Beverages
Coffee
My coworkers (also new hires like me) and I were elated to recently find the secret location of the “real coffee” on our floor. Let me explain.
Since the company I work for offers free lunch, snacks, and beverages for all its employees, there’s a “coffee station” on each floor with a coffee machine, tea, and a refrigerator full of nearly every Coke and Pepsi product, in regular and diet varieties, all stocked daily for our convenience.
The coffee machine is not a typical coffee pot. It’s a machine that “brews” the coffee instantly, at the touch of a button. Not the type with the individual servings, or “pods”, though. I say “brews” because the machine actually mixes refrigerated liquid coffee concentrate with hot water to create the coffee instantly. There’s no actual brewing going on. The product is a very convenient way to offer coffee in bulk with no mess, no waste, and no employees stealing packets of coffee to take home. Sounds good. Unfortunately, the coffee isn’t all that tasty and upsets my stomach moreso than your average drip brew. Of course, not wanting to immediately give up on a good thing (read: a free thing), I’ve been trying to get used to this strange, coffee-like product.
But no more. This week, as we’ve been exploring the new floor, Joe and I found a regular automatic drip machine and a drawer full of ground coffee packs. Granted, our coffee breaks are a little longer because we have to wait for it to brew, but it’s a damn good excuse to stand around and talk about something other than work.
Soda
I’ve drunk diet soda since I got to college. Actually, I really started drinking it in high school, when I’d pilfer a few Diet Cokes from my parents’ stash in the fridge for my friend Scott and me to enjoy on the school bus. I’ve found the diet varieties much easier to drink than the sugary ones, and I don’t have to limit my consumption in fear of consuming all those calories or rotting out my teeth.
That said, the aspartame that sweetens most diet drinks is definitely an acquired taste. I looked into our beverage case and was surprised to see new packaging for Pepsi’s “alternative” diet cola, Pepsi One. They now sweeten Pepsi One with sucralose (Splenda), rather than aspartame; the former lacks the strikingly bitter taste that probably turns most drinkers away from the latter. I enjoyed the new Pepsi One, though their corny ad campaign and relaunched web site are somewhat blah.
I personally enjoyed the drink, though it won’t completely replace all ~3 cans of Diet Coke I drink daily. (I did read that Coca-Cola will introduce a Diet Coke sweetened with Splenda in the next few months as well; I’ll have to see how that turns out.) It certainly tastes sweeter and less chemical than the previous incarnation, though I didn’t really drink Pepsi One with any regularity. I bet it would taste pretty good from a fountain over ice.
Speaking of Pepsi’s silly web site for their relaunched product, I’m not sure it’s the right move for soft drink companies to try to make an event out of their new products. Coke’s C2 and Pepsi’s EDGE drinks were both launched with very hip, lifestyle ads that hailed their product as the second coming. Both are performing poorly in their respective drink portfolios. Diet Coke with Lemon and Coke with Lime, however, were not introduced as crazy, earthshattering new products, but rather extensions of the existing Diet Coke and Coke platforms. My bet is that they’ll do better, too. We can only wait and see what kind of crazy campaign they’ll pull out for Coke Zero.
April 1st, 2005 at 4:23 am
Wrote a long-ass comment, then it got deleted. Elljay, you are beyond cruel.
Anyway, nice timely entry. I’ve recently lost about 10 lbs, mainly due to changes in diet (since I haven’t exercised in a month but my weight has remained surprisingly steady anyway). Nothing major, just keeping a fridge stocked with salad instead of a cabinet stocked with mac and cheese, going for Honey Nut Cheerios instead of Froot Loops, eating Cool Whip and strawberries instead of strawberry ice cream. One of the difficult things for me to stick with, though, was my decision to cut out my habitual 2-3 cans of Coke per day. The number of calories it cut out of my diet was astronomical: 2 cans per day at 150 calories/can=300 calories/day and 2100 calories/week–that’s over half a pound! However, I miss drinking Coke like nothing else. It’s just SO GOOD, and the 7Up Plus and La Croix flavored water I’ve been drinking doesn’t make up for it. Aspertame makes me want to vomit so that’s not an option for me. The good news, though, is 7Up Plus is flavored with Splenda and is extremely palatable… so it’s nice to hear Coke is coming out with something sweetened with something other than aspertame (although it looks like there will be some aspertame in Coke Zero… hopefully it won’t be enough to taste).
Wow, who knew you’d get such a long comment about soft drinks!?
April 1st, 2005 at 7:10 am
Uggh I think I am allergic to sucralose or something. I can taste it in any food and it leaves this nasty aftertaste in my mouth. If I eat more than a little bit I get a headache.
April 1st, 2005 at 7:24 am
No, no no. You’re in luck. Diet Coke with Splenda comes out in a few months, and Coke Zero comes out in June. Coke Zero is based on the original formula for Pepsi One, which used to contain half aspartame, half acesulfame-potassium. Apparently the attempt by Pepsi was to temper the bitterness of the aspartame with the extreme sweetness of ace-K, as they call it (which is like 600x as sweet as sucrose). I believe Pepsi One (original formula) came on the market before sucralose experienced the recent upswing in popularity that it has in the US, especially after FDA aproval.
Diet Coke with Splenda will be 100% sweetened by Splenda, like the new formula for Pepsi One. I didn’t want to make that distinction in the post because I admit, I had already talked for way too long about beverages, and in a particularly dorky manner.
Now, my concern is that Coke will be spreading themselves too thin here with the diet drinks. What good is having Diet Coke with Lemon, Diet Coke with Lime, Diet Coke, Diet Coke with Splenda, C2, Diet Cherry Coke, Diet Caffeine Free Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Sprite, Sprite Zero, Fresca, and Diet Minute Maid Lemonade if Publix doesn’t increase your shelf space?
April 1st, 2005 at 7:31 am
That’s interesting. I don’t know a lot about sucralose, except that it’s basically chlorinated sugar. Most people complain more about aspartame than sucralose, though.
May 5th, 2005 at 5:24 pm
So, FYI- Coke rolled out Diet Coke w/Splenda last week in Atlanta. If you can find it in Chicago, you should try it. I’m not really sure what I think yet.