C2 vs Diet Coke: What's the difference?

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Coca-Cola announces new low-carb, low calorie soft-drink, C2. Isn't this what Diet Coke is supposed to be?

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 21:58 (twenty-two years ago)

it's what they call a "mid-calorie" cola. it's for people who don't like the taste of diet coke.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 22:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm thinking it's half Coke and half Diet Coke which would reduce the carbs and calories in half. This is how I usually do it at the movies or Baja Fresh or whatever.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 22:01 (twenty-two years ago)

regular Coke is too sugary sweet for me.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 22:01 (twenty-two years ago)

(nb i love diet coke -- it's all just chemicals innit)

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 22:01 (twenty-two years ago)

spencer otm

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 22:01 (twenty-two years ago)

It's a completely different product -- Diet Coke's never been intended as (and is subtly not marketed as) a diet version of Coca-Cola, for one thing: it's a diet cola from the same company. It sounds like a trivial difference, but there are like 20 different flavor ingredients in Coca-Cola that aren't part of Diet Coke. A diet version of Coca-Cola never succeeded in test kitchens; so many of the ingredients tasted bitter in combination with artificial sweeteners.

C2, on the other hand, has sugar as well as the artificial sweeteners (and includes more than just Diet Coke's Nutrasweet) -- and all or most of those missing ingredients.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 22:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Diet Coke's never been intended as (and is subtly not marketed as) a diet version of Coca-Cola, for one thing: it's a diet cola from the same company.

Then why not just call it what it really is? TAB.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 22:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Cause Tab didn't sell well, and Diet Coke does :)

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 22:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Diet Coke doesn't taste like Tab. That stuff was nappy!

― earlnash, Wednesday, 16 June 2004 23:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm learning from all of this that sometimes, you don't want to dig in too deep.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 23:19 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm an rabid coke fan and won't touch diet coke w/a ten foot pole.

i tried C2 and it's ok. kinda flavorless. almost like you're drinking dark bubbly water.

― JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 23:19 (twenty-two years ago)

JaXon otmfm.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 23:23 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.gocontinental.com/photos2/hunter_t3a.jpg

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 23:25 (twenty-two years ago)

i'll have to try it. i'm a diet dr. pepper girl and will take full-strength coke over unleaded.

― Ask For Samantha (thatgirl), Thursday, 17 June 2004 00:30 (twenty-two years ago)

My wife tried it and said it tastes like chemical-y ass.

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Thursday, 17 June 2004 00:44 (twenty-two years ago)

this is probably for another thread, but has anyone tried Pepsi Blue or Sprite Remix. ohmyfuckingbarf

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 17 June 2004 05:52 (twenty-two years ago)

pepsi blue I sort of liked - it was like koolair with too much sugar and bubbles. okay, I only drank one.

sprite remix is .. hmm, sort of like clearly canadian blackberry if it kicked you in the stomach.

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 17 June 2004 06:06 (twenty-two years ago)

kool...air??

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 17 June 2004 06:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm sure I am missing something but where are carbs in soft drink? I mean sugar is sugar... *confused*.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 17 June 2004 06:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Exactly. Like Coke is a lardy drink anyway. IT'S WATER WITH SUGAR AND FLAVOURING.

Anyone who buys this rubbish deserves to be stupid.

― Lo Boob Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 17 June 2004 06:23 (twenty-two years ago)

kool aiD. it's late. shut up.

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 17 June 2004 06:23 (twenty-two years ago)

damn. I thought their was actually some groovy drink called koolair. thanks for ruining my night.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 17 June 2004 06:26 (twenty-two years ago)

shut. up.

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 17 June 2004 06:27 (twenty-two years ago)

o. k.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 17 June 2004 06:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Trayce: sugar may be sugar, but that doesn't stop sugar being a carbohydrate.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Thursday, 17 June 2004 08:15 (twenty-two years ago)

but has anyone tried Pepsi Blue or Sprite Remix?

Sprite Remix tasted like liquid Scotch Tape.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 17 June 2004 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

you people are crazy. New Coke can suck it, just like it did in 1985 or whatever.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 17 June 2004 16:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Soda seems so crass and unsubtle somehow. Except for ginger ale. Ginger ale's cool.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:26 (twenty-two years ago)

is it going to sport the atkins seal of approval?

― m. (mitchlnw), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I tried it, it's ok, but still too sugary. They should make a C3 that's 1/3 the sugar.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I saw some kind of thing on tv about "New Coke" recently that said it was pulled back off the market before 1985 was over, but I distinctly remember still being able to buy it out of vending machines all the way into the '90s (one in my high school, in particular). Was it just stocked with five year-old product, or was that tv report totally wrong?

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

This subject is very important to me so I will make a list:

Things which are good, in order:
Diet Dr, Pepper
Diet Cream Soda
Vernor's Diet Ginger Ale
Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi
Diet Squirt
Diet Coke
Diet Mountain Dew

The Tab of my youth was so vile I can't understand how anyone drank it.

― Orbit (Orbit), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

New Coke and Coca-Cola Classic coexisted for awhile -- longer than New Coke had to itself -- but I don't think it lasted until the 90s ... I could be wrong, though.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh wait: Coke II, probably. Reintroduced after Classic reclaimed the Coca-Cola, no modifier, label. Regional market coverage.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:39 (twenty-two years ago)

JF - New Coke is still made by Coke in some regions, although some places (like Chicago) it is marketed as Coke III.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Since we've branched out to sodas in general, how far outside the south does Sun Drop go? Seriously, it's the most powerfully tart citrus soda available.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Thanks for the New Coke answers, folx.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:41 (twenty-two years ago)

My favorite diet is Canada Dry Diet Ginger Ale.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, I remember "Pepsi-B" from 'The Simpsons'.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I swear I saw cases labelled Coke III in Chicago grocery stores.

I have relatives who drive from Berwyn to Wisconsin just to buy Tab.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:43 (twenty-two years ago)

It might be III now for all I know, in preparation for C2 (or it might be yet another permutation; Coca-Cola does a lot of the only-available-regionally stuff).

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

no, this was like 3 years ago. I haven't lived in Chicago in a while.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean I know there's a lot of lead time to bring a product to market, but I don't think that's the case here with these, uh, cases.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:55 (twenty-two years ago)

anyone want to hear my Coke and kidney stone story again???

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:55 (twenty-two years ago)

RE: Sundrop
This is what Mt. Dew was supposed to be, but Sundrop is so much better. Do they make a Diet Sundrop? I keep forgetting to look for that when I go home to visit.

― Orbit (Orbit), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah, probably not. No idea, then -- Massachusetts was the last Coke II place I lived in, and that was eight years ago now.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, they make Diet Sun Drop. I can't say I've ever tried it, but I imagine it's still an asskicker even in reduced calorie form.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:58 (twenty-two years ago)

What was Coke II? I got it at a truckstop in the bootheel of Missouri once, and the only difference that I noticed was that it much fizzier than the others.

Cherry RC, #1.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 17 June 2004 18:10 (twenty-two years ago)

discussions i've participated in about C2 recently have shown me that many people do not realize that sugar is a carbohydrate.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Thursday, 17 June 2004 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 14 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

...is a gas. Baby can you dig it?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 19 June 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.mainegoodies.com/food/Moxie/dietb.jpg http://www.mainegoodies.com/food/Moxie/dietb.jpg
http://www.mainegoodies.com/food/Moxie/dietb.jpg
http://www.mainegoodies.com/food/Moxie/dietb.jpg
http://www.mainegoodies.com/food/Moxie/dietb.jpg

OWNED!

― x Jeremy (Atila the Honeybun), Saturday, 19 June 2004 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Where's Luna when we need her!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 19 June 2004 16:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Diet Moxie is the king of diet sodas, obviously.

Luna is keeping mum if she knows what's good for her!

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 19 June 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...

So I finally tried C2. I quite like it. This may change.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know what's good for me, I was taking time to formulate a proper response, to wit:

You are gross.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 18:21 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah i pretty much drink this rather than regular coke now

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 19:02 (twenty-one years ago)

SON OF A...I just realized this shit has aspartame in it. Screw that. I'd rather go out from oversugaring than from whatever freaky cancers aspartame causes.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)

fresca is really good.

worst sodas: dr. pepper, mountain dew, tab, sunkist

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 21:45 (twenty-one years ago)

eight months pass...

OK, I just tried a Diet Coke NOW WITH SPLENDA! See, the problem is that this here tastes a lot like real Coke. The lovely metallic cleanliness that is the aspartame version is sadly missing.

I was surprised at how much closer a facsimile this is of the real thing.

After reading what sucralose is, and reminding myself what aspartame is, I realize I must quit drinking this stuff, and I drink a lot of it.

Should I start drinking coffee? Does anyone here drink iced coffee? Is it ok? I have never had it, it just sounds nasty to me. (I've had frappucinos and yes, well, duh of course milkshakes are awesome).

― Hunter (Hunter), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 02:14 (twenty-one years ago)

iced coffee's great but i put tons of sugar and cream in my coffee so ymmv

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 02:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm thinking that it must take an awful lot of ice to cool down the hot coffee. Is there a trick? Does it come in a can?

― Hunter (Hunter), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 02:37 (twenty-one years ago)

does aspartame really cause degenerative mind disease like my wife claims?

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 02:49 (twenty-one years ago)

yes, you aren't married.

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 02:51 (twenty-one years ago)

It takes a surprisingly small amount of ice to get coffee cool, especially if you're drinking it out of a glass and at a leisurely pace. And what meltiness occurs is a perfectly fine thing; you genuinely do tend to want your cool refreshing iced coffee to be significantly more watery than a hot steaming cuppa.

― nabiscothingy, Tuesday, 24 May 2005 02:53 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm guessing they just let it sit out and get cold maybe? it doesn't taste watered down at least (maybe they factor in how much water icing it will add?), but then again i'm putting a ton of shit in mine. i tried to make iced coffee at home once and screwed it up (it got really watered down) so maybe there is a trick. they have those canned starbuck double shot espresso things that are basically iced coffee.

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 02:54 (twenty-one years ago)

The trick is you cool it off and put it in the fridge before icing it.

The *other* trick is a very tall tumbler and LOTS of ice--but you put a long handled spoon in to absorb some heat and half ice--then pour the rest of the ice in after the coffee is in the glass.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 02:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Pepsi One with Splenda is really good. The new Diet Coke with Splenda needs to work out its branding immediately. The label is like normal Diet Coke but with seemingly random lemon and dull blue accents.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 03:00 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

i'm not sure what makes coke zero different from diet coke or c2, but i like it! it has this really nice whiskey-like quality with a kick of cinnamon and vanilla.

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 19 June 2005 03:03 (twenty years ago)

oh yeah, like i said up top, c2 is a "mid-calorie cola." coke zero is a zero-calorie cola!

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 19 June 2005 03:07 (twenty years ago)

coke zero is a bit too sweet - actually it's kind of like Diet Coke with Splenda. What the hell is up with Coke the company these days? it's confusing!

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Sunday, 19 June 2005 03:11 (twenty years ago)

i don't really like diet coke with splenda (i don't hate it either but it's kind of bland tasting).

i think the coca-cola company is just trying to throw different ideas to the wall and see what sticks. they want to see which diet cola people will actually buy and keep buying.

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 19 June 2005 03:15 (twenty years ago)

coca-cola's official word on the original diet coke (the one launched in 1982) is that it was never supposed to be a diet version of regular coke, it was just a diet cola that they put out under the coke name. and i think coke zero really is a diet version of the coca-cola classic recipe.

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 19 June 2005 03:18 (twenty years ago)

coca-cola done lost its mind

― j blount (papa la bas), Sunday, 19 June 2005 03:22 (twenty years ago)

that's intriguing. (xp)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 19 June 2005 03:22 (twenty years ago)

coca-cola can get away with stunts like this because it will never die! cut its head off and it'll grow RIGHT BACK.

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 19 June 2005 03:32 (twenty years ago)

Why was Tab called Tab?

― Eric H: not a troll, with one exception (Eric H.), Sunday, 19 June 2005 03:36 (twenty years ago)

they made you wanna tab that ass

― j blount (papa la bas), Sunday, 19 June 2005 03:37 (twenty years ago)

those sixties tab ads where the old dude's checking out the teenaged girl playing tennis and going 'oh yeaaaahh, she drinks tab' were creepy as hell, unmatched til like twin peaks or family matters or something

― j blount (papa la bas), Sunday, 19 June 2005 03:39 (twenty years ago)

LOL, yeah. Family Matters and Dinosaurs were the pinnacle of diet soda-level dread -- Tab and Diet Shasta, respectively.

[also, this thread appears to be missing an obligatory "San Francisco International"/MST3K quote from Ned.]

― Eric H: not a troll, with one exception (Eric H.), Sunday, 19 June 2005 03:42 (twenty years ago)

Yeah just the combo of the million different Diet Cokes, Coke Zero, and Coke c2 seems like overkill. anybody remember Okay soda?

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Sunday, 19 June 2005 04:27 (twenty years ago)

we had OK in the soda machine down the hall from my sophomore year dorm room.

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 19 June 2005 04:30 (twenty years ago)

i liked the can design. it was kind of faux-subgenius.

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 19 June 2005 04:35 (twenty years ago)

I was just trying to remember the name of that! With the Daniel Clowes artwork? Tasted just like Red Bull without the speed.

Let me know if anyone comes across any Like soda...

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Sunday, 19 June 2005 04:39 (twenty years ago)

With the Daniel Clowes artwork?

ah, there we go.

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 19 June 2005 04:41 (twenty years ago)

I thought Coca-Cola Zero was somewhat of a response to Pepsi One - diet sodas with extra stuff to make them taste less artificial. Coca-Cola Zero has no initial bite to it, strangely, and it has less of the weird Diet Coke aftertaste. The Coke bite is essential to me, so Zero is disappointing.

A co-worker and I were pondering the existence of cola products named Zero and One, wondering if they wanted to appeal to those who work with boolean mathematics. What RC Cola should do is make RC HEX - 16 awesome calories.

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Sunday, 19 June 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

Drinking Diet Coke with Splenda, I'm drinking like 1/4 as much of the stuff. I seriously think I craved the aspartame version, it was weird. I could chug a can of it, which I just wouldn't do with the Splenda verson.

I haven't tried Coke Zero, but it has aspartame in it and I want that shit away from me. I saw that the reason they made it is to appeal to young males.

i think the coca-cola company is just trying to throw different ideas to the wall and see what sticks. they want to see which diet cola people will actually buy and keep buying.

The original with cocaine seems like the ultimate retro-swerve in that case-- we can all toast to the fact that every year it's more like living in 1890 again.
BUSH FDA LACKEY (fresh from Coke Inc): "The FDA have determined that the presence of cocaine in a soft drink is not subject to tyrannica-, er, to regulation."

― Hunter (Hunter), Sunday, 19 June 2005 20:51 (twenty years ago)

The flavor that we recognize as "cola" is in fact a blend of cinnamon, citrus, and vanilla. The last time I tried regular Coke after becoming accustomed to Diet Coke, it tasted too strongly of cinnamon.

But then what do I know? I only just got around to trying Diet Coke w/ Lime -- a considerable improvement on the Diet Coke w/Lemon Pledge froma few years ago.

― j.lu (j.lu), Sunday, 19 June 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

Coca-Cola Zero has no initial bite to it, strangely, and it has less of the weird Diet Coke aftertaste. The Coke bite is essential to me, so Zero is disappointing.

you get the bite if you drink it ice cold. try putting a bottle in the freezer (i did and it didn't explode).

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 19 June 2005 21:34 (twenty years ago)

Coke Zero is so awesome tasting. It could become my alltime favorite cola beverage, edging out Diet Coke with Lime, which is REALLY saying something considering how much I love Diet Coke with Lime.

I was raised on Diet Coke, Diet 7-Up, Diet Big Red, and Diet Dr. Pepper, so obv those beverages are always going to be the ones I'm going to return to. Whenever I get an upset stomach, for example, I know that Diet 7-Up will cure what ails me. And since I was raised on diet beverages, they don't leave an aftertaste in my mouth. It's only when I'm stuck drinking a regular sugared soda do I notice an overpowering and unpleasant aftertaste that makes me not want to reach for sugary soda more than once in a very great while. I really think it's all in what you're used to, as far as diet sodas are concerned, though I am not-so-secretly glad that most of you on this forum are at least open to diet beverages. There are some people who I just want to shout at, who are pigheadedly anti-diet soda, and trust me, there is such a thing. These people frustrate and confound me.

So. Coke Zero -- brilliant! Diet Coke with Lime -- still lovable! Pepsi One -- hey, I'm drinking that right now! Diet Big Red -- yummy but easy to burn out on! Diet Barq's -- my absolute favorite root beer! Diet Cherry Coke -- my favorite cherry cola! Diet 7-Up -- yummy and refreshing! And so on.

― The Kind and Benevolent Oracle of Dee (Dee the Lurker), Monday, 20 June 2005 04:16 (twenty years ago)

There are some people who I just want to shout at, who are pigheadedly anti-diet soda, and trust me, there is such a thing. These people frustrate and confound me.

especially dud are the people who think it's high-LARIOUS when someone orders something fatty like a cheeseburger AND a diet soda, like "uhhh, if you're on a diet why are you eating a cheeseburger, har har har." erm, who said i was on a diet? maybe i just don't want to get diabetes like all the other women in my family.

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 20 June 2005 04:27 (twenty years ago)

Ok, earlier today I was wondering whether Splenda/sucralose, which is not metabolizable by humans, was able to be metabolized by bacteria (or anything else) and thereby promote tooth decay. I don't want to ditch aspartame poisoning for rotten teeth. The answer according to this dentist is no, but...

if you want motivation to avoid sugar soda besides diabetes,read THIS. It was revolting, but enlightening. For example, don't drink regular soda a little at a time all day, chug it once a day.

― Hunter (Hunter), Monday, 20 June 2005 06:49 (twenty years ago)

(Coca-Cola is the largest single corporate buyer of sugar in the world today.)

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 20 June 2005 07:03 (twenty years ago)

1. Unsweetened fruit juices used in the same way as Coke described above does the same thing to your teeth. Fruit juices contain natural sugar which is just as fermentable as table sugar. Many of our patients work in a local juice bottling factory. They can drink all the juice they want as a perk of the job. Many of them begin to develop major tooth decay only after beginning work there because of the simple availability of all that sugar.

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 20 June 2005 07:24 (twenty years ago)

Have you ever heard of the special batches of Coke that they make with regular sugar (from cane?) instead of the usual corn syrup? I heard the story once somewhere, but for some religious group they do a limited run of this version of Coke, and some people swear there's a difference and go nuts trying to obtain it. Or something.

― Hunter (Hunter), Monday, 20 June 2005 08:18 (twenty years ago)

mexican coke is made with sugar. they sell it all over the place in the southwest although they're really not supposed to.

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 20 June 2005 08:26 (twenty years ago)

and the kosher-for-passover coke is also made with sugar.

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 20 June 2005 08:27 (twenty years ago)

FOR SOME, MEXICAN COCA-COLA IS THE REAL THING
(c) 2004, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas.
Few products are as closely associated with the American lifestyle as Coca-Cola. Yet there appears to be growing demand among US cola connoisseurs for foreign-made Coke, which has real sugar and costs more than the everyday variety made with high-fructose corn syrup.
Unauthorized distribution networks for Mexican-made Coke have sprung up to truck the brown, fizzy soda across the Rio Grande and around the country. In Fort Worth, it can be found at outlets from Central Market and Fiesta Mart to family-owned taco stands.
The Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta says it wants the trafficking in Mexican Coke stopped.
But it has not been able to close numerous leaks -- known in the industry as "transshipments" -- stemming from the franchised bottlers in Mexico, which are unable or unwilling to police distributors.
And lovers of Mexican Coke, ranging from immigrants to US-born residents, are willing to pay a premium of 25 percent or more for the imported variety.
Reasons vary for the cachet that Mexican Coke has earned. Some Latinos are nostalgic for the heavy glass, curvy bottles, some containing a half liter, that they grew up with. Buyers insist that the Mexican bottler's use of sugar cane syrup delivers a fuller, sweeter flavor than US Cokes, nearly all made with cheaper high-fructose corn syrup. (A limited amount of Kosher-for-Passover Coca-Cola is made with cane sugar for certain US markets during the Jewish holiday, when corn-derived products are forbidden.)
Company spokesman Mart Martin in Atlanta says that Coke around the world varies only in choice of sweetener -- high-fructose corn syrup, sugar beet sugar or cane sugar -- and that there's no discernible difference.
The soft drink industry switched from sugar to a 50/50 blend with high-fructose corn syrup in the early 1980s, then shifted gradually to just the corn sweetener, said Richard Adamson, the American Beverage Institute's vice president of scientific and technical affairs.
Adamson, who has a doctorate degree in pharmacology, said the syrup is preferred because it doesn't crystallize like sugar, blends easily with the acid in cola and costs one-half to one-third as much.
But buyers of Mexican Coke are convinced that sugar has a superior taste.
"It's sweeter," said Julia Hoffman, 12, who along with her mother Marie preferred Mexican Coke over Yankee Coke during a blind tasting at Ernesto's Taqueria, which, like the Fiesta Mart supermarket across Eighth Avenue in Fort Worth, sells both kinds. "It has more flavor."
Because Mexican Coke is not a counterfeit product, the Coca-Cola Co. cannot request that US Customs stop it at the border. It is a franchise territory matter, one tricky to enforce because third-party traders are not bound by contracts.
The responsibility rests with Mexican bottlers to control distribution within their designated sales area. Mexico's dominant bottler, Coca Cola Femsa, is 39.6 percent owned by the Atlanta-based Coca Cola Co. But Atlanta won't say if it has determined the source, or sources, of the Mexican Coke.
Despite the murky legal ground, some very big companies are involved in the gray-market Mexican Coke trade.
Kroger supermarkets in Houston, Central Market in Fort Worth and Safeway stores in Denver offer the imported cola, which they receive from a national wholesaler, Gourmet Award Foods. Gourmet is a unit of Koninklijke Wessanen, a large Dutch-based dairy and cereal maker with annual revenues of $3 billion.
"We've been selling Mexican Coke ever since I've been here -- 10 years," said Linda Richardson, a Gourmet Award customer service representative in Dallas. "It's quite popular. In fact, it's hard to keep enough on hand."
Her company buys from an Arlington importer, Sanco Marketing, which declined to comment for this article.
Unencumbered by licensing agreements, numerous distributors openly compete, said Raul Escobedo, sales manager of Houston-based Cyclone Enterprise, a Mexican Coke wholesaler for at least 12 years.
Escobedo said there are at least two importers operating in Texas other than Sanco. Cyclone, which supplies the Fiesta Mart chain, deals with a Laredo-based company.
The Coca-Cola Co. declined to say what measures it has taken to curb the Mexican Coke underground, which, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, has spread to New England.
Ifs Ands & Butts owner Hamilton "Ham" Rousseau says he has heard that several California suppliers received cease-and-desist letters from Coke attorneys to close down their Mexican cola operations. He won't name his own wholesalers, but says he works with several.
For soft drink aficionados like himself, there's no choice but Mexican Coke, the 59-year-old Rousseau said.
Asked to explain the Latin cola's merits, Rousseau gets analytical. "People say Mexican Coke is much sweeter. It just tastes that way. It's literally in the nose and mouth of the beholder.
"High-fructose corn syrup is actually sweeter but it leaves a film in the mouth," he contends.
"That film automatically diminishes your palate, blocking the sweetness. [Sugar cane] sucrose is cleaner and crisper. So if you are used to Coke made with corn syrup, the difference is striking."
The adman-turned-soda pop retailer says the Coca Cola Co. is missing a big opportunity by not offering discerning shoppers what they want and what they are willing to pay more for.

"If they were smart, they'd get into the value-added market," Rousseau said. "And it's a huge market."

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 20 June 2005 08:30 (twenty years ago)

what's the difference between diet coke and Coke One? just picked up a bottle of the latter yesterday and swear it tastes way better than old diet coke. Not quite like regular coke, like there's a different flavor in there that makes it taste somewhat like Thums Up cola or something.

― AaronK (AaronK), Monday, 20 June 2005 12:03 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Just tried Diet Coke Plus "Diet Coke with Vitamins & Minerals" and while it's slightly better than Diet Coke, it's no Coke Zero. Coke Zero Plus could be interesting.

― Spencer Chow, Friday, 4 May 2007 17:33 (nineteen years ago)

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