Coke with Coffee is a soda that yells at you with sugar. It writes flavor emails in ALL CAPS. It has zero chill -- and double the caffeine of normal Coca-Cola.
The newest spinoff from Coca-Cola has mistakenly been called coffee in a can. That’s not really the case. This is very much still soda, just with some coffee vibes. With that said, it’s still potential nightmare fuel if it somehow ends up in the hands of a child.
Coke with Coffee hit shelves with three different flavors: Dark Blend, Vanilla and Caramel. There are also zero-sugar versions of Dark Blend and Vanilla. (Note: I’ve yet to track down the zero sugar versions).
From what I’ve seen, they’re available as singles and in four-packs. If you’re curious, start out with the singles. These things do not pull any sugar punches and may leave you in a state of punching holes in walls before falling asleep in a sugar-crashed heap on the couch. (Source: My couch)
Coke with Coffee
Let’s use a beer analogy. If Coca-Cola is the normal flagship IPA from a big brewery, Coke with Coffee is the wacky, heavy double IPA that comes out as more of an over-the-top gimmick made with crazy ingredients.
But instead of bumping the alcohol by volume, Coke has jacked up the caffeine content.
Coke with Coffee has 69 mg per 12 oz. can. That’s 5.75 mg per ounce. That’s just over double the caffeine content of normal Coca-Cola (2.85 mg per ounce).
Yes, there’s very real caffeine bump. But even the inclusion of coffee doesn’t jack it up into the range of actual coffee.
Dunkin’ hot coffee has 210 mg of caffeine in a 14 oz. medium cup. That’s 15 mg per ounce -- over two-and-a-half times the caffeine of Coke with Coffee.
That’s not to say this stuff won’t give you a kick. It will kick you off the moving vehicle called life and leave you with a short-lived caffeine-sugar buzz.
Yay for soda.
So what does it taste like?
Here are the three flavors, starting with the straight-up coffee version:
Coke with Coffee: Dark Blend (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)
Dark Blend
The cola and coffee are a fusion of two incongruous flavors. But they play together surprisingly well. The Coca-Cola opens up with the familiar flavor fanfare of mellow, buttery sweetness. But then the coffee comes out with a bitter-spice buzz of coffee and then the mellow, buttery sweetness of the cola.
It definitely tastes like Coke. Not cola - Coke. It hits that familiar tang that clangs around your mouth as you taste. It’s less a flavor than a sensory attachment to a soda institution.
But then there’s the coffee. It’s not immediately apparent as you take a sip. But then it starts to open up across your palate, with tendrils of coffee flavor branching out in the gaps, filling out and melding with the flavor in your mouth.
It’s weird. It’s definitely an ambitious combination of flavors. But if coffee and Coke both vibe with you, it’s something worth going back for.
Coke with Coffee Vanilla
Vanilla
So now we’re up to three flavors going on at one time. It’s a similar sort of balancing act as the original. But this one has more sugar fireworks popping off when you take a sip.
This version slides into that Vanilla Coke lane, combining the usual Coke vibes with that cloudy haze of vanilla. It’s definitely one of the more unusual Coke flavors.
The coffee element is definitely less present here. It’s the soda equivalent of a vanilla latte. There’s so much going on with the sweet elements that the coffee gets overpowered a bit. You mostly taste it in the form of roast-y vibes in the aftertaste.
It makes sense for a vanilla latte to cover up the coffee taste for people who don’t like coffee. Here, it doesn’t make quite as much sense. I mean, why don’t you just get a Vanilla Coke?
Coke with Coffee: Caramel (Nick O'Malley, MassLive)
Caramel
If you’ve ever had a can of Coke and thought, “Boy, I wish this had more sugar and caffeine,” well I’ve got good news for you.
This is super-Coke. It takes that sweet, caramelized sugar elements of the cola and jacks that up further. The taste comes off as a bit more thick and syrupy. With that sat, it actually works pretty well, blending those heavier caramel vibes to create a new Coke experience.
After tasting this, I’m actually surprised they don’t sell caramel Coke. I feel like it would sell.
I was so focused on the caramel flavor that, after a while, I forgot that this was Coke with Coffee. The roasty elements show up the least out of any of the flavors here.
This is the soda equivalent of a caramel macchiato, a bastardized foamed caffeine construct that’s more sugar-milk than coffee.
There’s no real point in this being Coke with Coffee. But since there’s no normal version, it might be worth it. This whole Caramel Coke concept works pretty well.
So is it any good?
Yes, as far as over-the-top sodas go.
I’ve cut down my soda consumption in recent years, so pretty much everything tastes loud and sugary these days.
Still, I liked this. It’s colorful, but not cartoonish. It’s loud, but not overbearing.
This is a weird idea, but Coke actually stuck the landing.
The final word
Real talk for a moment: If you’re looking for a morning pick-me-up, caffeine as a substance does work.
But don’t forget to drink water. Coffee and soda will wake you up, but so will not being dehydrated.
https://www.masslive.com/food/2021/...-drank-all-3-flavors-so-you-dont-have-to.html
