New Product Review

I love trying new beverages, especially when they're made by my favorite beverage manufacturers.  In this case, we're talking about another product brought to us by my favorite soft drink people, the good folks at Coca Cola.  Their newest product is Coca Cola Blak.

I'd read about Blak a few months ago, but haven't seen any in the stores yet.  Coca Cola Blak is a blend of the carbonation of Coca Cola with real coffee. I think this is Coca Cola's attempt to capture more of the energy drink market, since this drink has a good amount of caffeine.  My co-worker and faithful reader GS mentioned Coca Cola Blak yesterday, saying he saw them in a local convenience store. After I mentioned I'd been wanting to try one, he offered to pick some up.  When he brought in the four-pack this morning and I saw little bottles shaped just like the old school Cokes.  When he handed me the bottle, I expected it to be plastic, but imagine my surprise when I felt the bottle and discovered it was in deed glass - the same shape and size of the old bottles.  The Blak bottles are made from clear glass; no greenish tint like the old ones, and they're covered in a dark plastic wrap.  But they do look pretty cool. 

Enough about the cool packaging.  On to the actual product.  Coca Cola stresses that Blak isn't just another flavor extension of Coca Cola.  I agree.  It honestly didn't taste like coffe-flavored Coke.  But you could definitely smell and taste the coffee.  You could even see it, too - I poured mine over ice in a glass, and instead of regular cola foam, Blak had a coffee-like froth.  The first taste surprised me.  I was expecting it to taste like coffee-flavored Coke, but it really didn't.  It wasn't as sweet as regular Coke, thanks for the aspartame (which makes an 8-ounce serving of Blak only 45 calories, as opposed to about 100 caloires for Coca Cola).  It wasn't bitter, either.  You could definitely taste the coffee, and you could also taste the cola. 

Two co-workers waited until their bottles were good and cold before they performed their taste test, so we could see if there any differences in the Blak being chilled or over ice.  One of them gave me a sip, and to me, the carbonation seemed a bit stronger than when I had mine over ice. We all three agreed that we liked the coffee aroma that you got when you first opened the bottle. After much discussion, we all agreed that we did like Coca Cola Blak, and that we would drink them again.  Coca Cola Blak receives the TWIT seal of approval.