When I was a kid, a friend and I had a list of favourite containers for soda (specifically Coca Cola). We said that it tasted the best when coming out of a glass bottle and the worst from a plastic bottle. Our list went as follows:

1. Glass bottle.
2. Machine coke (as in at the movies).
3. In cans (aluminium).
4. Plastic bottles.

My question is can the material of the container really make such a big difference? My logic tells me that obviously it must, but on the other hand, how big can this really be? Most of our childhood friends agreed with our ranking of the taste, but was this mostly in our heads?

Also, following from this, the machine coke also comes from plastic tubes, so shouldn't this then taste as bad as the plastic bottles? Lastly, if this then really affects the taste of the soda so much, doesn't it then follow that certain (potentially dangerous) particulates are being introduced into the sodas that affect the taste? (The reverse of this, if it doesn't happen, bringing me back to then why the perceived difference in tastes?)