Coca Cola have always kept the recipe for their legendary drink under lock and key. Nobody to this day has accurately replicated the wonderful flavours that are in store bought coca cola. Over the years however it has become slightly boring to me and I've always wondered if it's possible to make something similar at home.

I am a big fan of Botanical drinks and Fentimans in the UK make a wonderful botanical cola. Basically Coca Cola the company now use almost entirely chemical formulas and dried powers to make their legendary beverage but it is also possible to create a replica using actual fruits, sugars and spices.

This instructable will show you how to make a Cola syrup using ingredients that are easily available in most stores and using techniques that won't baffle even the most laymen's of cooks.

It's a greatly satisfying venture and I can guarantee you will be proud of the result. I invited friends over to sample the cola one summers afternoon and I can assure it went down a treat.

This instructable has been adapted from Brooklyn Pharmacy & Soda Fountain Brooklyn.

Step 1: Gather Ingredients & Utensils

Okay so the ingredients for this are not what you'd expect to go into Cola. A couple of the ingredients are harder to source than the rest, but mostly you can get hold of them easily.

Grated zest - 2 Medium Oranges

Grated zest - 1 Large Lime

Grated zest - 1 Large Lemon

1/8tsp - Ground Cinnamon

1/8tsp - Ground Nutmeg (preferably fresh)

1 section of a star anise pod, crushed

1/2tsp - Dried Lavender Flowers

2tsp - Preferably fresh Minced Ginger (I used jarred stem ginger and chopped it finely)

One-and-a-half inch piece of Vanilla bean, spilt

1/4tsp - Citric Acid

2 cups + 2tbsp - Plain Sugar

1tbsp - Brown or Demerara Sugar

Options 3/4tsp - caramel colouring

The citric acid can be bought at most health food stores or the homebrew section of some supermarkets. I got mine from Tesco in the home wine making isle. Dedicated homebrew shops will almost certainly sell this also.

The Dried lavender I sourced from my garden. I happen to have some lavender growing in my back garden. So I simply picked some of the flowers and dried them in my fan oven at 100•c. I left the door open slightly as to avoid burning them. I kept checking to check when they had dried and then took them out and jarred them in an old empty spice jar. If you don't have lavender growing in your garden you can source this from health food stores and other similar shops. I haven't tried this recipe without the lavender but if you fail at finding this I'm sure the syrup will still taste delicious.

I didn't use the food colouring. I'm a big fan of no artificial colouring foods and drinks so opted to leave this out. It does give the cola a good dark caramel colour if you so desire, as without this the recipe makes for a very pale orange coloured cola.

Utensils needed

Zester or fine grater

Tsp and tbsp measurements

Heavy based pan

Large bowl

Sieve

Muslin or cheesecloth

Step 2: Boil and Simmer

In a heavy based pot over a medium heat, bring 2 cups of water to a simmer.

Add the zests, cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise, lavender, ginger, vanilla pod and citric acid.

Reduce to a lower heat, cover and leave to simmer gently for 20 minutes.

Step 3: Whirl Sugars

If you have a food processor to hand it is best to whirl the sugars together then transfer them to a large bowl.

If you don't have a food processor simply transfer the sugars to a large bowl and mix them together with a spoon or by hand. It's being dissolved at a later stage so this doesn't make much difference.

If you are using the food colouring add this to the sugars at this stage.

Step 4: Prepare Sieve and Strain

Line a sieve or colander with a double thickness of cheesecloth or muslin. Place this on top of the bowl containing the sugars.

Once the ingredients have simmered for 20 minutes pour them through the lined sieve onto the sugars.

Gather up the corners of the cheesecloth or muslin and twist the top making sure to squeeze all of the lovely flavourful goodness out of the cloth. You can press the cloth against the side of the bowl with a spoon to squeeze and remaining juices as to not burn your hands.

Step 5: Stir and Dissolve

Stir the sugars and the flavourful hot liquid until the sugars are dissolved. This can take a few minutes as there is a lot of sugar.

Step 6: Chill and Enjoy!!

Jar the syrup and chill in the fridge. Once chilled, mix 1/4 cup of syrup with 1 cup of soda water (seltzer). It doesn't taste like store bought cola very much but the flavours in this drink seem to scream COLA!! It is very pale in colour but that's because the real stuff has dark food colourings in it. This is how it should look. It's the closest you're going to get at home using real and fresh ingredients.

I'm sure if you added some extra vanilla flavouring you could make vanilla cola. And mixing it with Rum is delicious.

Serve ice cold and enjoy your home made Cola.