Yeah that's right, I said BlaK, oops make that BlāK. I'm talking about Coca-Cola's new cola/coffee fusion soda, BlaK, for "sophisticated" palates, complete with pretentious "European" name. I don't know if I'm supposed to call it "blacK", "blaKe", or "blahhhhK" but I will call it delicious and effective for the caffeine-addicted. BlaK has been around in Europe (but of course) for several weeks, but launched yesterday in the US. Coffee and cola are two of my main food groups so I was beyond excited to find this last night at an all-night CVS.

As much as I love both beverages I was dubious about combining the two into one, but I'm a believer now. I prefer the sweet and slightly tart taste of cola to the bitterness of coffee, but coffee just works so much faster. A typical 12 oz. cola has about 40 milligrams of caffeine, and a cup of brewed coffee has about three times as much. According to this caffeine chart, the diet versions of sodas typically have more caffeine than the full-sugar ones. In any case, the blend in BlaK, in my opinion, works very nicely. It's like a less sickly sweet version of an ice-blended fruity coffee drink. There's no bitterness but you can definitely taste the coffee. The ingredient is coffee extract, and there's the usual Coca-Cola addition of straight, unadulterated caffeine. I don't know how much there is in total, but I feel like I could propel myself to Mars and colonize the planet if I had a case of this stuff. The bottles are smaller than the cans, just 8 oz. and there's a combination of corn syrup and artificial sweeteners so it's fairly low-calorie, 45 per bottle, and has no diet soda aftertaste. It's pricier than regular soda, $1.75 at CVS, but seems to be more potent than a venti espresso.