> try to find an actual proper double blind academic study that demonstrates a taste difference between sucrose and high fructose corn syrup. I'll be here waiting.
That doesn't imply there isn't a taste difference, just that nobody's funded research for this. I certainly ascribe a certain flavor to HFCS, and "mexican cokes" also has a distinct flavor. Now might I be imagining stuff, and might there be other recipe differences that can explain peoples' preference? Of course. But I'd hope there's at least some evidence to point to that's at least as strong as my (very weak and anecdotal) evidence to advance if you're going to push this narrative that they taste the same.
There's a lot of reasons why Mexican coke would taste different. Glass bottles being the way people usually drink it, higher sodium content, differences in the water, other ingredient ratios that are different, and yeah maybe a little bit about sucrose vs HFCS.
I know even US coke tastes different if you're having it out of a small glass bottle versus a 2L plastic bottle into a cup versus a can or even a can into a cup.
That doesn't imply there isn't a taste difference, just that nobody's funded research for this. I certainly ascribe a certain flavor to HFCS, and "mexican cokes" also has a distinct flavor. Now might I be imagining stuff, and might there be other recipe differences that can explain peoples' preference? Of course. But I'd hope there's at least some evidence to point to that's at least as strong as my (very weak and anecdotal) evidence to advance if you're going to push this narrative that they taste the same.