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Vanilla cola and Derivatives


Jinmyo

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I tentatively bought a single 20 oz. bottle of Pepsi Vanilla today at the grocery store because I had been warned.  But I was surprised.  It's better than Vanilla Coke.

my wife fully agrees w/you. We are generally Coke product people as well when making a soft drink choice.

"I did absolutely nothing and it was everything I thought it could be"
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The Diet Vanilla Pepsi in my opinion is really quite an impressive product. It manages to retain the same exact vanilla cola flavor even with the artificial sweetners without being cloying.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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  • 2 years later...

Coke to phase out Vanilla Coke

The announcement came a day after Coca-Cola said it would phase out Vanilla Coke and Vanilla Diet Coke in the United Kingdom early next year. The company said sales have declined.

Coca-Cola added that it plans to introduce Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke and Black Cherry Vanilla Coke in the United States in January 2006.

The company said Vanilla Coke, which was introduced in the United States in 2002 and Diet Vanilla Coke in 2003, could return sometime in the future. Details about whether Diet Coke With Lemon, which made its U.S. entry in 2001, would be brought back were not available.

I always felt that Vanilla Coke had an insipid, artificial flavor. Here's hoping the black cherry version is better.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Well, I am hoping they use some entirely different flavoring agent for the vanilla rather than the one they are using now. Even black cherry won't cover up that really artificial taste.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Strangely, Vanilla Pepsi is pretty good. And it's hard to understand why Coke would have made such an artificial-tasting product. Artificial vanilla is usually simply vanillin, which is the main flavor component of vanilla. It's not as complex as the real thing, which has a zillion subtle flavor components, but it doesn't taste all that "artificial."

On the other hand, I read somewhere that a big reason behind the flop of "New Coke" was the substitution of vanillin for vanilla extract.

--

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I've been wondering what it would be like to put a drop of vanilla extract in some diet cola...to see if it would be better.

Not curious enough to *try* it, of course. But wondering if anyone else ever has.

"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best --" and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. - A.A. Milne

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  • 4 weeks later...

I had the same opinion until I mixed natural vanilla rum and coke together. It tasted like Vanilla Coke. I'll try it with natural vanilla extract sometime soon to see if there is any difference.

Coke to phase out Vanilla Coke
The announcement came a day after Coca-Cola said it would phase out Vanilla Coke and Vanilla Diet Coke in the United Kingdom early next year. The company said sales have declined.

Coca-Cola added that it plans to introduce Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke and Black Cherry Vanilla Coke in the United States in January 2006.

The company said Vanilla Coke, which was introduced in the United States in 2002 and Diet Vanilla Coke in 2003, could return sometime in the future. Details about whether Diet Coke With Lemon, which made its U.S. entry in 2001, would be brought back were not available.

I always felt that Vanilla Coke had an insipid, artificial flavor. Here's hoping the black cherry version is better.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I tried the regular Black Cherry Vanilla Coke today -- its not bad, but I'm waiting to try the Diet version next before I completely pass judgement. Generally speaking I feel that Coca Cola does a better job with their Diet flavors then their regular ones, at least in the last 3 years or so.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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So I've tried the Diet Coke Black Cherry Vanilla to compare with with the regular version -- and I like it better. I think that the vanilla/black cherry combo on the regular tends to make an already sweet drink sweeter, whereas on a diet, it smooths out the diet aspects and make it taste more like a regular soft drink.

Its interesting how with the new flavors, Coke is still staying with the tried-and-true Nutrasweet/Ace K combo for their sweetner system. While I think Splenda improves certain products, I have to say that compared with Coke Zero, which is Nutrasweet/Ace K based, Diet Coke with Splenda is underwhelming.

The cola element in Diet Coke Black Cherry Vanilla tastes more like Coke Zero than Diet Coke's to me, which is a good thing.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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I don't drink much soda, but I enjoyed Vanilla Coke the few times I tried it; didn't find it "mediciney" at all, and thought the vanilla flavor was somewhat decent for a mass-produced junk drink. Never tried the Pepsi one...

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So I've tried the Diet Coke Black Cherry Vanilla to compare with with the regular version -- and I like it better. I think that the vanilla/black cherry combo on the regular tends to make an already sweet drink sweeter, whereas on a diet, it smooths out the diet aspects and make it taste more like a regular soft drink.

Its interesting how with the new flavors, Coke is still staying with the tried-and-true Nutrasweet/Ace K combo for their sweetner system. While I think Splenda improves certain products, I have to say that compared with Coke Zero, which is Nutrasweet/Ace K based, Diet Coke with Splenda is underwhelming.

The cola element in Diet Coke Black Cherry Vanilla tastes more like Coke Zero than Diet Coke's to me, which is a good thing.

Got a 12 pack of the cans of the Diet Coke Black Cherry Vanilla and it was much better than I expected it would be. Neither the cherry nor the vanilla overwhelm and it certainly has none of the horrible taste of the Vanilla Coke.

At one of my local supermarkets the 12oz cans were 4 12 packs for 10 dollars. At the other one that did not have the sale they were $4.39 for one 12 pack.

When I managed bars I knew that fountain soda was a license to print money. Canned soda seems the same

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  • 10 months later...
  • 5 months later...
I always felt that Vanilla Coke had an insipid, artificial flavor.

I agree 100%. Vanilla Coke, which I held high hope for, is wretched stuff.

The all new Vanilla Coke is back. I saw it in a case a local deli on Tuesday. I did NOT try it as I was having a reuben and did not want to have vanilla anything with it. The first version, as I opined above 18 months ago, sucked. Anyone tried this new version?

Also I understand that Vanilla Zero is now in limited release, but I have yet to see that

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have been seeing Vanilla Zero around in the markets for a few weeks. Today I saw my first single for sale and I had to try it. I got a 20oz bottle. It was ok, better than the old Vanilla Coke I lambasted. Still, I doubt it will be anything I try again. The flavoring with the Zero tastes funny to me. It had a sort of vanilla after taste that was really pretty pleasant. Still, I think that vanilla just may not be the best with Zero.

I have not tried the new Vanilla Coke, and most likely won't

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  • 2 weeks later...

Agreed that the Vanilla Zero is better than Diet Vanilla Coke.

However.

About six years ago, at a diner in Elgin, IL, near the Park and Ride train depot (the name escapes, and anyway isn't important as the drink is not unique), I had Coke with vanilla syrup as part of a terrific diner meal while waiting for a train on a blustery day.

It ruined me.

I cannot drink the assorted flavored colas on a regular basis (except as a caffeine delivery system) to this day.

Simple syrup infused with a vanilla bean pod is a terrific thing...what else are you going to do with that pod after you've taken the goodness from within?

All of the above holding true, my favorite vanilla-flavored soda is actually the cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper. Both the regular and diet versions seem nicely balanced (probably the product of Dr. Pepper's already more versatile flavor), and are IMO superior to Coke's offerings. If only there were a Dublin (i.e., with cane sugar instead of HFCS) version...

Tim

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