Search icon

Feature

20th Dec 2016

It’s Green, It’s White – Does It Taste Alright?

niallharbison

WTF?? Coke in a green can. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it for the first time. There is something about it that just doesn’t look right on the shelf, and people have been doing the double take as green Coke launches across Ireland this week. It’s nothing to do with Ireland however, but rather a new sub brand they are trying out that has less sugar and a big budget marketing campaign. This is no doubt in response to health conscious young people steering away from sugary soft drinks and which has even forced Coke into launching their own milk in America. We decided to put Green Coke to the test and see what it was all about seeing as so many people are talking about it online…

People are starting to spot it in the shops this week

And they don’t really know what to expect when they open it…

With some pleasantly surprised

While some are claiming it is a marketing gimmick

But plenty of people seem to like it too

Our Take On Green Coke

I’m an absolute nut when it comes to Coke. I drink one with my lunch every single day. It has to be the real deal and none of that light or zero rubbish. I get that offering a lower sugar content appeals to some but to me it just tastes rotten. Same with Pepsi, which I can taste a mile off and don’t get me started on all that organic cola nonsense. I like my Coke loaded with sugar, full fat and in a bright red can that the big corporation has hooked me on over the last 35 years of my life. I know it isn’t good for me but I figure there are a million worse things I could be doing in life. So when I tested the new green version today I wasn’t exactly overwhelmingly excited about the prospect…

Screen-Shot-2015-02-09-at-20.29.40

Coke life has 35% less sugar than the real Coke which has been replaced with a natural sweetener called stevia. That gives you 290 calories instead of the 450 in real Coke. To me it tasted nothing like the real thing. Not even close. It tasted exactly like Coke light or Zero both of which I dislike anyway. I didn’t even get a quarter of the way through the can which tells you all you need to know. If I’m going to be drinking Coke, I don’t care about the 30% decrease in sugar and I’m not going to ruin one of the highlights of my day drinking this. It’s all about marketing of course and I’m probably not their market (all marketing materials feature glamorous girls) so it might work. I’ll be sticking to the real thing for now like I have for over 2 decades.

Screen-Shot-2015-02-09-at-20.30.17

Topics: