent the mixing of different syrups like in the tubes? Because I imagine this would be a real design problems.

Molly 27:07

Yeah, so it seems like I mean, here we are, we're gonna make guesses without any real knowledge. But it seems like you know, you've got this micro dosing technology that enables you to spit out like small amounts of whatever you need to make this beverage but then maybe we're gonna spit out a lot of maybe the pure poor somehow cleans, it seems like a mess

Matthew Amster-Burton 27:27

because everything comes out the same spout, and yet, like you can, like Dispense two totally different flavor combinations in a row without cross contamination, I think Do you

Molly 27:37

ever feel like so when you go to a traditional soda fountain? If you ever get like with a with a soda jerk behind the counter? No, I mean, like the kind that has like a little like levers that you push on under the the specifically labeled nozzles. Yeah, you know how one of them sometimes like minute made lemon or whatever has water that you have to pull down with your finger? Yeah, push the water thing. I always dispense a little bit of water before I put my cup. Do you think that they don't use pure pour technology? I don't know. I don't think so. I think pure pour is is only for the freestyle. Okay, so one thing that I'm understanding about the freestyle is that because it's mixing your drink in there, basically, it's like a bartender in a box. Someone's probably like working on a cocktail version of this right? Maybe, but this seems like a like a 1950s fantasy of like, what they thought kitchen appliances would do. Yeah, like that people thought that you could like you know, there were these like illustrations of the future of kitchen appliances where you could just push a button and get like beef stew or something. Yeah, I think probably in the in the 50s.

Matthew Amster-Burton 28:40

And now now we have those those Amazon refill buttons, but I have one I only have one it's for beef stew. I think that the in the 50s the big fantasy was having like a section of the front of your fridge that could dispense water and ice and would always be broken.

Molly 28:59

Our fridge died a few years ago and it was the fridge that our house had come with it was like a two thirds size refrigerator. Perfect size for a family. Anyway, it lasted it lasted for nearly a decade of homeownership for me and we bought a new one and like we were like we are not for one thing we were not going to get one with like an icemaker and whatever because it's across the room from the water hook. Okay, and we were in no way going to shell out to change the plumbing of our kitchen. All this to say I don't miss having a water and how you're one of those No, but when I was no I was a kid my parents had a fridge with one. And I just don't understand why we need our refrigerators to dispense water for one thing like my mother's refrigerator dispenses water and literally you have to like hold open the door with your shoulder. Press your glass up to the thing and push a button at the same time we dispense inside the free water. It's just a water inside the fridge and I'm like you know what? No Yeah, okay, too difficult let's go find the freestyle machine and we'll be back with a full report. Okay wait I'm not done with what I was gonna say please so I get the feeling that like let's say you choose let's say you choose a 12 ounce Diet Coke lime I think that you you can't not choose the size so it's not like we can get like a little shot glass amount of Diet Coke lime to taste Matthew I think we can no I think it's gonna dis I mix this side the machine is gonna be a whole other like what is a fountain soda dispute because I think you could dispense this like a tiny little mountain that switch to something else you think I think I don't think so. Let's go find out. Okay

we are back we are back. We just walked to the polyamory pizza on High Street. And we had our way if you're there now you just missed us. We had our way with the Coca Cola freestyle machine. So first, I think we need to talk about who was right about whether you can dispense less than one cup of soda. Matthew was right. Matthew was right. The way that I was understanding it would have been so it would have been so like restraining Americans would have never stood for

Matthew Amster-Burton 31:24

it. I definitely have used a soda machine like that where you have to like maybe at 711 or something. You have to press the cup size. Yeah, size of cup cup size. I feel

Molly 31:34

like it like 34 be alright, yeah, there are a lot of different buttons. It was like it was like the third love was anyway, that was fun tasting notes. Oh, we didn't actually take any but Matthew liked the Coca Cola orange vanilla. Yeah, I kind of did it was like it was it was creamsicles I thought it tasted like orange powder like you know okay, I've been thinking about it. You know, like Alka Seltzer tablet not Alka Seltzer tablets Tums? Yeah, what's that like? orange flavored one the chalkiness of it that there was a chalky taste to the Coca Cola orange vanilla. This just occurred to me and maybe this is like an old bit but like our Tums and Necco Wafers, the same product into different package. That was a funny one Matthew. Good one. So I drank a lot of coke of different flavors. I was not really a fan of the lemon or lime because I thought the citrus flavor seemed kind of fake and out of balance. I thought the lemon was a little weird like weird is the most accurate adjective I can come up like the most precise adjective I can come up with for it. The lime I actually liked Yeah, I definitely like the lime better than the lemon but I wouldn't say I liked it. The Cherry Vanilla I liked but I thought it just tasted like cherry coke. You know I really in retrospect Well, I really messed it up because I did not cheese plate the tasting. I did not start with Coca Cola Classic and then work my way through things. Instead what I did was well you and I got a bunch of different ones. And then at the end I got Coca Cola Classic and it literally tasted like water after tasting all the different ones that had flavor added to it.

Matthew Amster-Burton 33:11

Yeah, I totally know what you mean. Do you think you know how you tell you told me that the machine can like send out messages to other machines and and like Coke, the coke company and the owner of the machine? Do you think while we were using it it sends out an SOS like, like there's some people really like messing with this machine. It occurs to me that I'm experiencing this now as we taste cherry color like a void cherry coke at your house.

Molly 33:37

I feel like once you've had coke with all the flavors added on to it when you start taking flavors away like if you had the Cherry Vanilla then we start just having cherry you're like what what's wrong with this? I just tasted this cherry I still think it's really good even though I just drank like too many different coke flavors. I think it's really good too. Yeah, I'm probably going to finish this camp. Good. Was the machine what you expected?

Matthew Amster-Burton 33:58

I mean, I've used it before so yes, but I love the Coke Freestyle machine. Like even though the thing I said while we were there is even though most of the things that come out of it don't taste very good to me. I still love the machine. I was

Molly 34:11

fascinated to sort of sneakily watch other people use it. Some people like clearly know their way around it and they seem like professionals I envied their like fluidity of movement with the Coke Freestyle machine there was a guy who got Diet Dr. Pepper cherry and Isn't Dr. Pepper already cherry flavored? I think so. I feel like I feel like if I say anything about Dr. Pepper like I'm gonna get it wrong and a Dr Pepper freak is gonna come after me probably or possibly himself maybe you just called them freaks yeah anyway um, but this guy like he just knew exactly what to do he was so like fast getting to the Diet Dr. Pepper cherry, but do you think he like put some stickers on his mirror at home and practice? First? I think he did. And then there was another guy who got high C never had. He had high C fruit punch. Okay, that sounds good that I feel like that's that's a thing that I would have really enjoyed when I was like six. Is it probably I see like I don't even remember is it an orange thing? I think it I think the regular high C is an orange drink like a like a Sunny D. Oh, so it's an opaque like an opaque orange drink. I think it's opaque or in shape. Yeah, like Sunny D concourse. But But like, the fruit punch. I imagined being like, cool a Tropical Punch, which is very tasty. Yeah. Do remember Hawaiian Punch. Yeah, I loved that stuff. When I was a kid. Yeah, we really we really grew up in a golden age of fruit punch. We did nothing like everything else was pretty bad. But for fruit punch. We really had it all. Didn't we almost have it all? Yeah, the nights we had until the morning. The ride with you was worth the fall. I don't think I could come up with any other lyrics. Okay, anyway, good saga. So what have we learned? Matthew? Oh, okay. What have we learned? Like, I think the main thing I learned is that coke machines can talk to other coke machines and they're probably talking about us. Yeah, I think well, that like, isn't what I was expecting you to say. But I think you're right. I have learned that I liked Coke, vanilla more than I thought I would. Yeah, I think I liked it more than I thought I would also but I thought I wouldn't like it at all. And I thought it was okay. Okay. I have learned that cherry coke is still good. Yeah, I've learned that I like cherry vanilla. Maybe more than I thought I would. And I learned that I never want to taste the orange vanilla again. Yeah. I don't want the lemon ever again. Really? Yeah, it tastes it was like a total lemon pledge to me. Oh, okay. I guess I love that. That fragrance of dusting. It smells like old cakes. Oh, I haven't smelled many urinal cake. Oh, you're missing out. Okay, next week's episode urine. Okay. All right. So, shall we transition into our famous segments? Yes. Okay, how about spilled mail

this is from listener Wendy and others. We know that Matthew doesn't like mustard or mayo. Does he eat sandwiches? If so what would he put on? Said sandwiches listener Wendy and others. I'm so glad you asked this question and the answer is now I guess I don't really eat sandwiches. This is so interesting. My spouse loves sandwich. I

Matthew Amster-Burton 37:28

feel like it would be more convenient if I did like sandwiches and maybe just my life would be better overall because the sandwiches are readily available and are often the most convenient thing to eat. Yeah, I like I like hot sandwiches. A lot of what do you put on a hot sandwich? Oh, like I mean, like a grilled cheese or like hey, and that doesn't need a ball sandwich or like some sort of toasted sub like at a Quiznos I love I love going to Quiznos.

Molly 37:55

So these things managed to get around the condiment issue by having other things that act as like a sauce or a gluing element. Yeah, like a melted cheese or an oil and vinegar or, or a barbecue sauce or like tomato sauce. I'm fascinated by your love for barbecue sauce. Even though you don't like ketchup. This is just one of those things like you know, a lot of the big religions are pretty much the same, but people feel very strongly about their own personal one. I think like God see you with ketchup and barbecue sauce. Garbage kicks us. That's no, that's what the ketchup people got. Don't give me that garbage. No, I think most people like both of them just fine because most people are normal. Okay, okay. Oh, why be normal when you can be mafia? That's true. That's what I always say. It's my week to do now but wow.

I've been waiting to do this one for quite a while. So at some point last year, I recommended Ross Gaye's book of Delights. I I'm glad you said that because I knew I read the book and I couldn't remember the name and Deb Obi. Okay. Devine was little bites. That's a really good book. Okay, so Ross gay is primarily known as a poet. I believe that the book of Delights was his first book of prose. Anyway, what I'm recommending today is a book length poem, which sounds like something Matthew would hate. Yeah, but but, okay, so this is called be holding. It came out at the end of 2020. I believe. It is a book length poem. It's so cool. Matthew. It is built around this like legendary, like, two second long play that that Dr. J. Julius Erving made in like the some sort of like NBA Finals against the Lakers in 1980. Okay, it was this amazing play he did where he was like, Arab And then managed to like change direction and swoop his arm around it was so cool. And it is like so famous I'm sure everybody knows what I'm talking about or if you don't you can look it up on YouTube I gotta go watch it. So basically be holding is shaped as like a like a love song to to this awesome move by Dr. J. But Ross gay uses it to allow him to meander around a lot of other ideas. I mean, like, from really beautiful and sweet ideas of familia love to sections about the Middle Passage in the slave trade passages about historical photography. Anyway, he does all of this and makes it take an entire like short book for him to fully describe this play the Dr. J mix, because he goes to all these places in the course of this poem. It's so great. I'm gonna Yeah, I'm gonna read this or I'm gonna at least I'm gonna try Okay, anyway and that is be holding to words be holding by Ross gay.

Matthew Amster-Burton 41:04

When I was a kid, I had a computer game called Dr. J versus Larry Bird one on one and it was a computer basketball game and you could play as Dr. J or Larry Bird or maybe you could like even hook up to joysticks and like play against your friend. But man, I played the shit out of that kid. It was really fun.

Molly 41:20

Oh my gosh, it's I absolutely love the way that Ross gay pulled this off. It's so Ross gay if you've read the book of delights, you'll love this. Enjoy everybody. Yeah, so

Matthew Amster-Burton 41:31

I mean, basically what I'm saying is that this old pixelated video game is probably like a like a poem in its own right? Absolutely is. Alright. Our producer, like the poet of podcast production is Abbey circuit tele, please rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. And you

Molly 41:47

can chat with other spilled milk listeners on our subreddit that is reddit.com/are/everything spilled milk. And Abby reminds us that a while back, I guess last year, it feels like a really long time. Well, actually, by the time this episode comes out, it'll be two years. In 2020. We

Matthew Amster-Burton 42:06

did a little side project that there are only six episodes of it and probably will only ever be six episodes, but it's called dire desires. And it's a limited series show where the three of us Molly me and producer Abbey watched classic erotic thrillers of the 80s 90s and maybe 2000s and talked about the life lessons that we learned from them.

Molly 42:27

Yeah, it was pretty fun. Well, thanks, everybody. Thank you for listening to spilled milk. If you want to find us. We'll be in down in the de concourse if you know what we mean. I'm Molly Weissenberg. And I'm Matthew Amster-Burton. Yeah,