How to spot sugary drinks: The surprising coke zero hack

Surely, you've received mixed-up or incomplete orders more than once. Instead of sweet potatoes, you usually get regular potatoes, the pizza sauce might be missing, and the drinks aren’t what you requested. Today, we'll focus on that last issue. It turns out that customers often receive different drinks than they ordered. And we're not talking about getting Sprite instead of Mirinda or orange juice instead of apple juice, but something completely different. This is where the famous Coke Zero comes into play. In a glass, it looks almost the same as the regular one, but fortunately, you can tell them apart.

An interesting post appeared on Reddit. A user asked how to distinguish Coke Zero from regular Coke:

At McDonald's, I got a sugar-free cola and assumed that "sugar-free" = safe for diabetics. But about an hour after drinking it, I noticed that my eyes couldn't focus, which I believe is a symptom of too much sugar. The last time I drank sugar-free cola, I didn't have any problems. Is there a way to check if I'm drinking diet or regular cola? Fast food workers are usually too busy and don't have the opportunity to check, and the person handing out the order is usually not the one who filled the cup.

The user received a lot of responses, some of which were very interesting. One person recommended that they apply a thin layer of the drink to the outside of their lips. If it dries and the lips don’t stick, it means they are drinking a zero-calorie beverage. Similarly, there is a method of dipping a finger in the cola: if it feels sticky, it means there is sugar in the drink. Another important rule that many people forget is simply buying drinks in a bottle or a can. We don’t always know what is in the dispenser.

We often realize we've received a sugary drink after taking the first sip. Meanwhile, just one glance at the glass is enough to differentiate the drinks. It’s simpler than everyone thinks. The difference lies in one rather inconspicuous detail: it’s about the colour of the drink.

Coke Zero, the sugar-free version, simply has a darker colour. Why does this happen? Classic Coke is more carbonated, meaning it has more bubbles, which makes the concentration of other ingredients lower. That’s why it’s lighter. Coke Zero contains less air and is more concentrated, hence its darker shade. Now you know how to distinguish zero-calorie drinks from regular ones. Really very simple tricks are enough.