There was an interesting post on Digg this morning about an open source cola project. The beverage dubbed OpenCola is “an open-source cola beverage that invites makers to create and modify their recipe to achieve a better beverage. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License.” A Canadian company created the beverage and was founded by Grad Conn, John Henson and Cory Doctorow.

I thought the most interesting/scary part of the recipe was the warning section which I will reproduce below.

Warnings

• Caffeine can be toxic in high doses. Be careful not to add too much to your mixture, and do not ingest large quantities. 
• Many of the oils needed for flavoring can burn skin. Use caution when preparing. They can also dissolve the plastic lining of a refrigerator; store with caution.
• Gum arabic is available in two forms, art grade, and food grade. Be sure to get food grade Gum arabic, or you could have an unpleasant toxic reaction.  

I think open source initiatives and sites such as wikiHow.com are great, and a valuable resource for adventurous do-it-yourselfers. However, judging from the warnings I think I might leave making my own cola to the professionals at Coke and Pepsi, or perhaps a better idea is to not even drink the stuff.