Real reason why Coca-Cola always tastes better in a glass bottle

An expert has revealed the reason that Coca Cola tastes better when you have it out of a glass bottle.

Coke is one of the most popular drinks in the world and is served in myriad ways whether it's in cans, plastic bottles, or through a soda gun from those big boxes of syrup in restaurants and bars.

But there's no denying that the quintessential Coca Cola look comes from the instantly recognisable glass bottles.

The satisfying 'tsk' of taking off the cap, and the inexplicable feeling that somehow it just tastes better.

But it turns out that this is not actually just a feeling - there is actually a scientific reason that Coke tastes better this way.

So what is the reason?

The quintessential Coke bottle (Jared Siskin/Getty Images for Eater)

Could it be because there is a different recipe used in the Coke that goes into the bottles?

Well, Coca Cola has previously clarified that no, it is not this at all, and that each type of packaging is filled with the same recipe.

“It’s the same recipe, the same ingredients and the same manufacturing process every time," the company clarified.

So if the recipe is the same, what makes the difference?

Dr Robert Barker, a food and packaging chemist from the University of Kent in the UK, examined this very question.

He found that the key is that glass bottles keep the carbonation in the drink for longer.

“The carbonation of it will absorb over time into the inside of the plastic bottle which will reduce the carbonation over a period of time," he explained.

The glass bottle is an iconic design (STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Cans are also similar, though perhaps don't have the same design element to them as the iconic bottle.

Dr Barker said: “Aluminium cans have an internal liner to them, so they usually have a resin which is put on the inside which is also essentially gas impermeable, so it means shelf life and loss of the carbonation is relatively low from a can as well.

“That means you get that tingling and that fizz when you open it and it feels kind of slightly fresher and lighter … the plastic bottle will lose [that] over time and naturally absorbs it.”

Coke is not the only beverage which is impacted by the container in which you keep it - beer can go off by being 'light struck'.

Keeping beer in direct sunlight can cause it to have an unpleasant 'skunky' taste, and in strong direct sunlight this can happen in seconds.

This is prevented by using brown glass for bottles, which filters out most of the harmful light, or by using cans which provide total protection.