"beverage" news and stories

A recently completely study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health provided another piece of ammunition in the ongoing battle to get sodas out of schools. After observing kids at 10 middle schools, it was found that 71% buy "sugar-sweetened beverages from school vending machines." Water was the second most popular drink, but soda sales tripled its numbers.

Perhaps the conclusion of the study was that access to soda was too easy and that this is another reasons schools should make them less available, but the study did not compare soda purchases from, say, a machine stocked with non-sweetened drinks. Even though there was water in the machines, if you have even looked at a soda machine on a school campus, you'll notice that water is only one of the 8 or so options, if it is there at all. Yes, students are buying too much soda if the middle school students from the study are drinking it down on a daily basis, but the kids want to buy something and an alternative should be provided - otherwise they'll just wait until school is out and head across the street to buy a soda from the nearest fast food joint or convenience store.

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The editors of BevNET, a beverage industry news and review site, launched their BevBlog a few weeks go. So far, the blog features commentary on beverage marketing, such as the redesigned Sprite can and the POM Tea line. Really, most of the posts focus on what the BevNET editors consider failed attempts and near misses in beverage advertising and packaging. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's a fun read and I look forward to seeing what it turns into in the future.

After lamenting the sweetness of the energy drink + vodka combination over drinks at a Los Angeles bar in 2004, David Mandell wondered whether he could caffeinate vodka itself. It turns out that you can caffeinate it, as Mandell has just introduced p.i.n.k., a plain vodka infused with caffeine and guarana. The trick in developing it was not just to mask the flavor of the guarana and eliminate its color, but to remove all flavor from the vodka. The end product is intended to produce the same energizing affect as a drink like Vodka Red Bull without any of the extra sugars. One drink of p.i.n.k. contains the same amount of caffeine as a 3/4 full cup of coffee, or about 80 mg. By way of comparison, one can of Red Bull contains that much caffeine as well, so it is easy to see how much more concentrated p.i.n.k. is.

The vodka, which sells at a $40 per bottle price that puts it in the same range as ultra-premium vodkas like Grey Goose, has been available in New York State for several months, but Mandell is hoping to a national release soon.

[Image NYT]

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Snapple is launching a line of new white teas, due to hit shelves during the summer. White teas are made with young tea leaves and are high in antioxidants. They are known for their light, delicate flavor, which Snapple has blended with fruit flavors, including apple, nectarine and raspberry. The company plans to market the beverages, which will be sampled in stores nationwide, for its health benefits and all natural ingredients, as well as the facts that white teas are naturally decaffeinated and the drink has 30% fewer calories than other Snapple teas, though it is still sweetened with real sugar, not artificial sweeteners.

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I have to admit that I had mixed feelings about tasting Coca-Cola Blak. After I mentioned its release a few weeks ago, the amount of hype seemed to go through the roof. People loved the idea or people hated the idea; there was no middle ground. I assumed that I would not really like it before I tried it. After all, a drink that was hyped as much as Blak couldn't be good - could it? The thing that I failed to take into consideration is that I love coke and I love coffee. I also really liked Coca Cola Blak.

Let me say that it is definitely not a soda for everyone. I almost felt like I was cupping a coffee, which is the process where you sip and sniff and seek out all the underlying flavors in a sample of coffee. The coffee flavor was strong enough that I automatically looked for flavor notes, which I found. The drink tastes quite strongly of caramel, or perhaps burnt sugar without any bitterness, and there are similar fruity notes to the ones I like in my coffees. There was a good amount of bubbles - not so much as to be distracting, but Blak still fizzed like mad when poured into a glass. The only negative is that it is quite sweet. I wouldn't mind a small reduction in sweetness, but overall, they did pretty well with this drink.

Did it taste like coca cola? Not really, but it did taste good.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]