Coca-Cola has added its name to the latest brands trying to join the trend of spicy snacks and drinks.
From Flamin' Hot Cheetos to Sweet Heat Starburst, snacks are getting spicier. Now, the soft drink giants have intervened.
On Wednesday, the Atlanta beverage giant introduced Coca-Cola Spiced, the first new permanent offering in its North American portfolio in three years.
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Coca-Cola Spiced and Coca-Cola Spiced Zero Sugar will go on sale in the US and Canada on February 19.
Coca-Cola has been exploring ways to excite younger drinkers with its signature cola. In 2022, it launched Coca-Cola Creations, a series of eight limited-edition Coca-Cola flavors in colorful cans and bottles. Coca-Cola experimented with adding hints of coconut, strawberry, watermelon and other flavors to drinks.
The latest example, Coca-Cola Happy Tears, contains salty and mineral flavors. It will be sold only through TikTok on February 17 in the US and UK.
What does spiced Coca-Cola taste like?
Coca-Cola Spiced doesn't have much spice. The main flavor drinkers will notice is a hint of raspberry. Coca-Cola doesn't mention the spices it added (it closely guards its recipes), but they taste like upgraded versions of the spices in regular Coca-Cola.
“If you go to the aisles, you'll see that the amount of spiciness has increased because consumers' flavor palette has evolved. We realized it could be an opportunity for us,” Shakir Moin, Coca-Cola's head of marketing in North America, told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “Can we improve on something that is already part of our formula and bring a flavor profile that is interesting, unique and that will appeal to the next generation of consumers?”
Coca-Cola Global Category President Selman Careaga Seeks Coca-Cola Spiced
(Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Moin said customer research for Coca-Cola Creations contributed to the development of Coca-Cola Spiced. It usually takes Coca-Cola at least a year to develop a new drink, he said, but Coca-Cola Spiced took just seven weeks. Moin said the company hopes to replicate that speed with future new products.
(Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
“Consumers are moving faster. The market is moving faster. We have to be faster than the speed of the market,” he stated.
The new flavor joins a list of the company's experiments that have included Coca-Cola ginger, cinnamon, mango, apple and raspberry.
