Homemade Cola Recipe
Cola is definitely one of those refreshing beverages that many associate with childhood memories and summer days. But what if you could make it from scratch, using natural ingredients and without the refined sweeteners found in store-bought versions?
This homemade cola recipe uses a combination of natural herbs and spices that make up the cola flavour, without any artificial ingredients or refined sugar. Cooking the spices with dark muscovado sugar and water will give you the perfect homemade cola syrup.
All that’s left to do is to mix it with your favourite mineral water and you’ll get a delicious and aromatic natural refreshment. Making cola from scratch is easier than it sounds – keep reading to learn how to do it!
Ingredients for homemade cola syrup
Making a herbal syrup and mixing it with sparkling water is the easiest and most convenient way to make cola at home. These are the ingredients you’ll need for your homemade cola syrup:
- Dark muscovado sugar
- Fresh lime (for juice and zest)
- Fresh lemon (also juice and zest)
- Dried or fresh orange peels
- Cinnamon bark (I prefer cassia, but read the text for more info)
- Coriander seeds
- Nutmeg
- Star anise
- Tonka bean
- Kaffir lime leaves
- Vanilla bean powder, fresh vanilla bean or vanilla extract
- Water
You probably noticed there is no additional colouring in the ingredients list. I don’t like to add any artificial stuff just for the sake of it looking “like the original”. The natural colour of the molasses in the dark muscovado sugar is perfect for giving this cola a nice brown caramel colour.
Also, I don’t add any citric or malic acid to enhance the fruity flavours of citrus in this cola recipe. I’ve tried it with and without those acids, and the result was not that much different, so I decided to keep it completely natural and use only fruit juices and zest.
I use whole orange peels, not only the zest. The inside of the peels has a slight bitterness to it, which is actually great for this recipe. You won’t feel it in the final result, but it adds some depth to the cola flavour.
In this recipe, I used dried orange peels because I always have some at home from the winter season. I collect the peels of organic local oranges and dry them for teas and sweets. If you don’t have dried peels, you can use fresh ones. In that case, you can slice them finely and add them to the mix with fresh ingredients, not dry ones (read more in the instructions).
The cinnamon variety that I use in this recipe is cassia. Its flavour is stronger than Ceylon cinnamon and I find it to work better for these very aromatic recipes that include cooking. If you are concerned about the high levels of coumarin in cassia cinnamon, feel free to use Ceylon cinnamon instead.
This is how I see it though – this recipe is already full of strong aromatic spices such as nutmeg, tonka bean and anise, and it’s not something you will drink every day, all day, in big quantities. So it is safe as long as you don’t have any health issues that would prevent you from using some of these strong spices (in that case I assume you are already cautious enough).
Also, needless to say, this cola is much healthier than any store-bought stuff. So you can also just ignore this advice for the extra cautious and sensitive health freaks like me who never touch processed foods. I’ll relax one day, maybe, until then please bear with me.
How to make cola from scratch
To make cola from scratch, you must first make the homemade cola syrup. Start by combining equal parts of dark muscovado sugar and water in a saucepan and placing it over low heat.
Add your dried spices and cover the saucepan with a lid. Bring it to a light boil, and let it simmer for a minute. Turn off the heat and add the fresh ingredients (fruit juices, lime leaves and fresh zests).
Let that sit for at least an hour, or longer if you have time. At this point, you can already strain it and use it, or transfer everything into a blender and blend to extract even more flavour from all those herbs and spices (I recommend the blending!).
Strain it through a cheesecloth or kitchen towel and squeeze the spices and herbs to get as much liquid out – that liquid is your cola syrup. Transfer it to a bottle and preserve it in the fridge.
Mix this syrup with sparkling water to make cola. The ratio of syrup to water is really up to your taste – feel free to experiment and see which level of sweetness and flavour you prefer. Serve with ice for the perfect refreshing experience.
What does homemade cola taste like?
If you make it using only natural ingredients, homemade cola will taste a bit different from Coca-Cola or other store-bought versions (of course). But, in my opinion, it tastes even better! Using the herbs and spices that are a part of the original cola recipe, but without the artificial ingredients and extra sugar, makes this drink super tasty, aromatic and refreshing.
To be honest, I never really liked Coca-Cola, not even as a kid. It was too much of everything for me – too sweet and fizzy, too much artificial flavour, weird colour. It was just too intense in a bad way.
I only started to understand cola drinks in my early and mid-twenties, when I had worked as a chef in different restaurants with vegan and organic food. There, we would always have some alternative bio-cola brands on the drinks menus.
Those drinks tasted much nicer, more natural and weren’t so insanely bubbly or sweet. The flavour was pleasant and easy to understand – one could tell that it came from actual herbs and spices.
It reminded me of those cola-flavoured gummies, lollipops and popsicles that we would occasionally have as kids. And this is exactly what my homemade cola tastes like. It’s insane that you can achieve that unique flavour at home, using only natural ingredients.
Storing homemade cola syrup
A great thing about making this concentrated cola syrup is that you can store it for longer and use less space to fit it into the fridge. This syrup will stay fresh in the fridge for at least a week, but probably even longer. I haven’t been able to test that, because we usually use up this small bottle within a week.
If you make a bigger batch and decide to store it for longer, freezing is a great option. Freeze it in ice moulds, transfer it to a ziplock bag or a food container and keep it in the freezer for up to three months. When you want to make cola, just defrost as much as you need.
Equipment for making natural cola syrup
This is the equipment that I use in my kitchen and recommend using to make the best homemade cola:
- A precise kitchen scale – since you will need to use small amounts of strong dried spices in this recipe, the best way to make it properly is by measuring each ingredient. This also allows you to adjust the recipe later on if you want to add or remove anything to fit your taste better
- A saucepan with a lid
- Cooking spoon or spatula
- Blender for extracting even more of the flavours from your herbs and spices (I really recommend this step)
- Cheesecloth
- Strainer
- Pitcher
- Glass bottle for storing the syrup
- Silicone ice moulds for freezing syrup.
Homemade Natural Cola
This is my easy recipe for the best homemade cola with natural ingredients. The cola syrup is made with real herbs and spices, without refined sugar or artificial ingredients. Mix it with sparkling water and you’ll get a delicious refreshing drink with unbelievable cola flavour.
Ingredients
- 150 g dark muscovado sugar
- 150 ml water
- 8 g dried orange peels
- 6 g cinnamon bark
- 2 g coriander seeds
- 0.3 g nutmeg
- 1.25 g star anise
- 0.75 g tonka bean
- 1.25 g fresh or frozen kaffir lime leaves (3 leaves)
- 40 ml fresh lime juice (2 tbsp + 1 tsp, or the juice of 1 ⅓ lime)
- 20 ml fresh lemon juice (4 tsp or the juice from a bit more than half a lemon)
- 2-3 g fresh lime zest (cca. 1 tsp, zest from one lime)
- 3 g fresh lemon zest (cca. 2 tsp, zest from ⅔ lemon)
- 1 g ground vanilla bean powder, or up to half a fresh vanilla pod
Instructions
- In a deep saucepan, combine equal parts water and dark muscovado sugar.
- Place the saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved.
- Add the dried spices: nutmeg, tonka bean, coriander, star anise, dried orange peels, and cinnamon bark. Stir well and cover with a lid.
- Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, then let it simmer for a minute or two with the lid on.
- Turn off the heat and add the fresh ingredients: lime leaves, lemon and lime zest, lemon and lime juice. Add the vanilla powder or fresh pod too.
- Cover the saucepan again and let the mixture steep for at least an hour.
- For maximum flavour, blend the syrup with the herbs and spices, then strain it through a muslin cloth. If you prefer, you can skip blending and simply let the spices steep a bit longer before straining.
- Transfer the syrup into a glass bottle and use it straight away or store it in the fridge. You can also freeze it if you’d like to keep it for longer.
- To make cola, mix one part syrup with five parts cold sparkling water, or adjust the ratio to suit your taste.
Notes
To get the most out of your dried spices, crush them or cut them into smaller pieces before adding them to the syrup.
You can substitute dried orange peels with fresh ones—if so, use about 15-20 grams. If using fresh peels, dice them finely and add them to the hot syrup along with the other fresh ingredients.
I prefer to use cassia cinnamon for this recipe as it has a stronger flavour, but if you prefer Ceylon cinnamon, feel free to use that instead.
If fresh or frozen kaffir lime leaves aren’t available, you can use dried ones. Lemon or lime tree leaves also work well. Since lemon leaves are usually larger and thicker than kaffir lime leaves, one medium-sized lemon leaf should be fine.
