Do you like coffee? How about Coca-Cola? What if we told you that Coca-Cola has combined the two into a flavored coffee drink?
Folks in Japan are enjoying Coca-Cola Plus, a vending machine-exclusive beverage, according to Shin-Shouhin. Each 190ml can has 34mg of caffeine and only 42 calories, which means it has fifty percent more caffeine and fifty percent fewer calories than a normal can of Coke. The drink is made using sweeteners, and the coffee part comes in the form of extract powder. Shin-Shouhin describes the taste as “somewhat like cola, but with a coffee aftertaste.”
This type of a drink isn’t a first for Coke. The short-lived Coca-Cola BlāK was launched in the United States and Europe around 2006 and discontinued in 2008.
People have had mixed reactions to the taste. The writer of the Shin-Shouhin article writes, “I didn’t think it tasted good, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” adding in their critique that the aroma is “curious” and “odd.” Maybe Coca-Cola and coffee isn’t a match made in heaven, but we’ve seen worst energy drink products (ahem, Four Loko) get guzzled down by those needing to pull an all-nighter.
If you want to try it, you’ll have to wait until it comes to the States. Or if you’re feeling ambitious, cop some plane tickets to Japan and plan a Coca-Cola Plus adventure.
