Coke BlaK Tasting Notes

Paul Williams, of the Idea Sandbox, recently shared his impressions of Coke BlaK, a coffee infused cola. He also shared an amusing story of when we cracked open and tasted a long-expired coffee soda beverage called Mazagran. Mazagran? In 1994, before Starbucks partnered with Pepsi to create the bottled Frappuccino product, they first produced a coffee-infused cola beverage called Mazagran. Mazagran didn’t last long but while doing the marketing thing at Starbucks, I managed to get my hands on a dusty box of Regular and Spicy Mazagran bottles. Before I left Starbucks in January of 2003, I cajoled Paul into sampling a long-expired bottle of Mazagran – click here for the pictures.

Anyway, I bought a four-pack of Coke BlaK this afternoon and like I did with Pepsi Spice, I’m sharing my tasting notes

Coke BlaK Tasting Notes

Color:
Mahogany autumn-brown hue

Nose
Slight sparkling sweet ginger effervescence gives way to a medley of hazelnut, roasty, and woodsy notes. A subtle coffee aroma is present but overshadowed by other aromas.

Flavor
Initial sip reveals a generic cola-like flatness leading to coffee infused velvety caramel cola flavors. A rounded sweetness with tartness on the sides of the tongue is prevalent but the mouthfeel lacks substance. The finish is tame and heavily tarnished by the artificial aspartame sweetness.

Impressions:
The coffee flavors are underwhelming and when present, taste like low-grade, light-roast artificially-flavored coffee. You could probably recreate the flavor of Coke BlaK by opening up a can of Tab cola and adding a small droplet of brewed hazelnut coffee. Seriously, Coke BlaK tastes a lot like Tab with a slight hint of bad, flavored coffee.

Given all the snazzy and heavily aspirational creative promoting Coke BlaK, this is another example of marketers overpromising and woefully underdelivering. By year’s end, Coke BlaK will enter the blaK hole of beverage missteps from Coca-Cola.

Comments

[Stephen Macklin]

I doubt that I could have ever brought myself to even taste the stuff, let alone pay money for it. And that's without having read your tasting notes! Thanks for enduring that so the rest of don't have to.

[Matt Steele in the Hour of Chaos]

When will you post your review of 7UP Gold?

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Matt ... send me a bottle of the long-discontinued 7UP Gold and I'll gladly post a review.

John Moore
BRAND AUTOPSY
603 West 13th Street
#265-1A
Austin, TX 78701

[Heath Row]

Here's another take: http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2006/04/18/blak_or_blech.html

[Nitin Kochhar]

Hi,

Coca Cola Blak Review: There has been different viewpoints for this particular campaign. Visit http://kitchen.apartmenttherapy.com/food/video/video-review-coca-cola-blak-00764 to get the feel. The different remarks are:
1. Coca-Cola with a little coffee.
2. tastes a little like Coca-Cola and vanilla
3. Strong coffee/aspartame aftertaste. Nauseating scent.
4. remind me of a child molester
5. It's disgusting
6. doesn't coke already have enough caffinee in it?
7. probabally prefer a good coffee

Coca-Cola Blak, it is a coffee-cola fusion in a dark glass Coke bottle with gold lettering. Visit for details on "What happened before Blak was launched": http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/coke/stories/0404bizblak.html

Two years ago, a team inside Coca-Cola's headquarters began a top-secret mission called Project Black. The idea was to create a pick-me-up drink for the over-30 crowd ... This week, the final result arrives at convenience and grocery stores. Called Coca-Cola Blak, it is a coffee-cola fusion in a dark glass Coke bottle with gold lettering...

The company tested about 25 names, which were dreamed up by marketing experts at outside agencies. Just for kicks, executives also tested the name Black, since they had been using it as a working name. Black tested well. The spelling changed to Blak so the company could copyright it, said Marc Mathieu, senior vice president for carbonated soft drink core brands, marketing strategy and innovation...

Also visit:
1. http://www.adpunch.org/entry/welcome-blak-coca-cola-poparazzi/
2. http://www.slashfood.com/2006/03/19/coca-cola-blak-to-hit-shelves-soon/

By going through the anove information, we can come to a conclusion that sometimes rigorous marketing research fails. Even a 11th class student can tell you that this wont work. But problem with marketer is that they have to innovate some way or the other.

This will definately not build a strong brand name for coca cola. Please go throught the advertisement bu clicking on the link at the top.

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Thanks for sharing these articles Nitin. The AJC article is very interesting as it traces Coke BlaK from concept to shelf—a worthy read. According to the article, Coke BlaK wasn't intended to be released in the States but was made for France, Australia, and Spain. However, people within Coke became excited about the product ... reckon after the excitement for C2 and Coke Zero dissipated.

I’m interested to learn how International sales of Coke BlaK are. I’m sure Coke BlaK will generate initial sales in the States based upon the curiosity factor but I doubt repeat sales will follow because the product lacks taste appeal.

[Joe Vasquez]

Actually, the taste, as was confirmed by my equally-addicted Starbucks brother-in-law, was that of someone pouring Coke into my coffee cup that still had a 1/3 of coffee in it...and then things got really bad.

I will say this; we both bought the product on the same day (a four pack for $5) and it wasn't until 4 days later that we both realized this and then to this day, we still have 3 more bottles, each, of the stuff in our cabinets. We can't throw it away nor do we want to give it away for fear of losing friends.

[Crazy cat lady]

It sounds so completely disgusting that I haven't even had the urge to try it. Coffee is good, but not good for you, and the same with Coke. But, the two of them combined just sound so incredibly bad for me, that I don't even want to ingest it. Thanks for warning me that the taste's not worth it!

[Amber A]

Maybe I'm the only who likes this...But not enough to spend the over $1 per bottle for it. I have decided, however, that it would make a great coke float.

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Agreed ... Coke BlaK would work well in a Coke Float. Good call Amber.

[Jayesh]

Hi John,

Intrestingly Pepsi launched a similar drink in India this year called Pepsi Cafechino. And guess what? A miserable flop.

Now when I tasted the Cafechino I hated just as much as you disliked Coke but then I wondered... How can they not know that this drink will fail. I mean forget FGDs and research. A normal pepsi employee could taste this product and say "hey don't launch this. It's terrible." Then why spend million of bucks and go ahead to launch the flavor? Hmmm...

Maybe these drinks which by tasting you iknow are destined to fail, were still launched because they would endear the original Pepsi, or in your case coke, to their consumers... Possible...

Anyways I have more thouhts on this particular topic on my blog. do visit when you have time.
www.thegrandbrandblog.blogspot.com

[jim]

I am reminded of the Max(x) Barry book, _Syrup_, where the protagonist is involved with a beverage targeted at generation Xers. Its name rhymes with "truck"

[dan from Austin]

When a terrible product comes out, I always think of the saying, "There's no accounting for taste." That sums it up to me.
There are a lot of products out there that I think are discgusting, but they seem to find an audience. Who knows why sometimes?

[aaron]

I'm having my first one now, and reading about the vanilla makes me taste vanilla. I think this is great. My taste buds approve.

I was one of the fortunate ones to have Pepsi-Kona back in the 90s. That sucked. Too damned sweet.

I wish there was more a coffee bite in this.

[Brand Eks]

I am addicted to Blak. I absolutely love it. I drank my last bottle today, an I really need to get more tomorrow.

[Synn]

Aaron's right... I'm sucking this stuff back. Not sure if I like the taste, but I KEEP DRINKING IT!! Man, they need to put this in bigger bottles before they discontinue it (which may be soon)

[SonnyD]

I tried one this weekend. The taste starts out good with a vanilla transition from the coke to the somewhat ok coffee taste. While your tastebuds are trying to nail down the coffe taste; the aspertame garbage truck mows you down with it's horrible aftertaste. Ditch the aspertame and you could have an OK product. Stop wasting millions of market research dollars and release Georgia coffee in the US!

[cokeblaktasteslike]

http://www.cokeblaktasteslike.com

[Seal]

Well, considering as though I'm having it right now, I'd say its not worth more than one bottle. A noble attempt, but really would prefer to have real coffee or a real energy drink.

[Gabby]

I am not a soda drinker, but for some reason I love this stuff and can't get enough of it. It certainly is not soda and does not really taste too much like coffee either. The taste is more like a toffee -- I think of this as dessert, not a drink. It must be served ice cold. It is absolutely nauseating if served warm (I could not wait to get home to try my first bottle -- drank it warm in the car -- awful). I decided to give it another shot with ice and I am addicted. I guess because no one likes the stuff, I can't find it in stores anymore. My son found some somewhere the other day and I was so excited. I am sure this product won't last because people seem to hate it. I love the cool packaging. That's what made me buy it in the first place.

[lexi]

I must be one of the few people in the U.S. who ACTUALLY like Coke Blak. In fact, when I can't find it, I really miss the taste. I also liked Jolt so maybe I'm always for the underdog. However, given my inability to find Coke Blak in the north suburban Chicago area, I'm realistic and know that it soon will become one of those vintage drinks. If store owners don't even know what I'm talking about when I ask for it, that's definitely not a good sign...

[WeGotCoffee]

Does anyone know if this (AWESOME) Coke Blak is being discontinued? Save Coke Blak, or send them all to me if you think they are that bad. I already have a supply (bought out all the local stores had). Even got the Coke Blak shirt. Save Coke Blak!

[D F]

Taste Great!!!!! Bottle to small!!!!!

[joe]

My wife and I splurged for the 4 pack (pak?) as a treat when we went on vacation. We somewhat liked it, but my wife can't drink a lot of aspartame or she gets headaches. Nevertheless, I do like the taste OK, but the mouthfeel and the 'aspartaste' leave a lot to be desired. There's a sort of sour, insipid portion of the sip that turns me off.

Being the dark coffee fiend that I am, I need more uumph. I drink doppio espressos black, so Blak just doesn't do it for me in the coffee dept. It would seem that, while I often double-fist a dark, black coffee with a Coke or Diet Dr. Pepper in the morning, that Coke Blak's hybrid idea would just save me some time and dishware. Alas, not really so.

[David]

I tried the American version of Blak. Most of the attitude is in the name and the packaging. The taste itself, surprisingly mild, might appeal to teenagers. (I'm forty.) Coke seems to have gone for easy drinkability instead of distinctiveness. I think Coca-Cola's citrusy flavors would have mixed better with tea than coffee.

For an edgy, up-to-date adult drink, I would have expected an excellent iced-coffee brew, carbonated, with no sweetener, but with a splash of (my bias here) chocolate soy milk.

MŌKA-COLA... there you go.

[HZ]

Where can I find COKE BLAK in Raleigh, NC