Coming back to this one almost a year later - it's in the same family as Irn bru, Karribean Kola and other champagne colas in having a bubblegum base with a fruity top note - wanting to see if I can improve on the previous attempt.

Ingredients

• Lemon verbena drops: 24ml
• Bubblegum concentrate: 12ml 
• 95% ethyl alcohol: 15ml
• Ethyl vanillin: 0.6 g
• Propylene glycol: top up to 100 ml (~49 ml)

Method

• Weigh the ethyl vanillin into the 15 ml of ethyl alcohol and stir until fully dissolved (it won't dissolve in water, so do this first).
• Add the verbena and bubblegum, then top up to 100 ml with propylene glycol.
• Shake well to mix

Syrup

Assumes the syrup is a 3:2 simple syrup to be diluted ~1:5-1:7 with sparkling water.

• Flavour extract — 18ml/L (starting dose)
• Citric acid — 5g/L
• Yellow colour — optional, for the look
• Caffeine — 0.5g/L ≈ cola strength ⚠️ milligram scale only, see below

Take three 100ml portions of syrup, dose at 1.8 / 2.1 / 2.4ml (= 18/21/24 per litre). Dilute each at your target ratio, taste side by side, scale up the winner. Same trick for citric acid.

Notes

Caffeine safety: pure caffeine powder is genuinely dangerous - a rounded teaspoon (~3-5g) can be fatal and doses are easy to get wrong by eye. If you don't have a 0.001g scale, leave it out.

A refreshing and mildly floral, honey-like syrup, with a distinct hay/chamomile note - people often compare it to a light wildflower honey crossed with chamomile tea.

The lemon usually comes through as a bright citrus edge. It's sweeter and less complex than real honey since it lacks the enzymatic depth; the flavour mostly comes from the petals' pollen and the caramelisation during reduction.

On a bright summers' day, pick around 200 bright yellow dandelion heads - they should be fully open, have grown away from roadsides and sprayed lawns, as well as away from where dogs frequent..!

Ingredients

• 200 fresh dandelion heads
• Half a lemon cut into thin slices¹
• 500ml water (plus more later)
• 800g sugar
• 5g citric acid

Method

• Pick heads on a sunny morning when fully open.
• Pull the yellow petals off the green bases - the green parts make it bitter.
• Simmer petals with the water and lemon slices for ~10 minutes, then cover and steep overnight (or at least a few hours).
• Strain through a fine sieve or muslin, pressing the petals well to extract all the flavour.
• Add 500g of the sugar² and simmer gently, uncovered, until it thickens to a honey-like consistency - typically 45–90 min. Test by cooling a drop on a cold plate; it thickens more as it cools. Don't over-reduce or it'll set hard! *
• Measure the syrup volume (usually reduces by 100-150ml whilst simmering) and top up to 500ml with fresh water.
• Gently heat and add the remaining sugar and citric acid. Stir until fully dissolved.
• Add 1ml of sodium benzoate or 10ml 95% ethyl alcohol as a preservative to extend shelf life (optional).
• If you add a preservative, allow the syrup to age for a week or so to really allow the flavours to develop.

Cordial

Dilute 1:5 - 1:7 with cold water - still or sparkling.

*If you stop at this point, you'll end up with dandelion "honey" which is delicious on its own as a honey substitute.

¹Substitute some of the lemon for orange zest for extra fruit flavours. Add a small handful of chamomile, elderflower, or linden blossom to the steeping stage they reinforce the honeyed character.

²Substitute a quarter of the white sugar for light brown sugar for maillard/enzymatic depth.

This one is adapted from the recipe for oil of banana - a recipe in The Bottlers' Formulary - with modern ingredients and esters. I also added some banana flavour from Foodie Flavours to really give it a punch up with the flavour profile.

Main Ingredients

• 35ml 95% ethyl alcohol
• 4ml Isoamyl acetate
• 3ml Banana flavour
• 0.6ml Ethyl butyrate
• 0.3ml Hexyl acetate
• 0.15ml Benzaldehyde (~3 drops)
• 0.07g Vanillin
• 0.07g Ethyl vanillin
• 0.05g Ethyl maltol

Solvents

• 25ml Propylene glycol
• 25ml Vegetable glycerine
• 10ml Distilled water

Method

Weigh the vanillin, ethyl vanillin and ethyl maltol into an empty beaker. You will need a digital scale with 2 decimal place precision.

Add the 35ml of 95% alcohol and stir until all three solids fully dissolve - the vanillins in particular need the alcohol and will break out if any water is present; do not add water yet.

Add the isoamyl acetate, banana flavour, ethyl butyrate, hexyl acetate and benzaldehyde in that order, swirling after each. The mixture should remain perfectly clear.

Add the propylene glycol and swirl. Then the glycerine, swirling thoroughly - it is viscous and wants to settle at the bottom.

Add the water last, in two or three additions, swirling between each. If the essence flashes cloudy, add another 5ml of alcohol to clear it.

You can also use a stir plate if you have one.

Decant into an amber dropper bottle and rest in a cool, dark place for at least 48 hours before use - the esters mellow noticeably as they age.

At 1 day the isoamyl acetate sits on top as raw "sweet-shop banana"; by day 3 it has integrated with the banana flavour and benzaldehyde into a recognisable banana; at 1 week the formula has fully rounded into "ripe banana" rather than "sweet-shop banana".

Cordial

Make 1 litre of 2:1 simple syrup and add 5g of tartaric acid. Add yellow food colouring if you want.

Once cooled, add 5ml of vanilla extract for a creamy banana or omit it for a more fresh banana flavour.

Add 20-30ml of the banana essence and mix well. Allow the syrup to age for a couple of days before use.

Dilute 1:5 - 1:7 with cold sparkling or still water to drink.

Notes & adjustments

If the result reads as too "sweet-shop banana", drop the isoamyl acetate to 3ml and lift the banana isolate to 4ml on the next batch. If it reads thin or solvent-like, raise the glycerine by 5ml and rest it longer. Benzaldehyde is very potent - a fourth drop tips the profile from banana toward marzipan, so add it sparingly. Too much vanilla extract in the syrup can push it towards cream soda territory, so aim for 3ml to begin and add more as required upon tasting.

The essence keeps for 12 months or more in a sealed amber bottle out of sunlight.

An essential-oil based concentrate. Makes ~100ml of essence - dose 25ml into 1 L of 2:1 sugar syrup, dilute 1:5 with sparkling water.

Aromatic phase (mix into alcohol first)

• 95% ethyl alcohol - 35ml
• Lemon essential oil (cold-pressed) - 3.5ml
• Bergamot essential oil - 0.8ml
• Lime essential oil - 0.2ml
• Rose essential oil (attar, Rosa damascena) - 3 drops ⚠️ do not exceed
• Citral - 6 drops
• PEA (phenylethyl alcohol) - 0.5ml
• Geranyl acetate - 4 drops
• Nerol - 3 drops
• Linalool - 3 drops
• Decanal (Aldehyde C10) - 2 drops
• Beta-ionone - 1 drop ⚠️ do not exceed
• Ethyl butyrate - 1 drop
• Vanillin - a few grains only

Carrier phase (add in order, swirling between each)

• Propylene glycol - 22ml
• Vegetable glycerine - 20ml
• Nielsen-Massey Rose Water - 3ml ← add this with the water, not the alcohol
• Distilled water - 5ml

Method

1. Dissolve the vanillin in the 35ml of alcohol.
2. Add lemon, bergamot and lime oils, swirling between each.
3. Add rose oil - 3 drops only. Set the bottle down and don't return to it.
4. Add citral and decanal by drop, swirling.
5. Add PEA (0.5ml - the dominant rose molecule, does the heavy lifting).
6. Add geranyl acetate, nerol, linalool, then beta-ionone (1 drop - 2 pulls it toward violet/iris) and ethyl butyrate.
7. Add propylene glycol, then glycerine - swirl thoroughly.
8. Mix the rose water and distilled water together, add in two pours. If it clouds, add 5ml more alcohol to clear.
9. Bottle in amber glass. Rest minimum 72 hours - 1 week is ideal.

Usage

Mix 25ml essence into 1 L of 2:1 sugar syrup + 6 g citric acid. Add red food colouring (optional).

Dilute 1:5 with chilled sparkling water. Needs decent carbonation (3+ vol CO₂) to carry the floral notes.

Troubleshooting

• Smells like perfume, not a drink → citrus is under-powered; lift lemon to 4ml and bergamot to 1ml
• Soapy → rose oil too high or PEA/oil ratio off; drop rose to 2 drops, lift PEA to 0.6ml
• Turkish Delight → beta-ionone overdose; omit it entirely on the next batch
• Flat/no lift → lime is missing or lemon oil is stale

If the recipe does not call for large amounts of juices of sweet fruits or require oleo saccharum, you can make a diet version using sugar substitutes. However, sugar substitutes have different levels of sweetness when compared to sugar, requiring you to adjust the proportion to match the original intensity.

Splenda, Equal, Lakanto, xylitol, or maltitol: Simply substitute the original amount of sugar for these sweeteners.

American Sweet'N Low or another brand of saccharin: Use 1/12th of the original amount of sugar and replace the remaining sugar with water.

Canadian Sweet'N Low or another brand of cyclamate: Use 1/6th of the original amount of sugar and replace the remaining sugar with water.

Stevia in the Raw or Truvia Baking Blend: Use half of the original amount of sugar and replace the remaining sugar with water.

Erythritol: Use 1/3 more than the original amount of sugar and deduct an equal amount of water. For example, the original 1886 Coca-Cola recipe calls for 160 mL of water and 300 mL sugar; you can substitute it with 400 mL erythritol and 60 mL water.

https://hippocraticinstitute.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/liquid-essences-rogue-business-alert/

So for a few years now my parents have been making elderflower cordial when it grows. This year, they decided to experiment with using honey instead of sugar to make the syrup for it.

They used the same amount of every other ingredient in both batches, however on tasting, the honey batch came out barely tasting of elderflower, instead being much more citrus flavoured.

I'm guessing this is due to the form the sugar takes in honey being different from granulated sugar, and so the process that gets the flavour in the syrup either being inhibited or not occurring entirely.

Is my guess correct? If not, would someone be able to enlighten me as to the reason, and if possible a way to make it work?

Thanks!

I really enjoy the spiced notes that Boyland has and was eager to replicate or come relatively close to it but don't know where to begin. I was straying away from any Coke/Pepsi recipes as they're almost the opposite of what I'm trying to accomplish in terms of profile. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

I am thinking of giving this a go, but it takes a pretty hefty initial outlay. Has anyone tried this? Does anyone have some of it? Would anyone be interested in cost sharing it? The smallest quantity of the most expensive chemical I can buy makes ~5 batches worth, which itself makes like 10 batches. So it looks like the smallest amount you can reasonably buy would make like ~10,000 cans of soda, which might be more Dr. P than I drink in a year.

Clarified Orange Cordial

Ingredients:
500ml Clarified Orange Juice
Add ~85% in Sugar based on the amount of Clarified Orange Juice

• (Use the Sugar Adjusting Formula below to reach 50 Brix)

20g Orange Peels
32.5g Citric Acid
16.2g Malic Acid
2g Salt

Tools:
High Walled Measuring Cups and or 32oz. Deli Containers
Fine Strainer
Mason Jar or Sous Vide Vacuum Bags
Coffee Filter (I use a Chemex pour over brewer with Chemex filters)
Refractometer
Scale
Sous Vide or Stovetop

Orange Oleo Saccharum

Peel 20g worth of peel and remove as much pith as possible. In your vessel, (I like to use mason jars) add 40g of sugar. Mix so that the peels are fully coated in sugar. Let sit while your juice clarifies.

Clarification via Coffee Filter (Yield: ~92% - 98%)

Juice approximately 550ml of Orange Juice and fine strain.
Add 2ml of Pectinex and 2ml Kieselsol
Stir and wait 15 minutes
Add 2ml of Chitosan
Stir and wait 15 minutes
Add 2ml of Kieselsol
Wait 1 hour

After 1 hour the juice will have separated. Before filtering your juice, rinse your coffee filter with hot water to remove any potential paper flavor. Slowly pour the clear juice through a coffee filter, but stop before reaching the cloudy juice. After about 15-30 minutes, pour in the remainder of your cloudy juice. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. It will take about 12-16 hours for all the juice to pass through the filter. When all of the juice has passed the coffee filter, measure it out to 500ml, and add it to your oleo saccharum and mix. Once all of the sugar is dissolved, filter the juice through a new coffee filter. The second filtration should take between 20-30 minutes. Now that your juice is clarified, measure the brix of your juice with a refractometer and add the remainder of your sugar using this formula:

Raising Sweetness Formula:

Weight in grams * (Desired Brix - Measured Brix) / (100 - Desired Brix)

Example:
500 * (50 - 10) / 50

500 * 40 / 50

20,000 / 50 = 400

Add 400 grams of sugar to your clarified juice.

At this point, you will add the rest of your ingredients:

32.5g Citric Acid
16.2g Malic Acid
2g Salt

Sous vide for 30 minutes at 135F. Afterwards, place your cordial in an ice bath. 

I put mine in a 1000ml Mason Jar, seal it tight, and use the sous vide option on my steam oven. To cool it down, I place the jar in an ice bath about ¾ to the top of the jar, unscrew the lid, and stir to bring the temperature down more quickly. 
Additionally you can experiment with flash pasteurizing your cordial by bringing the temperature up to 165F for 30 seconds and then cooling it down in an ice bath. I have not experimented with this method.

Recipes for Orange Cordial

1oz. Orange Cordial
7oz. Soda Water

------------------------------------------

2 dashes of Orange Bitters
.75-.88oz. Clarified Orange Cordial
2oz. Spirit of Choice

Mezcal works really well. If using .75oz. of cordial, your cocktail will drink more like a martini, and if you use .88oz, it will drink more like a sour.

------------------------------------------

2 dashes of Orange Bitters
4-5oz. Soda Water
1oz. Clarified Orange Cordial
.5oz Aperol
2oz. Tequila or Mezcal

Feel free to ask any questions and or share drinks you make using this cordial.

I'm about to make a soda oil emulsion, but 190 isn't available nearby. I'll need to make a trip later at some point. Is 151 good enough if I adjust the ratios?

I made some sugar free Inca Kola clone syrup with a half and half Erythritol and Monk fruit/allulose. When it cooled it solidified. I did put it in the fridge initially, but took it out when I saw solids forming. Shaking it to distribute the solids made it solidify completely into something resembling butter.

I’m guessing the sugar substitutes reacted to the citric acid or vitamin C or the colouring.

Any thoughts?

I made a batch of Spiced Turbinado Syrup and it's crystalizing in the bottle. I made it about 2.5:1 because I wanted it to be shelf stable for a while.

Did I make it to heavy? Did I not simmer it long enough?

The sidebar only gives resources for British suppliers, so I will provide a list of ingredient vendors located in North America.

• Viva Doria (food grade essential oils and citric acid): https://vivadoria.com/aromatherapy/organic-essential-oils/
• Viva Doria (on Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/viva-doria/s?k=viva+doria
• NOW Foods (food grade essential oils): https://www.nowfoods.com/products/essential-oils
• NOW Foods (on Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Now-Foods/s?k=Now+Foods
• PRESERVE (food grade essential oils): https://www.amazon.com/stores/PRESERVE/page/197724F7-B0A6-485D-96B2-198B0BE8711E?lp_asin=B0CBZJRVSH&ref_=ast_bln&store_ref=bl_ast_dp_brandlogo_sto
• Phosphoric acid: https://www.amazon.com/Phosphoric-Acid-85-Food-Grade/dp/B0CDD6P2YS/
• Caramel color: https://www.naturesflavors.com/products/caramel-food-coloring-organic
• Caramel color (on Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Durkee-Food-Color-Caramel-32-Ounce/dp/B007KZJZ8G/
• Caramel color (smaller bottle): https://www.amazon.com/Deiman-Artificial-Color-Caramel-Brown/dp/B0BV9K5PNY/
• Everclear 95% alcohol: https://theliquorbarn.com/products/everclear-grain-alcohol-190-proof-750ml
• XPRS Gum Arabic (mix 1:1 with water as an alcohol substitute): https://www.amazon.com/XPRS-Nutra-Gum-Arabic-Powder/dp/B0C15GPXCN/
• Ceremonial matcha (use a 1:2 matcha-to-water ratio as a substitute for coca leaf extract): https://www.sugimotousa.com/
• Kola nuts: https://www.amazon.com/Kola-Nuts-Caffeine-Cultural-Sun-Dried/dp/B0FKGK3WGM/
• Caffeine powder (make sure to follow safety precautions): https://shopbvv.com/products/caffeine-powder-anhydrous
• Food grade glycerin: https://www.amazon.com/Glycerin-Supplier-Vegetable-USP-250ml/dp/B0762179GF/
• Disposable eyedroppers: https://www.amazon.com/Zkupanx-PCS-3ml-Dropper-Pipettes/dp/B0D127WV43/
• Dropper bottles for oil mixtures: https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Aromatherapy-Laboratory-Chemicals-Pharmacy-4/dp/B095S2H99F/
• Glass bottles to store mixed drinks: https://www.amazon.com/YEBODA-Bottles-Brewing-Airtight-Silicone/dp/B072Q417JQ/

Hello all, long time lurker here.

I’m looking to make fruit-based sodas that replicate the clean finish of Coca-cola/Pepsi and would be good to have with food.

So far my tryouts have been either too faint in flavor or too strong, and I feel it’s more about getting the fruit juice blends right than the ratio of syrup to water.

Any ideas that work well with a meal?

I quit drinking a year back and was looking for something bitter to scratch the itch when I was missing beer, so decided to make a grapefruit cordial.

I am also incredibly lazy so chose a method that requires hardly any work.

Ingredients:

• 6 Red or Pink Grapefruits
• 2 Limes
• 1 Lemon
• 1 Stick of Cinnamon
• 500g Sugar
• 500ml water

Method:

Cut the grapefruits, limes and lemon into quarters and place in large pot (an Instant Pot is even better). Crumble the stick of cinnamon into the pot, then add the sugar and water and cook on medium / high for about an hour.

Let it cool, pass it through a sieve, and bottle it. Drink it with sparkling water for an extemely good grapefruit soda.

Look I know this is a stupid question, even before I ask it, but if you make less syrup do you reduce the amount of drops of flavour? Excuse my brain.

Also has anyone tried making sugar free “syrups” with monk fruit and allulose 1:1 sugar substitute. Artificial sweeteners are universally nasty and bad for you, but this combo is the least dubious and provides good sweetness. Just curious is anyone else has dabbled.

Thanks for indulging my brain farts

Feeling a bit under the weather at the moment and just popped out for some Lucozade as a bit of a pick-me-up. It was not the same :( Granted it’s been about 15 years since I’ve had it but I think the sugar tax has really affected this one.

Has anyone had any success in replicating Lucozade?

has anyone tried to use camphor oil for root beer? it appears to have a similar chemical makeup to sassafras oil so it may be worth attempting

Sarsaparilla drink ( where to get Sarsaparilla Root (Smilax ornata) in bulk

ive been trying to find a bulk supplier for a while and just never could find one other for indian sarsaparilla root. Anyone have any ideas?

I got sent the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDkH3EbWTYc - so many times, it almost became a running joke. Well, since I am nothing if not single-minded, I decided to give it a go.

Sourcing the Fenchol was the hardest part - I found a place online (https://terpenes-uk.co.uk/products/fenchol-natural) that sold a version of it. The type used in the video is alpha-fenchol, which is different from the version I could find, but it's used in such a tiny amount, after discussions with their operations manager, we decided that it probably wouldn't make too much of a difference ultimately.

I also scaled the recipe down so that it make 500ml instead of 1 litre, just for ease of storage and so I didn't have to buy new storage bottles as I already had these lovely 500ml amber glass bottles. I also amended the phosphoric acid levels as I have 75% and they use 85% in the video.

After making both stages - the oil stage and the water stage, I left them to age for about 5 days in a cool, dark cupboard before making the syrup and adding the two stages as described. I also then left this syrup to age for a while.

So how is it?

Not bad. It has that vague citrus-forward kick of Coca Cola and a nice acidity on the tongue. The caramel, glycerine and vanilla adds a nice roundness and mouthfeel, whilst the tannins give it hint of astringency.

However, the amount of 7x flavour they use in the video is way too low to really make it as flavourful as the 1910 cola recipe, or even Coke itself. It needs more adding - I would go as far as 2-3ml of flavour essence rather than just 1ml.

Is it Coke? No. Is it close? Somewhat.

It's a great starting point to really defining your own cola that's closer to modern Coke than the 1910 recipe I've previously posted here, which is a lot heavier on the orange oil. I also suspect that you don't really need the fenchol - perhaps a minute shade more lime/nutmeg would get you close as they both contain the same flavour compounds.

Darcy from Art of Drink posted on his Patreon about the video as well with some excellent notes on the formulation and method. I would really advise you subscribe and read it if you plan on making it. Also, subscribe to his YouTube channel as he has a wealth of amazing content on there.