Coca-Cola is making a limited-edition metaverse-inspired soda that reportedly sucks

[Cal Jeffrey]

WTF?! On Monday, the Coca-Cola company introduced a new limited-edition soda flavor "born in the metaverse." The soft drink is called Byte, and according to the maker, it tastes like "pixels." However, according to The Verge, who got to try a sample, it tastes terrible.

The color of the drink is the same as regular Coke. It has comparable fizz and is sugar-free. Coca-Cola Byte comes in a nice-looking purplish can with pixelated lettering, but that's the only nice thing about it.

The taste is what really sets it back. The Verge's Mitchell Clark says the taste is hard to describe using "the food words that [he] knows." It has a sickly-sweet taste that is "vaguely fruity," but has that aftertaste you get with artificial sweeteners. Clark's wife said it made her mouth go numb.

The soda has an almost natural fruity scent, but not in a good way. Clark compared the drink's aroma to Axe Anarchy body spray with a lingering medicinal waft like cough syrup.

Clark's wife kept saying the taste reminded her of something she could not quite place. Much later, Clark asked her if it tasted like Monster or Red Bull, noting that he was just guessing since he's never tried energy drinks.

"I think it's Red Bull, OMG!" she replied in a text. "That's why it smells like medicine. It's Red Bull mixed with Coke."

Clark remarked that were he asked to come up with the flavor of pixels, he would have shot for a taste closer to "the staticky, faintly metallic experience of licking a CRT monitor." But the Red Bull/Coke comparison does make more sense with Coca-Cola's marketing.

"The drink's bright, upfront taste is reminiscent of powering up a game, and its refreshing finish makes for a perfect gaming companion," reads the press release.

Clearly, the company is targeting the energy-drink-loving gamer.

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte, as it is officially branded, already hit retailers in several Latin American countries on April 4. The product will be available to the brave in the US on May 2. However, it can only be ordered in twin packs (12.5-oz each) from Coca-Cola's website. China will have a retail launch on May 23.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/94120-coca-cola-making-limited-edition-metaverse-inspired-soda.html

 

[passwordistaco]

Is it 1997? They forgot "cyber" and "EXTREME!!!!!!".

 

[winjer]

So the Metaverse tastes really bad.
It actually makes sense.

 

[emmzo]

Born in the metaverse, dead in the real life. Just like all future metaverse projects.

 

[Stingy McDuck]

Is it 1997? They forgot "cyber" and "EXTREME!!!!!!".

RADICAL!

 

[VitalyT]

In their defense, metaverse sucks also.

 

[kiwigraeme]

Coke is Sh*it
Sickly sweet
Some offered in a glass of many decades ago
creme de menthe.
Then there was those adults surreptitiously drinking cough syrup again many decades ago when it had high alcohol content

 

[umbala]

Strange, I assumed the metaverse would taste like Zuckerberg's a$$.

Anyway, I haven't tried this stuff yet, but it sounds equally awful as that new Coke Starlight flavor. I would definitely describe it as sickly-sweet tasting.

 

[Sausagemeat]

This metaverse really has the fat old men who sit on the boards of major corporations like Coca Cola off on a tangent. I reckon we are going to see a lot of bizarre stuff like this from big corporations. They will pour money into advertising so they don’t miss out on the next big thing with the metaverse.

The thing is, it’s not. The metaverse won’t be successful like these execs think it will be.

 

[Geralt]

I drink only Coke Zero.

 

[Eldritch]

RADICAL!

RIGHT ON, DUDE!

 

[captaincranky]

Coke really hasn't been the same since they took the cocaine out of it. (or so I've been told) That was way back in 1903.

I drink only Coke Zero.

The current iteration of Coke Zero sucks, as has every previous formula under that name. This from a long term Coke addict.

Once upon a time, the company released a version called "C2". It supposedly had "half the calories" of standard Coke. As fate would have it, they discontinued it. The sugar masks the taste of artificial sweeteners almost completely. So, I still make my own, with half "real Coke", and half Coke Zero.

 

[Puiu]

Pepsi FTW

 

[captaincranky]

Pepsi FTW

I honestly can't deal with Pepsi. it's "too sweet". (Relatively speaking, of course). Pepsi did a lot of cutthroat marketing, way back when, sort of like Intel. You'd go into a pizza shop, ask for a Coke, and be greeted with, "no Coke, Pepsi". (I'm assuming exclusivity contracts came with deep (?) discounts. to say, 'Coke has left the building')..

Coca Cola released a version called "New Coke", to try and retrieve a market share it was losing to Pepsi. The majority of dyed in the wool Coke addicts found it, "too sweet" and it was discontinued, along with a, "Coke Classic" revival.

So many things in our lives are "acquired tastes", Scotch, coffee, (and from my POV), beer, and cigarettes as well.

"To each his (or her) own". I know that sounds trite and dismissive, but it isn't intended to be. It's just a nod to old habits and acquired tastes. Cheers..!

CODA: If you want to try a couple of truly vile soft drinks, go with Mountain Dew or Dr. Pepper. (IMHO, of course).

 

[Puiu]

I honestly can't deal with Pepsi. it's "too sweet". (Relatively speaking, of course). Pepsi did a lot of cutthroat marketing, way back when, sort of like Intel. You'd go into a pizza shop, ask for a Coke, and be greeted with, "no Coke, Pepsi". (I'm assuming exclusivity contracts came with deep (?) discounts. to say, 'Coke has left the building')..

Coca Cola released a version called "New Coke", to try and retrieve a market share it was losing to Pepsi. The majority of dyed in the wool Coke addicts found it, "too sweet" and it was discontinued, along with a, "Coke Classic" revival.

So many things in our lives are "acquired tastes", Scotch, coffee, (and from my POV), beer, and cigarettes as well.

"To each his (or her) own". I know that sounds trite and dismissive, but it isn't intended to be. It's just a nod to old habits and acquired tastes. Cheers..!

Yes it indeed has a more "sweet" taste, but I feel like it it tastes less like a chemical concoction and more like a drink (even though I rarely drink this kind of things these days).

 

[captaincranky]

Yes it indeed has a more "sweet" taste, but I feel like it it tastes less like a chemical concoction and more like a drink (even though I rarely drink this kind of things these days).

Of course it does. That's what it's intended purpose was. After all, it was originally formulated with cocaine.

Speaking of acquired tastes, I know someone who actually delighted in the taste of the post nasal drip from methamphetamine.

 

[Puiu]

Of course it does. That's what it's intended purpose was. After all, it was originally formulated with cocaine.

Speaking of acquired tastes, I know someone who actually delighted in the taste of the post nasal drip from methamphetamine.

That's a "forced" acquired taste

 

[captaincranky]

That's a "forced" acquired taste

Well duh, mass will move toward a vacuum. So then 'an inverse force' (acquired taste)?

If we might go back to New Coke for a bit. It actually wasn't the added sweetness, as much as it was an overabundance of lemon flavor. It took all that "'laboratory goodness' out of it.

 

[Aaron Fox]

Coke is Sh*it
Sickly sweet

Agreed. I've never understood its popularity. New Coke tasted better (better than Pepsi, which it was so frequently compared with).

I think a lot of the reason for its popularity is reasoning similar to nostalgia. 'It's old therefore it must be superior.'

I have read that it displaced earlier colas because its higher level of sweetness made it blend more easily with other flavorings (something once common at sodas stands). That, though, doesn't fully explain the persistence of its popularity.

It's very common for people to say they don't like how sweet Pepsi is but there were sodas that were once popular that weren't as sweet as 'classic' Coke. It's too bad for them, I suppose, that those colas no longer exist.

I stopped drinking soda a long time ago, though. The acidity is too much for my throat.

 

[kiwigraeme]

Agreed. I've never understood its popularity. New Coke tasted better (better than Pepsi, which it was so frequently compared with).

I think a lot of the reason for its popularity is reasoning similar to nostalgia. 'It's old therefore it must be superior.'

I have read that it displaced earlier colas because its higher level of sweetness made it blend more easily with other flavorings (something once common at sodas stands). That, though, doesn't fully explain the persistence of its popularity.

It's very common for people to say they don't like how sweet Pepsi is but there were sodas that were once popular that weren't as sweet as 'classic' Coke. It's too bad for them, I suppose, that those colas no longer exist.

I stopped drinking soda a long time ago, though. The acidity is too much for my throat.

As a kid - I didn't like Fanta - I've always curious if it was fully saturated - ie can it dissolve any more sugar at room temp.

When working in the heat- I diluted say sweeten black current juice by a lot - so more like flavoured water ,
In my travels sometimes drank say cold sprite/7up - at short bus/truck stop - as safe to drink in developing countries - and I was toned and fit from doing lots of stuff . So sugar intake is related to how active you are - Sports people munching bananas for quick G.I and I suppose Potassium , and some vitamins B6 & C.
I do like the trendy Kombucha- but that is acidic as well