I may not be a connoisseur of cola, but I know what I like. My favorite cola, as it is with most cola drinkers with taste, is Pepsi-Cola-- not Coca-Cola.

Coke is for commoners and dullards.

There is a proper method for cola drinking. Pepsi should be chilled overnight in a refrigerator at a minimum, preferably two full nights.

A glass container of 16 ounces or less should be filled with ice, preferably rough crushed ice (not small, snow-cone ice). Pepsi should be poured over the top of the ice. Drinking the foam is acceptable. The glass should not be refilled until you drink all the Pepsi.

A thick glass is better than plastic. Pepsi in cans is better than Pepsi in plastic containers. Don’t ask why. It just is. Pepsi from glass bottles is the standard. Fountain Pepsi can be superb, but the quality varies from location to location.

True cola connoisseurs often prefer Royal Crown Cola, though the 100 year old brand is difficult to obtain.

Is cola bad for your health? Of course. What isn’t? Moderation in all things, please.

Cola in all varieties, especially the popular brands, doesn’t have much nutrition, so viewing the nutrition guidelines and ingredients is a waste of time. It either tastes good, or it doesn’t. No matter what, cola still isn’t good for you.

Why? Are you serious? Among the ingredients are few that a good nutritionist would consider healthy-- carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, and a number of acids. Other than taste, cola doesn’t have much going for it.

Members of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) Church forbid consumption of caffeine. Some studies have shown that heart disease can be caused by excessive cola drinking.

What happens to your body when you drink a typical can of cola? It’s not pretty. There’s caffeine crashes, sugar crashes, sugar spikes, dopamine spikes, and the list goes on. After an hour or two you won’t feel as good as you did before you drank the cola.

Drink another. It’ll make you feel better.

Tied of paying the local bottler for your sweet and delicious poison? Make your own with the OpenCola recipe. That’s right. Cola has gone OpenSource.

That means the recipe to make your own cola is free. You’re also free to add or subtract or change any of the cola ingredients to suit your tastes.

If you take out all the so-called dangerous and unhealthy ingredients, what’s left?

Water.

By the way, water is often more expensive in grocery stores than colas and other soft drinks.

Pepsi is still the best tasting cola.