Always torn between reaching for a soft drink or a coffee for your afternoon caffeine pickup? Well now, you no longer have to pick one over the other, as you can have both with Coca-Cola with Coffee.
First announced last July, Coca-Cola with Coffee is now available in ready-to-drink coffee aisles at stores across the U.S. Infused with Brazilian coffee, Coca-Cola with Coffee comes in three signature flavors: dark blend, vanilla, and caramel. The product range also includes Zero Sugar versions of the dark blend and vanilla flavors.
Coca-Cola with Coffee comes in 12-ounce cans, each containing 69 mg of caffeine. For comparison, the same serving of a regular Coke has 34 mg of caffeine and a Diet Coke has 46 mg. The average cup of coffee, meanwhile, has 95 mg of caffeine.
A single 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola with Coffee retails for about $2.32.
The U.S. is the 50th country to launch Coca-Cola with Coffee, which was piloted in Japan in 2018. As to why it took a couple of years before the hybrid drink launched in the U.S., Coca-Cola said in a news release that it tailors the beverage’s recipe and packaging mix in each country to “meet local tastes.”
Brandan Strickland, brand director of trademark at Coca-Cola in North America, said the company spent about two years testing the latest product in the U.S. ahead of the launch. “It’s not just testing a product and a formula, but it’s also making sure that we have the right packaging, that we’re really understanding what consumers want in the drink,” said Strickland.
In preliminary consumer testing, more than 80% of consumers who tried Coca-Cola with Coffee said they would buy it. They are also equally excited to stock the new offering.
This is not the first time Coca-Cola has released a soft drink with coffee in the U.S. Back in 2006, the company launched Coca-Cola Blak, a coffee-flavored version of the regular Coke. The drink was a complete flop that the company discontinued the product two years later. According to reviews, Coca-Cola Blak had a brutal aftertaste.
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola’s competitor Pepsi was supposed to launch Pepsi Café Original and Pepsi Café Vanilla last year, but in a statement to USA TODAY, high consumer demand for Pepsi’s core and existing portfolio impacted the release of its line of coffee-infused soft drink. Pepsi said it is looking to roll out the new flavors sometime this year.