Cheap test strip that measures the syrup content of soda fountain drinks. You get a drink these days that has a whole lot of ice and carbonated water in it, and just barely tastes like a coke or pepsi, just a fizzy something or other. These big chains probably multiply X amount of outlets by X amount of syrup per drink and have the ratios all figured out. There ought to be standards, complain to the manager, "Hey, what's this, 1/2 of 1% syrup? I can barely taste It."-- ty6, Jun 30 2003 A bit about calibration http://www.boneville.net/soda/brix.htm"Here is a basic brix cup. The left side is the 5:1 ratio, the right side is the 5.5:1 ratio. The center holds the soda. Notice how the diameter of all three is different. If you were to draw a solid line at 5 oz on the soda cup, then filled all three cups to this same line, you would have 5 oz of soda, 1 oz of syrup in the left cup, and 0.90 oz of soda in the right cup." [half, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] If there's not enough flavoring, we send the drink back. You don't need a test strip for that.
(Bizarrely, Mountain Dew recently managed to ship a whole batch of cans to NYC with only bubbles, and no flavoring or color. And no, it was not an improvement.)-- DrCurry, Jun 30 2003 Homer: "What do you have to drink?" Street Vendor: "We have Mountain Dew and Crab juice." Homer: "Eeewww, I'll take the Crab juice."-- mrthingy, Jun 30 2003 [DrCurry]:1)Get more of those defective Mountain Dews 2) Wait five years 3) Sell on E-bay as collectors items-- snarfyguy, Jun 30 2003 ty6, if the soda is weak, or, conversely, syrupy, commas flow like bubbles, then someone has to change the tank.-- thumbwax, Jun 30 2003 I work for one of these soft drink companies and can confirm that we constantly check the syrup content of our drinks through fountain machines and make the necessary adjustments.
Its actually quite difficult for the retailer to make changes to the ratios - which ensures that you, the customer, gets the perfect serve.
If you find a drink thats too sweet (too much syrup), or too watery, then I suggest you complain.-- jonthegeologist, Jun 30 2003 me too, but in what circumstances?
me a pepsi - girl!
pepsi max - yes
pepsi vanilla, current favourite.-- po, Jun 30 2003 jutta: a similar though occurred to to me, but if people can't tell the difference by taste, how could they have a strong brand preference?-- DrCurry, Jun 30 2003 another hb mystery - cannot wait for answers - shut up DC <grin>-- po, Jun 30 2003 I'll buy a Coke before a Pepsi, but I'm sure I couldn't tell the difference in a blind taste test. It's just one of those things, I guess.-- snarfyguy, Jun 30 2003 A little transatlantic clarification please: What is a soda fountain? Is it (a) a post mix soft drink delivery system, like the cup filling ones at cinemas and suchlike (b) a great big ornamental fountain spewing luminous carbonated sugar water into the air, speckling passers by with sticky juice (c) neither of the above or (d) all of the above?-- my face your, Jun 30 2003 It's actually just a place that serves soda and sundaes, etc.
Though I guess it could also refer to the machinery for delivering the soda, especially in the context used here. Many, if not most, bars now use soda guns, that dispense a variety of sodas depending on which button you press. In the back somewhere, there is a device with cartridges for the different flavors. When the cartridges run out, all you get is soda water.-- DrCurry, Jun 30 2003 <aside> Apologies if this is an already well known factoid, but does anyone know the difference between Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max? Apparently it is that young Males won't buy something with "Diet" on the label.-- egbert, Jun 30 2003 Yep - diet's for girls, demographically speaking.-- snarfyguy, Jun 30 2003 I was hoping this was what [jutta] said. Because, yes, you can taste the difference between them if you have a preference, but if you want to complain when you know they pulled a switcheroo, you have to have the facts to back you up, cause if that waiter was rude enough to lie to you in the first place, then they'll likely put up a fight if you try to complain, and if you try to get in the kitchen for a look yourself, they'll sick the cook on you, which ain't going to be fun, except for the rest of us.-- oxen crossing, Jul 02 2003 Phase 1: place tooth in glass of Coke/Pepsi.
Phase 2: leave overnight.
Phase 3: observe glass in morning.
Phase 4: empty glass, clean, fill with non-carbonated beverage, consume.-- saker, Jul 03 2003 So nobody has to strip?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 03 2003 Didn't mention your mouth, [TomBomb]...-- saker, Jul 03 2003 //you have to have the facts to back you up//Exactly. This idea is about specifications. There's a prescribed ratio [thanks for the link, half!], but it's not used, for various reasons. When you get a lousy soda, you know many people before you have complained about it. I found one restaurant that will give you a Coke in a can –- their fountain is never right. What about having “Coca-Cola Deliciousness” scored in the Restaurant Inspection Report posted by the door?
This idea has more potential than just deciding if “Pepsi OK”. There should be a simple way for the average Joe to find (and dictate) the specs of everyday products & services, particularly when it comes to repairs:--The office’s Tech Team should set your workstation monitor’s refresh rate to something other than the default “60hz”, to avoid flickering & eyestrain. But if you mention it he’ll say “I don’t see a problem…”--The phone company says “it sounds fine to me” when you have line noise. But they have a full range of specs, and if followed, your modem would work flawlessly.--The sound crew at the rock concert has lost their hearing. So the high-pitched treble hiss sounds OK to them. It would sound so much better without the hiss.-- Amos Kito, Jul 03 2003 If enough people complained perhaps a soda war could break out. Percentages would be used in advertising: Now offering a whopping 10% syrup in all our sodas!-- ty6, Jul 03 2003 [admin: removed full stop/period from title. OK, so I'm in a fussy mood.]-- st3f, Mar 07 2004 random, halfbakery