Duggs Hot Take Of The Week: Coke Freestyle Machines Are Not Good
America, let's talk.
The Coke Freestyle machine is no good. I get the allure, the appeal, the promise. Why limit yourself to only 10 standard flavor options when you can have the power, the control, the freedom to choose from hundreds of options and create your own individual flavor set to whatever your heart desires? Well, it's not that simple. You don't just get all this freedom without having to give something up. Seriously, how can you be so obtuse? In your quest to make a selfish drink just for you, you have sacrificed the flavor of the soda, which is the whole point of the soda. I never fully understood the saying "bite off your nose to spite your face", but I feel like that is what's happened here!
The normal soda flavors we taste out of soda fountains come from 50 pound bags of delicious syrup. I changed thousands of those when I worked at AMC. They are heavy and not always easy to hookup, but they are always worth it. These new freestyle machines instead use cartridges of highly concentrated syrup, so they can fit more flavors into the unit. Well, let me tell you this. When it comes to stuffing things inside Units, taste is more important than size. Believe me!
Maybe, one day, in the distant future, Coke will figure out the right formula of super concentrated cartridges, but it is not this day. We simply don't have the technology. We can put a man on the moon, we can regrow a bald man's hair, but we can't get that sweet Cherry Coke syrup taste out of a freestyle machine.
Based on how many places I see with freestyle machines, I assumed that I was in the minority and not liking them would be a hot take. I didn't expect any "girl on guys trip" level of reaction, but at least more people disagreeing than not. Looking at the comments, it looks like not only is this not a hot take, but most people actually agree. I'm no hero, but I hope my courage to speak out against these awful machines inspires others and leads to real change.