1/24/06 | Black Cherry Vanilla Coke
[ Currently Eating: Vanilla Cokes, Of Course ]
… Annnd in the challenger’s corner, recent fruity upstart made real by a secret cabal of Coke marketeers: Black Cherry Vanilla Coke. Now make way for the reigning champion, the sweet but burp-inducing beverage, the one and only Pepsi-killer: Vanilla Coke. Now let’s get ready to rumble!
Well, truthfully the fight’s been fixed. Black Cherry Vanilla Coke has already won in a forfeit. Good ‘ol plain Vanilla was put out to pasture at the start of this year for reasons yet unknown except to Coke insiders. It had a good run. It was delicious. And now it’s gone.
I’d been waiting for the “replacement” ever since reading the press release about Vanilla’s demise. Sure enough, last week during a Target Xmas Gift Card shopping spree I saw the fridge packs of Black Cherry Vanilla Coke and picked one up to review.
I was actually just going to review the new flavor, but since I had 2 cans of Vanilla Coke leftover, I decided to waste one of these potential Ebay hot OOP products (I’ve been wondering if we’ll see them being sold as the days go on) to do a comparison taste test side by side. So today, I lined them up and poured myself two glasses of the different soda flavors. Incidentally, I highly do not recommend drinking two cans of soda in the morning after a full cup of coffee. Buzz-city.
Hm… today I think I’ll actually divide up the review in sections, like a “real” reviewer would. Maybe this will attract more companies to send in freebees:
Packaging:
Let’s start with the can design first. Both use the signature Coke red, silver and white for the can, and both varieties have some “yellowish” streaks that I supposed stands for vanilla. Vanilla Coke included an abstract piece of art that I didn’t really like. But then again, how do you draw vanilla beans so that people will know what they are? I think people might think it’s peas in a pod or something.
Black Cherry Vanilla Coke has a picture of two cherries floating in water which is kind of cool. However, the writing “Black Cherry Vanilla” is actually quite small and is vertical on the can which makes it difficult to tell at a glance what it is. Vanilla Coke has the letters emblazoned diagonally across the can in much larger letters.
I think it’s a tie as far as packaging goes. I would like to see the “black cherry vanilla” in bigger letters on the can, but the older Vanilla Coke wasn’t so hot in the design. But hey, who really cares about this stuff right?
Appearance and Carbonation:
As far as appearance goes, I was quite surprised that they were identical. I somehow thought that the new Black Cherry variety would look different, perhaps with a bit more of a reddish tinge. I held each glass up to the light to make sure and couldn’t see any difference.
Chilled cans of both poured normally into glasses with equal amounts of carbonation release. I like Coke in general because it seems to keep its bubbles longer than other generic soda. These two seemed pretty much the same as far as carbonation goes. I definitely had a lot of burps from drinking both cans. They’re pretty much tied here as well.
Taste:
Before we talk about taste, I just need to say that I’m a little biased when it comes to cherry flavor in soda, candies and other junk food. I actually LIKE the fake flavor, much more than most other people. It doesn’t bother me at all. There isn’t any real juice in here so you can give up your hopes that you’re about to drink an old fashioned soda fountain Coke mixed with cherry juice.
Anyhow, even side by side the taste difference was very subtle. I’m pleased to report that the “vanilla” taste of the old Vanilla Coke is present here in a seemingly unchanged state. It is very similar, if not identical.
As for the black cherry addition to the soda, I knew I would like it already but I was even more pleased that they didn’t go TOO overboard. Now, many people don’t like the subtle flavoring that Coke does, say with Coke w/ Lime. Rather than pour on the artificial taste, it’s just barely there. I think the cherry taste for Black Cherry Vanilla Coke is stronger than that of Coke with Lime, but it is still much weaker than many Black Cherry sodas.
The cherry taste itself isn’t sour or anything. It’s more of a general aroma, though a pleasing one. It doesn’t hit you on the back of the head or anything. It actually mixes quite well with the vanilla flavor.
In addition, the new flavor tasted less sweet than the Vanilla Coke. I thought maybe this was my imagination or my taste buds getting screwy, but on the can it says that Vanilla Coke has 42 g of sugars while Black Cherry Vanilla has 40 g of sugars. So maybe I’m not crazy. This is actually fine with me, since I’m not a fan of extremely sweet things anyhow.
Conclusions:
Well, I feel fairly satisfied with this new Coke flavor. While I still don’t see the need for getting rid of the more basic Vanilla Coke in favor of this fancier variety (other than to compete with Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper) at least they didn’t completely mess up the vanilla flavoring from the old one. While it’ll never be the same, it’s a good enough substitute for now. For me. If you don’t like artificial cherry flavoring, I’d still recommend trying it because it might not be as strong you might think and plus the vanilla flavor remains the central theme.
Price: $3.66 for a 12 pack
Bought at: Target
Cheap Eats Score: 7/10
January 25th, 2006 at 11:40 pm
Man, you lucky guy! I haven’t seen it here on this rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I’m sure it’s on a boat here. Although, I do prefer Cherry Pepsi over Cherry Coke, but preferred Vanilla Coke over Pepsi Vanilla.
January 26th, 2006 at 9:43 am
marvo - you liked cherry PEPSI?? just kidding… well, i would send you over some cans but i think the postage would be kinda crazy…
January 26th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
The only difference I noticed between the two from the photos if you look carefully the Cherry VC has more carbonation. Just my two cents.
After reading this I’ll try it, but I’m not to fond of Black Cherry in the first place, but if it’s not over powering it will be worth looking into as long as it still has much of the vanillia theme to it and they didn’t change the coding too much.
As I stated in my other post, I don’t know what it is about the VC but it helps my sugar problems alot quicker then other ways
Deepest Regards
Kimariaus
aka
Kimberly
January 26th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
Kimariaus - Hey, you know what… actually I DID think that the Black Cherry Vanilla Coke had more carbonation on the first pour! That was before I even noticed the photo. But I thought maybe I skewed the results by jostling the cup a little too much in order to line up everything to take a picture. As far as taste goes I didn’t seem to notice the extra carbonation so I just assumed it was the same.
You know, drinking my second can today I thought I noticed that the Black Cherry taste was a little bit more stronger than I remember in the review. It doesn’t bother me, though, so maybe you might want to try a six pack (or even an individual can) first b4 getting the 12 pack.
January 27th, 2006 at 11:08 am
Maybe they will bring back the regular vanilla as “Coca Cola Vanilla Classic”. I am waiting for the black cherry vanilla hazlenut with twist of lime coke.
January 28th, 2006 at 8:56 am
Good morning,
Part of the problem with the normal coke is that it is very carbonated, and the vanilla seemed to curb that quite a bit. With regards to Vanilla Classic, that just might be their game plan and infact I hope, it truly is.
I would love to try a can of it just to see if it’s fitting to the health issues I have. Unfortunately, we don’t have it here yet, and I can’t find any normal VC anymore which is starting to cause me problems already.
I’ve saved one can of VC incase of a emergency, but I hope they get one of the two back into my area soon, the other cokes just don’t do the trick as well as the VC did.
Always
Kimariaus
Aka
Kimberly
January 28th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Good Morning,
Also forgot in my last post wanted to share this with you. I don’t know what type of effects it may or may not have but there is a color difference between the two. Even though it’s not noticeable to the naked eye it is to a paint program like PaintShopPro!
The only thing that could effect this is perhaps shadows, and this has been taken into account which is why I did the testing on the inside of the glasses where light is not only reflected away from the inside, but also each glass protects the other at least so it seems from light and shadows to get the most accurate data as possible.
This is what I came up with…
The data was taken at an equal length done in pixels. Each space was accurately counted and a frame put around the test pixel as you can see. It is that test area that is surrounded by red that I took the sample from and you can see by the coding there is a slight difference.
I also added a white patch in the upper right corner so you can vividly see the difference if you look close enough.
Http://24.106.156.58/TriMoons/Coke/VCvsVCC.jpg
Also please note when I saved the image the first time and it was turned to a “jpg” image the red framed area bleed over into the test area. I used the same codes from the test before saving to repaint in that square.
I also noted on the PSP that when you punch in the code for the Classic Vanilla Coke as another called it and am fond of that name, the color coding is of the green pallet:
Http://24.106.156.58/TriMoons/Coke/VCvsVCC2.jpg
Now if you take a look at the so called new and improved VC with the cherry twist, you will notice that it’s color duration comes from a purple pallet!
Http://24.106.156.58/TriMoons/Coke/VCvsVCC3.jpg
So yes there are some differences apparently in color that isn’t so noticeable by the naked eye…
Hope it helps and to the owner of this site, if you would kindly save the photos and change the links when you have time it would be appreciated!
Hope this helps and as always thank you for the wonderful information
Always
Kimariaus
AKA
Kimberly
January 28th, 2006 at 10:39 am
My apologies,
I thought the photos would work out to where they could be used as accurate data, but apparently when it is saved as a jpg they bleed into one another, thus changing the data.
However as I said all data was taken before saving the photos so it is accurate even if the bleeding of the image shows differently!
Take care
Always
Kimariaus
AKA
Kimberly
February 4th, 2006 at 7:28 am
I reviewed the diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke. I had really wanted to say this should be outlawed based on being too long a name - but man the diet version is ***sweet*** I can just imagine that the original must be pretty sweet too since they are probably trying to mimic the taste - let me know since I can’t drink regular sodas - it’s like crack for me. If I fall off the wagon and drink even one, I end up downing a 12 pack in a few hours.
February 5th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
I posted this on the other webpage so just CCP it here
# Kimariaus Says:
February 4th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
Good evening everyone,
I just tried the VCBC, and it seemed okay at first, but as I continued taking in the portion recommended serving size, I found that I was disliking it more and more.
I found that as I drank more or it I felt like I was drinking a container of warmed cherry icing. Or warm cherry icing that has melted on a cake.
This is I can honestly say very putrid. It’s way too sweet, great for kids I assume many would like this taste because of the hideous sweetness.
Sorry just not my cup of coke like the rest of you I too want my VC back as well not this over glorified glad of putrid tasting liquid. What more can I say?
Always
Kimariaus
AKA
Kimberly
February 9th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
I like the VCBC I dislike VC why it was taken off the shelf im not sure but if you want I can find out. Hitting the shelves right now is Vault Coke version of Mt Dew. I tried it today not bad 30% more caffeine than MtD but I liked it. Should be hitting shelves everywhere this month.
February 12th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
I would be highly interested in knowing why they took the VC off if at all possible. I don’t see why both could not have stood side by side. Personally I don’t care for the lime coke, but who is it for me to say that it should vanish. I believe it should remain there for others…after all I wouldn’t and didn’t want it to happen to something I cared for, you know?
In either case if it’s possible I would love to see it come back to stores and soon! it’s deeply missed and not just physically or emotionally but medically as well.
Kimariaus
February 15th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
I used to drink a lot of Coca Cola, I loved it. I started cutting back on sugar and switched to Diet Coke-blah. I then tried Diet Vanilla Coke in late summer 2004-it was great! Even better than regular Vanilla Coke. Just enough vanilla to cover any aftertaste. This became my favorite soda. I’ve tried Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, and it just doesn’t do it for me. I like the Diet Vanilla MUCH better. I’m disappointed.
February 26th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
I’m very happy after reading your review. I was extremely disappointed when I heard about Vanilla’s fate. I haven’t seen any Black Cherry Vanilla up here in Canada yet so I’m waiting. Luckily I still have lots of Vanilla left.
December 25th, 2006 at 8:27 am
When Diet Vanilla Coke appeared, my wife and I really enjoyed the taste of it and would buy it 9 liter bottles at a time and in the cans for traveling. When it was discontinued, Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke appeared and we loved it also and would by the same. Now none of the stores we shop at carry the brands. We would like to see both brands continued so we can enjoy the flavor once again. Please hurry, withdrawal is hard to take.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:57 am
I used to be able to purchase BCV and diet BCV at Smart & Final and the local commissaries, but now they’ve removed it from the shelves and I cannot find it anywhere. I now purchase Dr Pepper diet cherry vanilla for a temporary substitute, but I’d like to know where they’re selling BCV Coca-Cola, the real thing!