Coke Black

I finally got my hands on Coca-Cola Black (or "Blāk", as the bottle says). I heard about it several months ago, but it apparently took a while to reach our neck of the woods. According to Coke, it's the "fusion of Coke effervescence with coffee essence". Tempting, huh?

So how does it taste? It's essentially Coke with a coffee-candy flavor. It's OK. It wasn't a party in my mouth. Would I have it again? Maybe, considering this: one 8 ounce serving of regular Coke has 23 mg of caffeine. Coke Black has 46 mg in an 8 ounce serving (there's about 100 mg in an 8 ounce serving of regular coffee). So if you need a quick pick-me-up during the day, and you want to mix your soda and coffee together, now you have Blāk.

In this age or Red Bull and other high-octane energy drinks, there might be a place for this new twist on Coke. There's no way I'm going to give up drinking Coke or coffee, but if you offered me Coke Black, I wouldn't refuse it. How's that for a ringing endorsement?