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I am a straight coffee and espresso sort of person. If I am being very honest, I rarely try any of the more refined milk drinks on menus these days. Don’t get me wrong. I am completely in support of botanical-infused oat milks, but these are just not my thing. That being said, I am interested in coffee as a flavoring component in cocktails, beer, and other drinks. I was curious to find that Coca-Cola had released coffee-flavored sodas in a few different flavors: Dark Blend, Vanilla, Caramel, and Sugar Free Dark Blend and Vanilla. When I saw these, I was suddenly reminded that I hadn’t had my favorite coffee cola in years: Manhattan Special Espresso Coffee Soda. A taste test comparing the old with the new seemed to be in order.
In 2020, Coca-Cola successfully marketed coffee sodas abroad, and the drinks debuted in the US at the end of January 2021. The company’s website boasts that the drinks are “infused” with Brazilian beans and contain 69 milligrams of caffeine per 12-ounce can. This is just over twice the 34 milligrams of caffeine in a regular can of Coke. At first glance, these products seem to be targeting morning energy drink or soda consumers. However, the company’s original press release indicates that they wanted to give Coke drinkers who also enjoy coffee another option for a 3:00 PM energizer. No need to choose between soda or coffee in the afternoon when you can have both.
How Do They Taste?
So how did they taste? I will admit that I did not expect to drink more than a couple sips of each of the flavors. However, they were really well done. For me, the Caramel was most interesting. I anticipated a cloying, heavy flavor component, but the caramel is actually well-integrated into the usual Coke flavor. It lingers beautifully with light coffee in the finish. This is a really smart amplification of the caramel taste of ordinary Coke, and my only complaint would be that the coffee flavor should be more pronounced.
The Vanilla was smartly balanced in a similar way to the Caramel, but the coffee flavor is exceptionally light and does not really become perceptible until the finish. In fact, the coffee is so faint, I am not sure I could pick it out in a triangle taste test with regular vanilla Coke.
The Dark Blend is clearly more of a coffee beverage, with coffee nicely jumping out in the aroma. Sharp Coke sweetness is followed by roasty dark coffee that balances the famous Coca-Cola flavor, and coffee lingers with caramel in finish. This was really a nice surprise, and I nearly finished the can.
So I admit that thus far I have not shared much more than the fact that the second largest soda company in the world employs world-class food scientists who design tasty products. In this case, products with coffee. However, if you are not familiar with Manhattan Special Espresso Coffee Soda, I am about to make your day.
The Manhattan Special
Manhattan Special is a soda company based in Brooklyn, New York that was founded in 1895. The company brews a variety of “natural” sodas, but its flagship product is its Manhattan Special Espresso Coffee Soda. The soda is available in three forms—Original, Diet, and Diet Decaffeinated—and it is brewed, according to the company’s website, “with a unique blend of the world’s finest coffee beans (which are hand brewed to perfection).” I will confess that I fell in love with this drink at a fantastic hole in the wall pizzeria in upstate New York back in grad school. Nevertheless, I did try to objectively taste the soda to see if it lived up to my memories.
Manhattan Espresso Coffee Soda tasting notes: Huge coffee in the aroma, and light sweetness and dark roasted coffee notes in the flavor that suggest a bit of chocolate melded with a lighter cola and caramel taste giving the drink a pleasant complexity. The coffee is again beautifully strong in the crisp finish. This is definitely a “second wave”-esque coffee drink. The roasty sharpness is nicely integrated into the accompanying flavors, and the coffee lingers pleasantly in the finish. If a comfort shot transformed into a soda, this would be the tasty result. Unlike the Coke products, the Manhattan Special is a coffee drink from start to finish. I’m happy to say it holds up well even when compared with my sepia-tinted memories.
This was a lot of fun, and I strongly recommend a coffee soda tasting session to all. It’s a nice change of pace to give your palate a workout, especially as the weather warms. There are also a few artisanal coffee sodas available from smaller companies, so be on the lookout for other options, as well.
About the author
In addition to his day job, Alex has worked as a roaster in the industry off and on for years, all the while chasing the perfect shot of espresso.