If You See A Coca-Cola Bottle With A Yellow Cap, This Is What It Means

From Kansas to Kashmir, you’ll recognize Coca-Cola anywhere. That iconic red-and-white color scheme tells you exactly what you’re getting – no matter what continent you find yourself on. But when you’re back home and at your local corner store, some Coke bottles may look a little different. Those yellow caps? They weren’t there before. However, far from being some kind of error, those unique bottles are actually conveying a special message to consumers—and only those in the know are even aware of it.

Different colors

There are already different colored caps on Coke bottles, so what makes these yellow ones so unique? Well, usually the caps tell you what flavor the drink is – beige for vanilla, for instance. But that isn’t the case with the bright yellow ones.

Time and place

On top of that, these particular bottles aren’t around the entire year. You’ll only spot them within a specific time frame. Spring’s the season when the yellow caps start to pop up at supermarkets. So, keep your eyes peeled, and you may just see them in real life!

Same great taste

But before you ask if there are any other changes to look out for, let’s be clear: we’re just talking about the cap here. There’s no yellow-colored liquid or anything. And everything else on the bottle appears just the same. From the famous logo to the red and white on the label, all is identical to your regular bottle of Coke.

Unusual

Yep, if it weren’t for the caps, you’d never know there was anything unusual about these bottles. Take these lids off, and even John S. Pemberton would struggle to see the difference! He’s the guy who first combined the ingredients for Coca-Cola, in case you didn’t know. But after Pemberton came up with his work of genius, he stumbled onto one huge problem.

Strike gold

At that stage, the fizzy, sweet concoction didn’t have a name. But this soon changed when Pemberton’s financial advisor handed out some pearls of wisdom. Yes, Frank M. Robinson earned his spot in the history books by coming up with “Coca-Cola.” Talk about striking gold.

Beloved design

According to the brand’s website, Robinson said, “The two Cs would look well in advertising.” And he wasn’t wrong. From there, he also went on to draw up the beloved Coca-Cola logo, which became a trademark early in 1893. And while the design has undergone a few minor tweaks over the decades, it’s largely remained the same since Robinson put pen to paper.

Famous color

Imagine telling Pemberton or Robinson that their creations would still be around 130 years later. We imagine they’d be pretty shocked! How about the famous colors, though? When did Coca-Cola adopt that red and white scheme? Well, it happened during the company’s infancy.

Branding

In the 1890s, Coca-Cola used wall paintings to advertise. And even back then, it appears the young company had its branding down pat. The murals used red as a backdrop and had writing in white. Sound familiar? But this wasn’t actually the turning point.

Important color

In 2018 a company spokesperson told Business Insider, “From the mid-1890s, we began painting our barrels red so that tax agents could distinguish them from alcohol during transport.” Since then, the colors have just stuck. But what precise kind of red does the drinks giant actually use?

Unofficial red

In truth, there isn’t just one shade. The red you see on Coca-Cola products comes from a trio of separate tones blended together. And the final result’s never been officially recorded in design guides – meaning you’ll just have to improvise if you want to paint a room “Coke red.”

Stand out

So, it’s easy to understand why the yellow caps stand out as they do. They fly in the face of a color combo that’s been in the public eye for over a century. The sunny shade practically pops against the scarlet label. But the caps may not be so noticeable in the South Pacific.

Multiple choice

Well, at the very least, that bright yellow would clash with the cans that Coca-Cola’s South Pacific branch released back in 2014. For a short period in that far-flung part of the world, you could buy Coke emblazoned in five different colors: green, purple, blue, orange and pink.

Canned colors

“From a design perspective, we were really careful about retaining that vibrancy of Coke,” brand manager Angeline Lee has said about the campaign. “[The cans] really need to jump out on the shelf, so the boldness of the color was really important for us.”

Fall out

And it’s fair to say that the cans did indeed “jump out.” Sure, you could still buy Coca-Cola in red, but who wouldn’t be intrigued by the other colors? Mind you, those staff overseeing the almost sacrilegious process of changing Coke’s packaging? They came up against a huge roadblock.

Mix up

Gary Burke – the leader of the packaging graphics department – explained one particular logistical nightmare. He said, “The biggest challenge was to get the variation in the market, so one shop didn’t get all green cans and another shop got all orange cans. We wanted to try and mix them up.”

Hard work

That was easier said than done, though. It required the workers to roll up their sleeves and get a bit of a sweat on. And the whole thing couldn’t just be done by machines. Oh, no, siree!

No go

“We decided to manually re-stack a pallet [containing the cans],” manager Jacqui Rooney said. “We had three different pallets each with two different colors. We’d take one layer off each pallet and manually rebuild it.” The group probably saw cans in their sleep long after they finished. And that labor-intensive process probably explains why the campaign didn’t make its way over to America.

Different strokes

The situation with the yellow bottle caps is a little different, though. Yes, they’re limited just like the colored cans. But there’s a slight variation to the drink’s ingredients when you compare that formula to the one used in standard Coca-Cola.

Fructose factor

While regular Coca-Cola contains high-fructose corn syrup, the yellow-capped bottles don’t. Instead, those drinks use a substance known as sucrose – a sweetener derived from both beet sugar and cane sugar. And on paper, that may seem fairly random. Why swap out a single component and nothing else?

Passing

It’s quite simple, actually. The change is made for those who celebrate Passover. Along with a number of other food items, corn syrup’s off the table during the annual Jewish holiday. But sucrose isn’t off-limits, meaning folks observing Passover can still enjoy a yellow-capped Coke.

Kosher Coke

The special caps are essentially signs that say “this drink is kosher during Passover.” Kosher’s a Hebrew term that translates as “fit, proper or correct.” Simply put, it’s like a seal of approval. And if something isn’t kosher, that means you can’t eat or drink it during Passover. The weird thing is, though, that Coca-Cola is actually considered kosher all year round. So, why can’t Jewish people just pick up the regular bottles?

Confusion reigns

Well, here’s where it can get a little confusing. Food and drink that’s otherwise considered kosher during the rest of the year may still be barred for Passover. And standard Coca-Cola’s in that particular category. That’s because the rules become more stringent when the annual holiday rolls around in spring. It’s all to do with something in regular Coke, you see...

Passover diet

So, what can’t Jewish people eat or drink over Passover? Well, anything that comes under the category of chametz, for starters. This Hebrew term describes food items with grain ingredients, meaning anything containing oats, spelt, wheat, barley and rye is prohibited. But there’s even more to it.

Food ban

Any food that rises during cooking’s barred as well. And if, for instance, a loaf of bread has been sitting on a surface inside the house, the occupants have to clear away all traces of it prior to Passover. Yes, every last crumb. Observant folk literally can’t touch anything chametz for the duration of the holiday.

kitniyot

And we also can’t forget about kitniyot. Much like chametz, it’s also to do with what’s forbidden during Passover. Not all Jewish people are required to observe kitniyot. Usually, if you don’t have “Ashkenazi” – meaning Eastern European – ties, then you’re in the clear. But that only covers around one-quarter of Jews across the world.

Coke's out

Anyway, kitniyot forbids you from touching legumes and even more varieties of grain. And as corn comes under that umbrella, this means Coca-Cola should be banned for Passover unless it has sucrose in place of the high-fructose corn syrup. Yes, one small change can make all the difference.

Switcheroo

But here’s something else to consider: Coca-Cola is no stranger to sucrose. It was actually the company’s ingredient of choice in the past before it subbed the sweetener out for high-fructose corn syrup. As obscure a fact as that is, it could come in handy for your next trivia night...

Rabbi rule

And we have a rabbi to thank for the switch – and those yellow caps. Tuvia Geffen was a leader at a synagogue in Atlanta, Georgia, and he came up with the suggestion way back in the mid-1930s. Yes, Passover-friendly Coke is older than you think!

Obstacle

Rabbi Geffen even mentioned Coca-Cola while writing a teshuva – or an official religious edict. He noted, “Because it has become an insurmountable problem to induce the great majority of Jews to refrain from partaking of this drink, I have tried earnestly to find a method of permitting its usage.” Basically, he wanted more people to observe kitniyot, but Coke was getting in the way. He found a way through, though – after a little assistance.

Raise a glass

“With the help of God, I have been able to uncover a pragmatic solution,” Rabbi Geffen added. And thanks to his solution, Jewish families didn’t have to worry about swerving Coca-Cola over the holidays anymore. We wonder if anyone has raised a glass of the fizzy stuff in his honor?

Passover-friendly

But going back to the yellow caps, you should know that they aren’t the only sign of a Passover-friendly Coke. Look closely, and you’ll see that the plastic tops are printed with “O-U-P” as well. This means the Orthodox Union has given the product a thumbs-up, confirming it’s kosher. That body’s also responsible for running the rule over other food and drink items.

Intriguing

It’s an intriguing process to read about, right? After all, for those of us who aren’t Jewish, the ins and outs of kosher standards are likely a mystery. But if you’re still not sure what Coke is okay to consume during Passover, Coca-Cola can fill you in.

More more more

“The Coca-Cola Company offers products as kosher year-round (KYR) and kosher for Passover (KFP),” a spokesperson has explained. “In the United States, both Coca-Cola and Diet Coke are available as KYR and KFP in locations where the bottlers have decided to seek certification. Kosher for Passover products can be found in select markets during the Jewish holiday of Passover.”

Strictly business

And it’s easy to see whether you’re drinking the real deal. “Only finished products bearing the logos of one of the designated Rabbinical organizations we work with can be guaranteed to be kosher,” Coca-Cola has explained. “The production is supervised by these organizations through the entire end-to-end production process.” But Coke isn’t the only item to go through these strict measures for Passover.

Passover-approved

The Orthodox Union looks at a lot of food and drink – and sees what needs to be changed before the holiday. In 2021, for example, certain honey products needed special Passover certification because there was corn syrup in their ingredients. Yep, just like Coca-Cola.

Un-Orthodox brands

Milk was another product to be scrutinized. According to the Orthodox Union, certain brands of the dairy product may have added vitamins that could come under the chametz umbrella. The union advised people, then, to only buy bottles that had “special Passover supervision.” Still with us? Good!

Something fishy

And the website also reeled off all of the frozen fish that it was okay to eat over Passover. It all had to be raw in the freezer, though. The list included such delicacies as the Keta Salmon Fillets from Costco, 365 Everyday Value’s Atlantic Salmon, Kirkland Signature’s Tilapia Loins and the Wild Sockeye Salmon from Wellsley Farms.

Good news

To say the union’s extremely thorough would be an understatement! But here’s something to remember. Just because an item’s deemed kosher for Passover, that doesn’t mean it’s just restricted to Jewish families. People from any religion can get their hands on those products at the store, including the yellow-capped Coca-Cola.

Yellow caps

In fact, some folks just pick up those bottles so they can taste the brand’s old flavor. They consider the yellow-cap Coke leaps and bounds ahead of the Coke with the high-fructose corn syrup. Want to test it for yourself? Well, Passover comes around every April. Mark that down on your calendar!

Taking it to the next level

And when you’ve had a sip of that Coke, perhaps you could follow in one daring YouTuber’s footsteps. He added baking soda to 10,000 liters of Coca-Cola – all in the hope of witnessing something spectacular. Perhaps you could try that on a slightly smaller scale... But did the guy’s hard work pay off? And more importantly, did he escape without injuring himself?

An infamous combo

We’ve all seen what happens when you add Mentos or baking soda to a big bottle of Coke. There are, after all, plenty of videos of people doing it online. Chances are pretty high that you’ve even given it a go yourself. But Maxim Monakhov took it all to the extreme.

Introducing Mamix

Rumor has it that Russian Monakhov – who’s more widely known by his YouTube name Mamix – has invested something close to 700,000 rubles into his experiment. That works out at roughly $9,500, which is a huge amount of cash for a venture like this. If nothing else, it shows just how committed the popular YouTuber is to entertaining his audience.

Safety first?

Along with his companions, Monakhov figured that it’s probably best to pull this stunt off outside of any urban areas. That’s probably wise, given the uncertainties surrounding crazy experiments like this. Who knows how big the chemical reaction caused by the combination of all this Coke and baking soda will be?

Monumental proportions

So, here they are now, in a big field with nobody else around to get hurt. It’s time to get going. Into a giant container, Monakhov and his crew pour thousands upon thousands of liters of Coke. And now comes the moment of truth: they’re ready to add the baking soda.

No doubt memorable

Given what we already know about adding Mentos to two-liter bottles of Coke, we can be pretty sure that this experiment’s going to be memorable. After all, the Mentos trick has been famous for years. You could say that it really took off in 2005, which was the same year that YouTube was founded. That’s no coincidence, as this new platform helped the Mentos trick to be widely viewed.

Scientific explanation

The Coke and Mentos reaction’s an amazing thing to see, but how exactly does it work? Well, the truth is that there’s quite a lot going on. Firstly, while there are all sorts of ingredients inside Coke, it’s plain old carbon dioxide that provides the fizz.

Explosive CO2

Were you to give a bottle of Coke a little shake, you’d see a load of bubbles appearing at the edges of the plastic. This is the result of carbon dioxide separating from the rest of the drink. Then, if you were to turn the bottle cap, those bubbles would shoot up to try to escape. In doing so, they’d cause the Coke to spurt out of the bottle.

Nucleation in action

You can also disturb the carbon dioxide in soda by drop something into it. If you did that, you’d then see bubbles appearing around whatever object you put in the drink. The way in which these bubbles form is called nucleation.

Perfect for results

A Mentos is really effective at kick-starting the nucleation process because of its unique shape. Basically, the surface of the sweet’s covered in a huge number of little dents, which are really good for allowing carbon dioxide bubbles to develop. In other words, these cavities are ideal nucleation sites.

Ticking time bomb

So, when a Mento’s dropped into some Coke, those bubbles instantly begin to develop in the mint’s cavities. The bubbles then swiftly shoot up to the top, pushing all the Coke out of its path. With nowhere else to go, the liquid will surge up in the most dramatic fashion.

All this from soda?

The incredible fountain of Coke that shoots into the sky is quite the sight to behold. It’s so much bigger than you’d expect, given that all you’ve used is a bottle of soda and some mint candies. You might wonder, then, how big could the explosion be if you used a larger amount of the ingredients?

Taking it higher

This seems to have been the precise thinking of the popular YouTuber Monakhov. As we’ve all seen from countless videos, the reaction of Mentos inside a two-liter bottle of Coke can be immense. But if you were to use, say, 10,000 liters of the soda, just how powerful could the result be?

Taking it to the next level

To most of us, such an idea would just be too crazy to actually try out. But Monakhov has developed something of a reputation over the years for undertaking in similarly insane schemes. He posts all sorts of unusual “experiments” on YouTube, where he’s managed to assemble millions of followers.

Messy logistics

But it’s all well and good to say you’ll create a huge chemical reaction using 10,000 liters of Coke, yet how exactly do you go about achieving it? Well, one of the first things you’d need to figure out is where to stage the stunt. After all, it’s likely to cause quite a mess.

10 grand worth of soda

Bearing that in mind, Monakhov decided to set the stunt in the middle of a big field, so no bystanders were likely to get hurt. But there was still the matter of sourcing all that Coke, which wouldn’t come cheap. In fact, it’s believed that the YouTuber invested the equivalent of roughly $9,500 for 10,000 liters of the soda!

Pure baking soda

That’s a huge amount of money for the sake of a YouTube video, but Monakhov did find ways to cut back a little. Instead of shelling out loads more cash for Mentos, he opted for baking soda to cause the reaction in the Coke. This would be way less expensive than the mints.

Same result in the end

The result would apparently be the same when using baking soda instead of Mentos, though. Once the baking soda was added to the liquid, a tremendous volume of carbon dioxide would form and the liquid would consequently burst towards the sky. At least, that’s what Monakhov was hoping would happen.

For good measure

Monakhov and his team also had to specially construct a container that could hold this immense quantity of Coke. It had to be able to survive the intense pressure caused by an explosion. They then finished it off with a Coca-Cola label. And with that all done, the group was ready to get going.

Showtime

And so, with the day of the experiment finally upon them, Monakhov and his pals kicked things off. With the help of buckets and a crane, they managed to transfer the absurd amount of Coke into their specially designed vat. Things, so far, were all going to the group’s plan.

Half a decade in planning

In the YouTube video documenting all this, Monakhov speaks to camera in his native tongue. He tells his viewers about the crazy amount of money he’s invested into the experiment, before revealing just how long he’d been plotting the scheme. Crazy as it sounds, he claims that the project had been planned over almost half a decade.

Absurd but worth it

That’s a long, long time to be thinking about such a ludicrous experiment, but it seems Monakhov took it very seriously. As the video’s description explains when translated to English, “We launched 10,000 liters of cola mixed with [baking] soda. Yes, it would seem such an absurd and useless thing – but for me it means a lot.”

Preparing for the worst

So, with all the Coke sitting inside their massive container, the moment of truth awaited. They’d now have to add the baking soda to the liquid. But what was going to happen? Would the reaction be as intense as they expected, or maybe even more so? Or would nothing happen at all?

Ground zero

Well, there was only one way to find out. With the help of a sort of pulley system, the team managed to get the baking soda up to the vat. Then, it was just a matter of adding the powder. They dumped the soda into the liquid and scampered away as quickly as they possibly could.

The chain reaction begins

You can probably confidently guess what happened next. As soon as the baking soda combined with the vast pool of soda, an incredibly powerful reaction took place. And just like when a tiny Mento’s added to a two-liter bottle of Coke, the liquid immediately shot high into the sky.

A serious cola geyser

The difference on this occasion, though, was all to do with the sheer scope of the reaction. With all that Coke and baking soda, the jet shooting up towards space was bound to be immense. But even though it may have been predictable, it was still a wildly impressive sight to behold.

Viral status

It should go without saying, but the video documenting this wild experiment has captured a huge number of people’s attention. Since it was uploaded to YouTube back in August 2020, in fact, the clip has amassed millions of views. So far, the number sits at more than 21 million and counting.

The comments section

Naturally, many of the video’s viewers have been quick to let their thoughts be known in the comments section. It seems that one was blown away by the amount of work that must have gone into pulling the scheme off. They wrote, “This video remains the most labor-intensive and cool that I have ever seen.”

Going places

Another commenter praised Monakhov personally, going on to express their hope that the YouTuber’s officially recognized for his efforts. Translated into English, this viewer wrote, “Huge respect for Mamix! He does incredible things... Hopefully it will be included in the Guinness Book of Records. And Mamix himself will get there!”

Truly unbelievable power

Another comment focused on the sheer power of the reaction that Monakhov had caused. This viewer quipped that in the next decade, the YouTuber would be able to travel to Mars aboard a rocket powered by soda. And who knows? Maybe that’s exactly what the internet celebrity has planned next.

Waste of resources?

Not every viewer was quite so impressed with Monakhov, though. As one irate comment posted in English read, “What a waste of time, money and resources.” And to this person’s credit, that’s a hard point to argue with. The explosion of Coke was pretty amazing to see, but it certainly was wasteful.

Making a name for himself

But despite this viewer’s reservations, Monakhov’s clip can be broadly considered a success based on all the views, likes and comments it’s received so far. On top of that, many of the Russian’s other videos are going down really well, too. The young man’s become quite famous online for all his crazy experiments.

Selling the channel

If you look online for Monakhov’s YouTube channels, you’ll notice that there seem to be two separate ones. Well, there’s an explanation for that. Basically, he sold one of them to a pal for a reported sum of around $270. They then took control of a channel that had acquired a subscriber list of almost 600,000 people.

Attracting new viewers

When he started out, Monakhov’s online following was understandably pretty meager. But all things considered, it didn’t take long before he started to attract large numbers of followers. Once people saw the incredible lengths he was willing to go to for the sake of entertainment, his views shot up.

Making a name for himself

In less than a year, Monakhov’s new YouTube channel grew to become one of the most popular in all of Russia. But it would be a little while longer before he really found his groove. When he started conducting his extravagant “experiments” in the summer of 2017, though, he soon became a sensation.

The ultimate "what if?"

There are plenty of wild videos spread across Monakhov’s various channels. But among the craziest has to be one in which he and an accomplice stack three trampolines on top of one another to see what’ll happen if a person jumps on them. Predictably, it wasn’t the most stable of structures.

Weird realizations

One of Monakhov’s more disturbing videos sees him place a burger inside a tank of creepy-crawly maggots. He wants to see how quickly they eat the thing, but he ends up discovering something more interesting. He finds that the horrible creatures actually avoid the cooked patty, instead preferring the uncooked components of the burger.

Because why not?

In another, less horrifying clip, Monakhov tries to see what happens when you treat metal with liquid nitrogen. Will it smash if you were to hit it hard with something? As you might imagine, he’s not one to merely speculate about the outcome. So, he gives it a try.

Coke and Mentos: The Prequel

There’s another video Monakhov posted that basically acts as a forerunner to the immense Coke and baking soda experiment. This clip was uploaded only a couple of months before the other one, but it used significantly fewer ingredients. He still used 1,000 liters of Coke, so it was certainly impressive.

New heights

Clearly, though, the massive reaction caused on that occasion merely whetted Monakhov’s appetite. He wanted to create a spurt of Coke that was ten times bigger, so that’s exactly what he set out to achieve. The lengths that some people are willing to go to for the sake of science... And it’s not just Monakhov, either! No, there are endless amounts of people looking to cash in on the making-massive-things-explode game.