It's official. The new fad is designer beverages and the beverage companies, in their relentless pursuit of market share, continue to chase after the consumers with new mixes, bottle designs and catchy names.
The one that recently caught my attention is Coke zero. Obviously a no-cal brew designed to appeal to the diet drinkers, while attempting authentic taste fidelity. I am a Coke fan myself, but diet Coke, in any form, was never meant to replace the regular Coke for me.
Give me the sugar (or the cheaper corn syrup) and dispense with the chemicals please. It's not so much the chemicals that turn me off. It's the taste. For me no amount of diet gimmick can ever replace the flavor of caloric Coke I've known and loved since childhood.
If it's carbonation I crave, then seltzer water does just fine. When I'm in the mood for Coke, I want the real deal. And if I wanted zero, there's a much more advanced zero-calories beverage out there with superior quenching power. It's called water.
