I was watching American Idol last night and I saw a commercial for Orange Vanilla Coke.  I was intrigued.  What would this new flavor taste like? A creamsicle? But how does the Coke flavor mix in?

This is Coca-Cola's first new flavor in 12 years, the last was the 2007 debut of Vanilla Coke Zero.

“We wanted to bring back positive memories of carefree summer days,” Kate Carpenter, brand director of Coca-Cola, said. “That’s why we leaned into the orange-vanilla flavor combination — which is reminiscent of the creamy orange popsicles we grew up loving, but in a classically Coke way.”

The folks at Food & Wine tasted the Regular product, comparing the taste to, a Creamsicle. Another editor tried the Orange Vanilla Coke Zero, tasting more of the vanilla in that version.

 “Both taste a bit like you made a Coke float with orange sherbet,” he said. And another editor agreed: “in the Coke Zero Sugar [Orange Vanilla], I didn’t get any orange at all.”

Coca-Cola is thrilled with the new flavor according to brand director Kate Carpenter:

“What we realized is that we had a diamond in the rough when we looked at our flavors portfolio,” Carpenter said. “The growth of Cherry Coke and Vanilla Coke – and their zero-calorie variants – has been really strong in recent years even with very limited marketing support.”

It appears that the people at Coke are listening to their customers desires and hoping to please a new generation.

 

 

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