Very Cherry, but not very nice (Diet Cherry Coke)

Member Name: xalala

Product:	Diet Cherry Coke
Date:	24/02/06 (355 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A new flavour, first cherry flavoured diet drink

Disadvantages: Tastes nasty

Once again there's a new flavour of Diet Coke available in a shop near you. Unlike last year's Diet Coke with Lime launch, this time the utterly revolting Diet Coke with Vanilla is being withdrawn from sale, and Diet Coke with Cherry is all set to replace it in your affections. Personally, I think this is a great idea, as the vanilla flavour Diet Coke really is repulsive, and it's been nigh on impossible to find cherry flavoured fizzy drinks that don't contain tons of sugar.

Around since 1982, Diet Coke has been available in a whole bunch of different flavours in the States for quite some time, but it's only fairly recently that some of these flavours have been brought over to Blighty for a try. So, how does the cherry flavouring stack up against the other varieties on offer, and of course against the good old stand-by Diet Coke with Nothing Extra Added To It (TM).

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Smell:
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Cracking open a 500ml bottle of this and taking a quick sniff (good job the folks at work already think I'm strange...), I do think that this drink smells. No question about it. Exactly what it smells of, however, if more difficult to identify. There's a definite overtone of artificial-ness in the air, and this is probably the sweetest smelling version of Diet Coke out there - appropriate perhaps, if this is meant to replace the old Vanilla flavour. I wouldn't ever claim that this drink smells of cherries, because quite simply, it doesn't.

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Taste:
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There's quite a pleasant taste to this drink, with a strong hint of cherry. The flavour of cherry isn't especially authentic - it doesn't come close to reminding me of the taste of freshly picked cherries from a tree, but it does a pretty good job at masquerading as a glacé cherry. So, not an overwhelming recommendation there, really! The taste of the actual Coke is pretty much in the background here, the cherry somewhat overwhelms my poor tastebuds, all things considered.

When I finished my 500ml bottle, the drink had warmed up by several degrees, and this really wasn't to the drink's benefit at all. As it warmed, the taste became more and more artificial and less and less pleasant. I'd highly recommend only drinking this straight out of the fridge or served over ice.

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Packaging:
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Unlike the other Diet Coke varieties available, this one is fairly easily distinguished by its packaging. The top of the bottle is a deep red, almost maroon colour, and there's a trace of dark red on the label along with a picture of a few cherries in their natural state. The writing on the label appears in the same dark red colour, differentiating this version from the other flavours on offer.

I'm pleased that the colouring used on this variety is quite different from the other choices, as in the past one of my bugbears has been about the similarity in the packaging leading to easy confusion. I'm not suggesting that this doesn't look like Diet Coke, it certainly does, but there's enough that's different about this one to avoid the "oops, I meant to get the Lime flavour" crisis at home or in the supermarket.

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Cost:
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I've only seen this available in the canteen at work so far, where it's available for 85p for a 500ml bottle. So, there's no difference in price to any other Diet Coke variety currently available. There doesn't seem to be any introductory offers for it around either - I guess Coke are relying on existing customers wanting to try something new, rather than attracting new customers into the brand. As I mentioned, I haven't yet seen this available in supermarkets and similar, but since the product seems to be on general release, it either should be there, or should be arriving shortly.

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Thoughts:
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This drink is OK as a change from the usual, but it's not one I'd recommend over much. It really does have to be drunk cold, a room temperature Diet Coke with Cherry really isn't very palatable. Also, I'd only ever drink this on its own, never as a mixer - the flavour would disappoint and I can't think of any drink that this would work well with.

I think that this drink will appeal mostly to kids, as it's very sweet and tastes very artificial (even more artificial than standard Diet Coke). Perhaps they're relying on pester power to shift significant quantities of this stuff...

As a cherry flavoured cola, this drink actually isn't bad. It's less sickly than standard Cherry Coke, but nowhere near as nice as the sadly difficult to get hold of Cherry 7Up. On the plus side, it's also much less sweet than either of the aforementioned, and is the only cherry flavoured diet drink I've seen to date - at least within the UK market.

I will drink this, but I have a feeling that it will only be a very occasional purchase, and most of my Diet Coke intake will be of the unadulterated and yet to be beaten original format.

And if you try this and really like it, then perhaps you'd like to keep an eye out for the Diet Black Cherry Vanilla flavour coke that's just been launched in the US. Surely it's only a matter of time before this, too, hits the UK market...

Thanks for reading :o)

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Other information
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For more information about the products available, visit www.coca-cola.co.uk or www.dietcoke.com. The former is possibly the worst website ever designed, so be warned!

As a diet drink, there is around 1kcal per 100ml in Diet Coke with Cherry, plus a trace of fibre. Everything else on the nutritional information label has a big fat 0 against it.

Summary: First diet cherry flavoured drink, but tastes too artificial to bother with much.