I discovered yesterday that Coke Zero has finally landed on Australian shores. (This Wikipedia article is particularly helpful in explaining the differences between the various Coke formulas.) I picked up a bottle with my felafel roll and had drunk half of it before I remembered I should be critiquing it. On that basis, I can conclusively state that if you like Coke, you’ll like Coke Zero. It definitely tasted sweeter to my Diet-Coke-attuned palate, but not so sweet that I had to suppress the gag reflex just to get it down. (*cough* Pepsi Max *cough*) Actually the thing I liked best about the new formula is the label design. Very schmick. And is that my favorite font Trebuchet MS on there…?
mike
January 9, 2006 — 1:56 pm
I agree wholeheartedly. Coke zero rocks, and so does your blog. Keep it up.
brigita
January 9, 2006 — 3:37 pm
I am a yooge Coke Zero fan, and while it doesn’t mix with vanilla Stoli as much as I might like (:::cry:::), it’s the first diet soda I’ve been able to consume without spitting it out. Great stuff. Big fan.
Niffler
January 9, 2006 — 4:40 pm
Yep, I’m a big fan, too. We actually got some bottles sent to us in mid-December (it was a marketing thing – we had to fill out a survey).
Anonymous
January 9, 2006 — 11:11 pm
I found that it has a bit of an aftertaste. One way to curb that is to drink it in a frosted mug. For some reason, the colder it is, the less aftertaste.
Manda
January 10, 2006 — 3:49 am
Just last week I found myself wondering if Dr Pepper is still sold in Australia. When I was there in 1998, commercials for it were running before theater movies – a practice which I thought odd. When asked about it, our host said there was a big advertising push behind the brand launch, but it wasn’t catching on.
Kris
January 10, 2006 — 7:27 am
Not anymore, I don’t think. I’ve never seen it available here. I think it fizzled and they took it off the market. (In Sydney, anyway.)
Danielle
January 10, 2006 — 1:09 pm
My fiancé buys me Dr. Pepper for a shocking $3 per can at some chocolate shop in downtown Brisbane. I have to ration them, but it certainly does help when I’m feeling homesick. (Of course, that is the same store that sells Kool-Aid for $2.50 a packet. Last time I checked, it was 20 cents in the States.) A friend got me two cases of Diet Dr. Pepper from a store in Melbourne for my birthday. I cried.
Oh, and as for Coke Zero, I’m with Anonymous… the colder the better.
Frances
January 11, 2006 — 1:03 am
I agree on just about any soda, the colder the better. I like Coke Zero because it doesn’t taste like a diet soda and yet, I am not breaking my daily sugar allowances with ONE can of sin! 🙂
Kris
January 11, 2006 — 7:49 am
If I may interject with a little wisdom from “Encyclopedia Brown,” the colder something is, the *less* you taste it. So what you guys in favor of really cold sodas are saying is that they really taste like crap, but if you get them cold you can’t taste anything. Not a very persuasive argument in favor of them! 🙂
(This is also why the Snook sneers at those new “cold” Guiness taps they put in pubs a few years back. It’s for weenies who want to look like they’re drinking Guinness but not actually taste it.)
jussi
January 11, 2006 — 8:24 am
What i like it is a good pint of Guiness
with 4 cc whisky with it, thats great.
Cold Guinnes, Snook really know what it is.
brigita
January 11, 2006 — 11:16 am
Or like how Milwaukee’s Best was tolerable as long as there was still ice in the garbage cans at a party in Flanner freshman year. 😉
PS: I so hearted EB. I remember the solution to one mystery being that it’s too hard to run and dig into a left pants pocket with your right hand. Think of that every time I have a ton of stuff in my right hand and have to get something out of my pocket (sans running, of course).