April 11, 2006

Coke Blak

Coffee plus Coca-Cola sounds like the Frankenstein's monster of soft drinks. Filled with coffee extract and caffeine Coca-Cola Blak is an energy drink looking to stake a claim with the espresso crowd. The "fusion" (to steal from the bottle) of coffee and cola surprised my taste buds.

When the cap comes off you smell the familiar cola aroma. Along with it comes mocha and coffee scents. If you did a blind smell test you could momentarily mistake Blak for a bottled Starbucks Frappuccino.

The soda's mouth feel isn't different from any ordinary Coca-Cola. There's no Frapaccino-like creaminess. It feels like you're drinking a soda. The taste isn't bad. The coffee flavor isn't strong. Both the cola and coffee balance well. Nothing dominates.

Calorie-wise it's a winner with only 45 calories in an eight ounce bottle. The biggest downside is it's $6 for a four-pack. If it's $1.50 a bottle in a supermarket it will easily run over $2 in convienence stores. That's putting it into Red Bull country only it's not as mixible with alchohol (although adding Kahlua could make for something very yummy).

Coca-Cola Blak is a more adult taste. It's sweet but with an earthy, coffee flavor that's more sophisticated than any Coke product out there. The best part of Blak is its glass bottle in the old school style.