This Is What I Drink : 59

Soda Special

I was originally going to review each of these in a separate post, but I thought it would be pretty interesting to talk about them together. On one hand we have the most famous soft drink in the entire world, Coca-Cola. You probably have had it a lot, so it's probably silly for me to go into an in depth review of its taste. I will tell you that it's certainly not my favorite cola. On the other hand we have a name brand root beer from a boutique chain grocery store (unfortunately I already reviewed their cola, that would have worked nicely.)

This particular Coke can is different as you can probably see. It comes in a 7.5 ounce size rather than the typical 12 ounce. It only has 90 calories. Instead of making a product with less sugar (though they tried with the failed C2 brand), Coke has just made a smaller size. The TJ's root beer is a full 12 ounce bottle with a full 140 calories and 40 grams of sugar. Directly comparing these products is a bit foolish, but I think they are an interest contrast of the times. Coke has stuck to its "original" formula (except not using real sugar, a pretty big difference) for over a hundred years now. TJ's has only been making their soda products for a few months now as far as I know. It's a pretty good gourmet root beer though. It uses anise, wintergreen, tahitian vanilla, birch, sassafras, and cane sugar to create a classic yet complex root beer.

I thought I had a better point when pairing these beverages together, but I suppose it's that if you look past the history of it all, Coca-Cola isn't all that special. In terms of ingredients and taste, the TJ's product is superior. Unless there's something special in the "secret Coke recipe", then they've just gotten by on being there first. I'd like to see Coke take a stab at something at least like Pepsi Throwback and use cane sugar. Maybe that's too much a reminder of the "New Coke" fiasco. I suppose we can always settle for passover Coke, though I've never been able to track it down.