What is Diet Coke And Mentos?

Diet Coke and Mentos is the trick of dropping mint candies into a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke, which sets off a fast foam eruption powered by nucleation on the candy's textured shell.

Where did Diet Coke And Mentos come from?

The internet version was popularized by Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz of EepyBird, whose choreographed fountain video was shot on April 29, 2006 and reposted to YouTube on June 14, 2006.

What does Diet Coke And Mentos mean?

The name refers to the two ingredients used in the eruption trick that became a viral video benchmark and a science-class staple after EepyBird's 2006 clip.

How do you use Diet Coke And Mentos?

Drop several Mentos mints into a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke at once, often through a geyser tube taped over the bottle mouth, then step back as the foam column shoots up.

Is Diet Coke And Mentos still popular?

The 2006 EepyBird video had passed 15.3 million views by July 2012, and Steve Spangler was headlining Diet Coke and Mentos-themed education events as recently as June 2025.

Diet Coke And Mentos

2006viral videoclassic

Published August 17, 2026

Diet Coke and Mentos is the trick of dropping mint candies into a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke to set off a foam eruption that shoots soda several feet into the air. The bit went viral in June 2006 after Maine duo EepyBird posted a choreographed fountain video, turning a science-class demo into an early-YouTube signature.

participatory video memes youtube viral late 2000s memes challenge memes science experiment memes

Overview

Diet Coke and Mentos is the trick of dropping mint candies into a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke to set off a fast foam eruption that shoots soda several feet into the air1. The reaction runs on nucleation as carbon dioxide in the soda clings to tiny bumps on the candy's shell, forming bubbles fast enough to push liquid out of the bottle. Diet Coke reacts more strongly than regular Coke, an effect chemists credit to aspartame lowering the drink's surface tension.

The trick took hold online in the mid-2000s after a choreographed fountain video pushed it beyond the classroom demos that teachers like Steve Spangler had been running for years2. It became a middle-school experiment, a nightly-news filler segment, and a reference point for early viral video1.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

EepyBird website / YouTube (viral spread)

Creator

EepyBird

Date

2006

Live TV audiences saw versions of the trick well before it went viral online. Chemistry professor Lee Marek performed a fountain demo on the Late Show with David Letterman on September 14, 19993. Physics teacher Steve Spangler kept running similar demos for local news outlets through the early 2000s2.

The internet version took off in June 2006 when Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, working together as EepyBird, posted a video that mixed more than 200 liters of Diet Coke with over 500 Mentos in a choreographed fountain routine1. The clip was shot in one take on April 29, 2006, and it was reposted to YouTube on June 14, 2006, where it went on to draw millions of views1.

How It Spread

The YouTube repost passed a million views within 12 days of upload1. Grobe and Voltz appeared on Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, NPR's All Things Considered, and the Today Show during July 2006, and Mentos parent company Perfetti Van Melle USA soon began sponsoring their follow-ups3.

A chain reaction using more than 250 Diet Coke bottles was staged in October 2006, and a world record attempt on May 24, 2007 set off more than 500 geysers at once. That mark was broken on October 17, 2010 when Perfetti Van Melle organized a simultaneous eruption of 2,865 bottles in Manila, Philippines3.

By July 2012 the reposted YouTube upload had passed 15.3 million views1. Steve Spangler kept building science-education events around the geyser, headlining a STEM soiree at the Qubein Children's Museum in June 20252.

How to Use This Meme

The setup is simple. Open a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke, drop several Mentos mints in at once, and step back before the geyser hits4. Many builders tape a paper tube or a purpose-made geyser tube over the bottle mouth so every candy drops in at the same time, which pushes the foam column higher and keeps hands out of the splash zone.