"cola" news and stories

Imagine that you have been handed a large red snow cone or shaved ice on a hot day. As you take a bite, the first sensation is coolness, followed by a flavor that is somewhere between strawberry and cherry, with a faintly bubble-gum flavored aftertaste. Now, imagine that you take a swig of Pepsi immediate after taking the bite from the snow cone and you'll have a very good idea of what diet Pepsi Jazz Strawberries and Cream tastes like.

The soda is definitely more like that syrupy, artificial "strawberry" than like a real strawberry, but the new Pepsi flavor isn't bad at all, especially if you happen to like those red snow cones. As a point of comparison, the Dr Pepper Berries & Cream is a little bit more subtle, but both are interesting alternatives to the now standard cherry-vanilla colas, though it seems like both berry-flavored drinks are a little too sweet to be something you would reach for everyday.

The highest court in India has demanded that Coca-Cola and Pepsi reveal the chemical composition and ingredients of their products after a study that was released on Wednesday showed that the soft drinks contain high levels of insecticides.

The two presiding justices have given both Coca Cola and Pepsi just four weeks to submit a reply, otherwise the court will suspend sales in India. However, Shreyas Patel, a lawyer at Fox Mandal Little realizes that "no one is going to give away a 120-year-old secret, especially in a country like India. Someone would go and make it themselves."

Obviously, he never met these ladies, who already have.

When we first heard about Pepsi Jazz, we wondered whether it would be able to compete with all the other flavored (diet) colas on the market, since it seemed to be joining the game a bit late., especially considering that Pepsi said its first flavor would be Black Cherry French Vanilla. After all, Dr Pepper and Coca-Cola already have their cherry-vanilla colas in stores. Pepsi pinned its hopes on loyal fans switching back once their flavors were released.

Thanks to alert reader Kristina, we now know that Jazz is in the markets - at least, it is in Boston. She says that not only has she seen the first-promised Black Cherry Vanilla Pepsi, but other flavors like Strawberries and Cream and LimeBerry. She was able to taste a bottle of the Strawberries and Cream and reported that "it tasted rather a lot like cotton candy... but in a good way." Frankly, it doesn't sound all that appealing, but LimeBerry sounds intriguing.

Has anyone else tried these new flavors yet?

Update: Click here to read a review of Pepsi Jazz Strawberries and Cream.

Coca-Cola is hoping that the UK release of Coke Zero, nicknamed "Bloke Coke" because it targets a young, male audience, will help reverse a decline in the sales of carbonated beverages in the country. When Coke Zero was launched in Australia with a similar marketing strategy, total sales skyrocketed 19% in only two months. Its marketing campaign, which included a fake blog and other tricks that were decried by media watchdogs, worked well and didn't seem to put consumers off, meaning that Coke actually has its strategy down well for selling Coke Zero.

Coke Zero is, if you haven't had it, a calorie-free soda that is meant to taste more like regular Coke and fill a gap in the marketplace left by Diet Coke, which some perceive as a girly product.

Speaking of girly vs non-girly, Coke Zero was released with black cans and labels in Australia, but white in the US. Which is it in the UK?

 

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All you Tab drinkers out there should get a kick out of a New Yorker story about the love for the pink can in the journalism world. In a recent Talk of the Town section, Ben McGrath quotes several Tab lovers, including Atlantic Monthly owner David Bradley, who describes the diet-cola-loving clique as "a lonely but inspired society." New York Times film critic David Edelstein talks about a keen ability to scan shelves of beverages and find the prized pink cylinder and former Washington Post editor Steve Isaacs even has his journalism students brainstorm story ideas based on Tab. There's also talk of the new Tab Energy drink, but, as long as regular Tab is still around, it doesn't really sound like anyone will care.