By no means would I say that I am a Diet Coke connoisseur, but my taste buds work and I can't get over the fact that Diet Coke tastes like a billion times better when I get it at McDonald's than it does when I buy it in a can, bottle or any other fountain machine.
Special thanks for our friends over at Delishably.com who got to the bottom of this for us, but there are three specific reasons why the taste of Diet Coke is different, nay better at McDonald's restaurants.
- McDonald's Uses Quality Water Believe it or not but all McDonald's restaurants employ an extremely high-end water filtration system that feeds into their soda fountain machines. Routine maintenance and the best machine that money can buy filters the water TWICE before making it's way into your cups.
- Colder Water Holds More Carbonation McDonald's restaurants use insulated tubing to run soda water from the refrigeration units in the back to the front of the store. Keeping the water between 33-38 degrees at all times allows the water to hold more CO-2, making it more carbonated. Even the syrup lines are insulated and chilled!
- Because They Sell More, They Get More Because they go through the soda syrup so quickly, the syrup doesn't sit around for long periods of time like it might at other restaurants. In fact, they sell so much that the syrup doesn't come in smaller cardboard bag/boxes but large stainless steel tanks which in turn keep the product cooler and fresher than the competition.
These things give McD's the leg up on the competition and then they have also perfected the ratio of water, to carbonation to syrup to make the best tasting Diet Coke you can get!