Taste Test: Coca-Cola Life

We’re back from Memorial Day and bringing you another taste test of an American classic: Coca-Cola. This time, we’re comparing classic Coca-Cola to new-to-the-US Coca-Cola Life.

Coca-Cola Life was debuted in Argentina in 2013, followed closely by a release in Chile. It was designed cooperatively by their mad soda scientist labs. Life is a healthier version of Coke in several interesting ways.

Where traditional Coke in an eight-ounce glass bottle has a little over 93 calories, Life has only 60. This makes it a reduced-calorie soda, not a mythical diet drink with zero (less than 4 calories/12 oz.) calories.

The difference in calories also comes from the varied sweeteners used. The Coke of our childhood relies on high fructose corn syrup for its classic sweetness. Cult followers of Diet Coke and Coke Zero (I do love me some Zero) know and love it's aspartame flavoring. There’s also what J and I (incorrectly?) call Mexican Coke - which comes in taller glass bottles with Spanish labels - and is made purely from cane sugar.

Now we have to start splitting hairs and for lack of a better cliche, choosing the lesser of two evils. This is not unlike the low-fat, no-fat, high-fat diet stupidity we’ve all considered while in the butter aisle.  Unsalted butter is just made from cream, but it’s so fatty...I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray has no calories or real ingredients...Which is worse for you?

Coca – Cola Classic

Made with high fructose corn syrup  

+ High calorie

= Highly processed, bad for you

Diet Coke/Coke Zero

Sweetened with aspartame

+ Low- or zero-calories

= Highly processed, but better for you than corn syrup

“Mexican Coke”

Sweetened with pure cane sugar

+ High calorie

= “Clean eating,” but still high calorie and should be consumed in moderation

Coke Life

Sweetened with cane sugar and stevia

     + Reduced calorie

     = “Clean eating” and moderate calorie

Theoretically, Coke Life should be the healthiest choice on the market. It’s lower calorie and made from natural ingredients. But, we all know that the bigger question is - Is it the most delicious choice?

Just like our other product review Taste Tests, this one will be based on what I call fundamental criteria. For a Coke, those criteria include: Color, Fizz, and Flavor; Flavor will be broken into the parts I call The Sweetness and The Burn.

The Color:

In the South, every caramel-colored carbonated drink is called coke. When we think of dark, rich sodas, Coke is what instantly comes to mind, even though RC and Pepsi have big bottling industries in the South. It’s such a striking image of almost black contents contrasted against that bright red logo. Iconic, really.  And in the bottle, Coke Life looks pretty similar to classic Coca-Cola. I will argue, however, that the glass bottle of dark liquid with a green swath across its mid-section looks a lot like another classic product that’s stood the test of time: Kikkoman (reduced sodium) soy sauce. (J, however, liked the styling, calling it “clean” and thought it really gives the impression of being a healthier choice).

But at first pour, I noticed a subtle difference in the colors. Life is lighter in color; it is closer to “caramel” than the tar-like look of Classic. While that may come from the healthier formula (maybe using less artificial dyes), it gives me another impression: watered down Coke. Coke straight from the perfected chalice of a curvy glass bottle is supposed to look its purest; but with this slightly lighter color, it looks like an over-carbonated soda fountain drink.

The Fizz:

Coke has wonderful carbonation and that dark coloring only helps you to see the bubbles bouncing around in every glass. Where Life might not have delivered on color, it brought the bubbles! This was an incredibly heady pour into our antique brandy snifters and the bubbles just kept on coming. To me, Coke is a youthful brand - it reminds you of the treat after school, ice cream floats in the summer, sharing a straw on your first date - and that kinetic energy of childhood is in those bubbles! Too often “green” alternatives can be stuffy and make us show our age (no kid ever independently questioned the GMO content of his nuggets); but Life’s fizz makes could keep young.

The Flavor:

To me, Classic Coke has two distinctive flavors - unbridled sweetness and a sharpness that almost burns as you swallow (and is only more pronounced the less ice you use). Both of these things sound terrible on paper, but on my tongue are perfect! And on both fronts, Life has toned it down a notch; which for J is a great success.

J likes clear-to-yellow soft drinks like Sprite or Mountain Dew and has never been fond of “Coke” (see that Southern colloquialism?). Tasting Life he was quite surprised and we were able to suss out why he hadn’t like Coke before. J has a sweet tooth, but with his sodas he wants balance of sweet and acidity; thus preferring citrus-based soft drinks instead of nothing-but-sugar drinks like Pepsi or Coke. But with dialed back and alternatively sourced sweetness, he was pretty satisfied.

But it was a little too subtle for me. I missed that tangy burn of Classic or “Mexican” Coke and I thought it was verging on Diet Coke flavoring. While many things convey sweetness, nothing tastes like sugar, like, well, SUGAR. Maybe I have a nuanced soda palate or maybe I’ve tried enough sugar substitutes to realize stevia isn’t my thing. It’s not gross or unpleasant, just not my drink of choice.

I guess I’m back to the what’s worse for you battle. And if I’m treating myself to a delicious drink, this wouldn’t be it, I’d choose Classic; If I’m making a calorie-driven choice, I’ll probably go “extreme” and get Coke Zero. The healthier middle-ground approach isn’t quite working for me.

So, we’re back to the obvious: Coca - Cola has something for everyone. Sweettoothed, waist-minded, clean eaters - everyone. If you feel guilty drinking high-calorie AND highly processed stuff, and are seeking a more natural approach, Coke Life could be the thing for you. And even if it’s not, I’m sure they can find something you’ll enjoy (hit up the Taste It! exhibit at World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta to be sure)!