The other day I came into possession of a large amount of mint. I have no idea what to do with mint so I just made it into some simple syrup. I made sure to pick up some club soda and limes on my next grocery run, made some soda, and with the right ratio of lime-to-syrup it tasted like a better version of Sprite.

Since then I’ve been happily guzzling through my mint syrup while thinking of another drink to make. I remembered watching this video earlier this year and got it into my head that I should try to make a homemade Coca-Cola.

The actual recipe is complicated:

I am not interested in purchasing a volumetric flask and wine tannins to make a simple drink so I want to adapt the recipe towards so that it less specialized. While talking aloud with my roommates about the recipe I made the following decisions:

• A simple way to get both tannins and citrus flavors at the same time is to use bitters.
• Tea tree oil and fenchol both have pine/herbal/floral/minty notes, so I thought I should be able to replace them with some combination of basil, bay leaves, and mint.
• Instead of using caramel coloring, I have some molasses in a cabinet that is wasting space.

With that in mind I made the following simple syrup:

• Mix 1 cup of water and sugar into a pot and bring to a boil while stirring.
• Once the solution is dissolved, add 1 tbsp of molasses, a cinnamon stick split in half, 5 cloves (I didn’t have any full nutmeg), and 15g of basil.
• Allow the solution to boil for at least a minute and then cut the heat. Add 5 more cloves (I was nervous I didn’t add enough warming spices.)
• Add 1/8 tsp of vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp of white vinegar.
• Put the solution in a two-cup mason jar with all herbs and spices. Allow to cool and then refrigerate.

Starting tomorrow, I will make a “cola” by adding 2-3 tbsps simple syrup to a glass, some drips of orange bitters, and a 8 oz can of club soda.

Having tasted the simple syrup I can already tell that I used nowhere near enough warming spices. Other things to consider for next time is to try to get whole nutmeg instead of cloves next time, and to add coriander which I completely forgot to add. I will also use a smaller amount of water/sugar so I can make smaller batches of simple syrup to speed up testing.