Gameboy Genius

Coke Zero

True to my geekiness, I try to ingest a dose of caffeine everyday. And I also have a problem with diet drinks, I usually just can’t stand the sweeteners. Sucralose is extra bad. I actually can’t taste the sweetness in it, it’s just not there. At the same time I feel the bad taste of it which is somewhere between sour and bitter. (But of course, this is my highly personal opinion, I realize many people think sucralose tastes good, or at the very least decent)

So I decided to try Coca Cola Zero for a few days and see what I though about it. Coke Zero is based on aspartam and acesulfam k, which as far as I understand is the same sweeteners as the pre-sucralose diet Coke. So in a way Coke Light could be seen as a modified version of that. My theory is that the CC company realized their mistake with sucralose, but couldn’t recall it because of pride for their trademark.

Coke Zero also has a weird effect when it comes to its carbonation. When opening a can of diet soda, there seems to be more pressure in it, and diet sodas seem to be more explosive when it’s been shaken. And diet sodas also seem to produce more foam, both when pouring it in a glass (Where the foam takes a ridiculous amount of time to settle) and when drinking from the can (Where the foam fills your mouth) The myth (?) that artificial sweeteners are in fact soap are not only related to the taste.
Alas, it seems like Coke Zero, just like any other diet drink, is either more carbonated than regular sodas, or that this effect is caused by the sweeteners.

What about the taste then? Obviously better than diet Coke. And even a pinch better than the old diet Coke. But it still has a very clear texture of sweeteners, and also leaves the regular after-taste in my mouth, but less than either other two types mentioned. In my opinion it’s a fully acceptable drink when drunk with food, which masks the sweeteners pretty well.

Coke Zero still not my preferred way of ingesting caffeine, but I’m pleased to see that Coca Cola did a diet drink somewhat ok.