The Unbearable Lightness Of Coke
Posted on | April 30, 2008 at 6:34 am | 3 Comments
One additional bit of infamation about the Mexico trip. I noticed that they don’t have Diet Coke down there. Instead, it’s called “Coca-Cola Light”. Similarly, there’s “Pepsi Light” instead of “Diet Pepsi”.
I’m not sure how the formulation is difference, except perhaps that there are more Cyclamates, but the Coke Light tasted way different to me than Diet Coke. (I didn’t get a chance to sample Pepsi Light, as that was not as readily available. Evidently, Cancún is like Atlanta.) I didn’t like the taste of it at all, either the canned or fountain versions. (Not sure if I’ve ever expressed this preference here before, but I prefer Diet Coke from the fountain and Diet Pepsi from the can.) N was like “I’ve never seen you not drink so much pop.” But, y’know, why drink pop anyway when free alcohol is so prevalent?
Plus, I don’t understand the whole “Light” naming thing. Shouldn’t it be “Coke Luz”? Or “Coke Lite”? Or something like “Coke Menos” (less)? Apparently it’s Coke Light in other (non-Spanish speaking) countries as well, so I guess they wanted something universal. And what’s wrong with the word “diet”? I was too bored to research it properly on the Internet. But my main question remains: Why does it taste so freakin’ different from Diet Coke?
Pet Peeve of the Day: On a related topic, I tried a can of Diet Coke Plus recently. This is Diet Coke plus “vitamins and minerals”. It was wretched. I’m not sure if it was the added minerals or the acesulfame potassium used as a sweetener (in addition to aspartame), but something about it made my taste buds and stomach rebel. Maybe it’s the green tea.
Latre.
P.S. I did buy GTA4 on release day yesterday. Haven’t put it in the machine yet though…
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “phobias of 2008″.
Comments
3 Responses to “The Unbearable Lightness Of Coke”
April 30th, 2008 @ 9:11 am
I’ll have to ask my Spanish-speaking friends if it just wouldn’t translate correctly. One of them pointed out a soda whose name, translated to Spanish, would be “goes to your ass.”
My guess is that it is just marketing, that low-cal is typically called ‘light’ there.
April 30th, 2008 @ 11:50 am
It was Coke Light in Jamaica too. Can’t comment on the taste vs diet coke because I drink caffeine-free diet coke, which tastes different anyway. Couldn’t find any low-calorie caffeine-free sodas in Jamaica in the coke/pepsi/drpepper/rootbeer class, nor even in the 7up/sprite group; just orange and that ilk.
Wound up drinking a lot of super-high-calorie fruity/frozen rum drinks. Fattening, but no caffeine. And free at the resort. My favorite was a “Creama Colada”, recommended by one of the hotel staff. You put a lot of O’Rileys Rum Cream in the cup (way more than you’d put rum in a Piña Colada) and put the frozen Piña Colada mix on top. I’ve discovered that Rum Cream doesn’t seem to be available in the US, though. Good excuse to go back to Jamaica, Mon.
May 1st, 2008 @ 5:11 pm
Well, I think diet sodas are called “Light” here too, and most of the natives claim to speak some variant of English! Then again, movies sometimes have slightly altered titles, familiar American cars have different names, and I could write a book on the host of other minor changes – it’s like a whole ‘nother country, y’know?