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  • If you are the kind of person who meets your caffeine needs with both Coke and coffee,

  • we've got some good news for you.

  • Coca-Cola is launching a line of juiced-up, coffee-infused sodas that come in 12-ounce

  • cans and deliver 69 milligrams of caffeine.

  • Compare that to a regular 12-ounce Coke, which has 34 milligrams, and you can see it's quite

  • a boost over the baseline.

  • Known as Coca-Cola with Coffee, the drink contains Brazilian coffee and comes in three

  • flavors: dark, vanilla, and caramel.

  • The only bad news?

  • It's not available nationwide until January 2021.

  • Jaideep Kibe, vice president for Coca-Cola's trademark, said the new beverage occupies

  • a new niche in Coke's line-up.

  • He told Business Insider,

  • "We think of this as a hybrid category.

  • We've got an opportunity to create almost a new sub-category called refreshment coffee.

  • As people have been in lockdown or...working from home, there's a real opportunity to get

  • that boost, that little pick-me-up, whether it's the slump in the afternoon or mid-morning."

  • This isn't the first time that Coca-Cola has stepped into the coffee lane.

  • Coke first came up with a hybrid cola-coffee beverage back in 2006 with Coca-Cola Blak.

  • If you were around at the time, you probably know that most folks didn't really like it.

  • "I like it!"

  • Roughly two years after it launched, it was discontinued.

  • More than a decade later, in 2019, the company rolled out the beverage that would be known

  • as Coca-Cola Plus Coffee or Coca-Cola With Coffee, but they didn't make their way into

  • U.S. markets.

  • During last year's launch of Coke and coffee's offspring, Coke's Chief Technical Officer

  • Nancy Quan told CNN Business that Coca-Cola Blak's problem was that it had been introduced

  • to the public prematurely.

  • As she put it, "That was a trend before its time."

  • "I don't think people were ready to have a coffee portfolio within the Coca-Cola brand."

  • Just to be clear, Coke isn't making the same thing with new packaging, Coca-Cola with Coffee

  • will have more caffeine than its predecessor did.

  • Since first being introduced in 2019, Coca-Cola with Coffee has already launched across more

  • than 25 international markets, including Australia, Italy, Spain, and Thailand.

  • Back then, the company wouldn't say whether it would bring the drink to the U.S.

  • According to the company, geographic markets are usually assessed and evaluated separately,

  • and products that work outside the U.S. don't always do well stateside.

  • But with the product already out in several markets, it doesn't take much to find out

  • how well, or how badly, it might have been received.

  • The drink appears to have come out to mixed reviews in Japan, where the beverage was presented

  • as "Coca Cola Plus."

  • The drink, which has 50 percent more caffeine, and half the number of calories, was initially

  • only available through the country's famed vending machines.

  • Kotaku quotes the Japanese language Shin-Shouhin as saying that the drink smelled, quote, "odd,"

  • reportedly smelling like neither Coke nor coffee.

  • But as the publication's reviewer diplomatically pointed out,

  • "I didn't think it tasted good, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

  • But that didn't keep another writer from Tokyo Creative from saying that she liked the beverage.

  • According to her assessment,

  • "...you can strongly taste the coffee and the cola at the same time, and it is fizzy,

  • which I like."

  • Sounds fair to us!

  • In Australia, the drink is marketed as part of the Coca-Cola No Sugar line of products,

  • and YouTube reviewer Thats Noice noted that the drink smelled like a normal Coke but with

  • a hint of coffee, and proclaimed that it was better than he had expected.

  • "It tastes like a really nice, balanced, well-rounded coffee.

  • It really does!"

  • Video critics Birdew Food Reviews, who admitted they weren't coffee drinkers, also said that

  • the drink was "not bad," even though they did note an overwhelming, and potentially

  • off-putting, smell of coffee.

  • Here at home, Coca-Cola Insiders Club members get a shot at trying the new beverage before

  • the rest of us do, and we can count on them to get on social media to tell us what they

  • think of the new product, which is expected to come out in January 2021.

  • Check out one of our newest videos right here!

  • Plus, even more Mashed videos about your favorite soft drinks are coming soon.

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If you are the kind of person who meets your caffeine needs with both Coke and coffee,

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