Bob Cross of Revenue Analytics explained to Bloomberg Businessweek that Coke relies on a deeply complex algorithm for every step of the juice-making process. The algorithm is designed to accept any contingency that might affect manufacturing, from weather patterns to shifts in the global economy, and make adjustments to the manufacturing process accordingly. Built into the model is a breakdown of the 600-plus flavors that are in orange juice that are tweaked throughout the year to keep flavor consistent and in line with consumer tastes. Coke even sucks the oxygen out of the juice when they send it to be mixed so that they can keep it around for a year or more to balance out other batches. Doug Bippert, Coke's vice president of business acceleration, calls it "a flight simulator for [Coke's] juice business." (Funnily enough Delta uses the same algorithm to balance its books.) "If we have a hurricane or a freeze," Bippert added, "we can quickly replan the business in 5 or 10 minutes just because we've mathematically modeled it." We call it deceitfully industrial, especially for a product called Simply Orange.

The good news is that the highly orchestrated process is also highly efficient. Bloomberg Businessweek says "oranges can go from grove to glass in less than 24 hours" during the peak spring season, although, as we just said, you're probably going to get a little bit of juice from last season in there since Coke mixes the batches to balance out the flavors. It's not a terrible surprise that they make these natural-sounding brands in a giant, steam-belching factory. This is America! We process our food. And just because consumers have been catching on to this fresh and natural trend the past couple of decades, that doesn't mean that the food and beverage industry is going to throw out the old ways of doing things. Especially, when there are billions of dollars on the line. Coke raked in $4.6 billion in the U.S. for its not-from-concentrate juice products last year.

In conclusion, if you want that freshly squeezed orange juice experience, buy a juicer.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.