Coke Zero and Diet Coke ...

[shel]

... what's the difference. Saw Zero in the market yesterday - never heard of it before.

shel

[Just Jim]

I'm pretty sure Diet Coke has calories, albeit very few.
Coke Zero has, well, zero calories.
But the big difference is that Diet Coke tastes terrible, whereas Coke Zero is great tasting.
It's all I drink now.

[shel]

Originally Posted by China Jim

I'm pretty sure Diet Coke has calories, albeit very few.
Coke Zero has, well, zero calories.
But the big difference is that Diet Coke tastes terrible, whereas Coke Zero is great tasting.
It's all I drink now.

Both have zero calories, and have very similar ingredients. Maybe I'll give Zero a taste and lookk further into the ingredients.

shel

[siduri]

hmmm, diet drinks, bla. I'd rather drink water most of the time and then have a real coke on occasion. Doesn;t the after-taste make you sick? (And how sick do those ingredients make us? I was shocked that people give those sweeteners to their kids in the states.)

[shel]

Originally Posted by siduri

hmmm, diet drinks, bla. I'd rather drink water most of the time and then have a real coke on occasion. Doesn;t the after-taste make you sick? (And how sick do those ingredients make us? I was shocked that people give those sweeteners to their kids in the states.)

I agree 100%, althiugh I don't mind tasting a product that's new to me evry now and then ... of course, there are people on a sugar restricted diet that "need" something like diet drinks, but, imo, sparkling water is a better alternative.

shel

[phatch]

I actually find plain coke to have a sugary syrupy aftertaste I dislike where as Diet Coke finishes clean. But back when they used Saccharin, that has a nasty aftertaste.

If Coke Zero tastes sweeter than DC in order to taste more like real coke, I'd probably dislike that too as it's the less sweetness of DC I like.

That's the problem with any of the Pepsi line. Way too sweet, even their diet versions.

As I recall, CZ is sweetened with Acesulfame Potassium or Acesulfame K (because K is the elemental symbol for potassium)

[Mezzaluna]

My husband prefers Vanilla Coke Zero to regular Vanilla Diet Coke or plain Diet Coke. Lately I've moved to drinking sugar-free flavored syrup in sparkling water. My brother told me about Target's Archer Farms Sparkling Mineral Water, which I like very much. It has tiny bubbles and a clean taste; the minerals give it body (to my taste). Around here it's $1.29 per liter. I add Torani SF choolate, raspberry or vanilla syrup (or some combo) and enjoy that. I can control how concentrated and sweet my drink is.

True, Shel, plain sparkling water is better. But sometimes a diet soft drink serves for my dessert.

[BevReview Steve]

The biggest difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero are the base formulas and the sweeteners.

In short, Diet Coke is based on the "New Coke" formula, but with artificial sweeteners (aspartame and acesulfame potassium). In contrast, Coke Zero is based on the "Coke Classic" formula, also with artificial sweeteners (aspartame). Thus, when people say that Zero tastes more like Coke, it's because it actually is. Diet Coke isn't a diet version of what you typically assume is Coke.

I wrote a little about the contrast via these posts on BevReview.com:

Branding of Diet Coke
Review: Coca-Cola Zero
Packaging Change: Coca-Cola Zero

Incidentally, Diet Coke Plus also uses aspartame and Ace-K, which I sort of felt at the time was a way to try the new formula on the Diet Coke audience and see what they thought. It's much sweeter. The only other Diet Coke-branded drink with a different sweetener blend is the obviously-named Diet Coke Sweetened with Splenda

[phatch]

Interesting. I didn't like the standardly sweetened new Coke (nor Coke Classic), but have always liked Diet Coke. I don't think it's that sweet.

Phil

[shel]

Originally Posted by BevReview Steve

In short, Diet Coke is based on the "New Coke" formula, but with artificial sweeteners (aspartame and acesulfame potassium). In contrast, Coke Zero is based on the "Coke Classic" formula, also with artificial sweeteners (aspartame).

Since posting the original question, I looked up the ingredients for Coke Zero. It contains aspartame AND acesulfame potassium (ace-k)

shel

[shel]

Originally Posted by Mezzaluna

Lately I've moved to drinking sugar-free flavored syrup in sparkling water. My brother told me about Target's Archer Farms Sparkling Mineral Water, which I like very much. It has tiny bubbles and a clean taste; the minerals give it body (to my taste). Around here it's $1.29 per liter. I add Torani SF choolate, raspberry or vanilla syrup (or some combo) and enjoy that. I can control how concentrated and sweet my drink is.

True, Shel, plain sparkling water is better. But sometimes a diet soft drink serves for my dessert.

Does the target water come in glass or plastic bottles? What is the Torani sweetened with?

Have you ever tried making your own "syrups," like pureing a batch of berries and adding them to sparkling water, and eliminating sugar and sweetners altogether? Have yoi tried Xylitol as a sweetner?

shel

[BevReview Steve]

Originally Posted by shel

Since posting the original question, I looked up the ingredients for Coke Zero. It contains aspartame AND acesulfame potassium (ace-k)

I'm sorry Shel, I flipped my response. I meant so say that

Diet Coke = aspartame
Coke Zero = Ace-K and aspartame

Cut and pasting gone bad!

[shel]

Since this thread started, I began looking at comments about these two artificial sweeteners. It seems that there are a lot of sites and "doctors and scientist" who feel that these sweeteners present a number of problems. Since I'm just starting to look into them, I don't know much about them. How safe or toxic are they? Some of my friends won't use them and use Xylitol instead, which I've tried a few times and liked pretty well.

shel

[siduri]

Originally Posted by shel

Since this thread started, I began looking at comments about these two artificial sweeteners. It seems that there are a lot of sites and "doctors and scientist" who feel that these sweeteners present a number of problems. Since I'm just starting to look into them, I don't know much about them. How safe or toxic are they? Some of my friends won't use them and use Xylitol instead, which I've tried a few times and liked pretty well.

shel

the fact is that nobody knows what problems a new substance can have. You can't find out what the long-term effects will be until long-term time has passed. Use sugar, it;s been around a long time, and drink lots less soft drinks. I used to drink lots of coke. Then i started drinking more water, and now i find i can;t get through a whole can, it's way too sweet.

[tessa]

Originally Posted by China Jim

I'm pretty sure Diet Coke has calories, albeit very few.
Coke Zero has, well, zero calories.
But the big difference is that Diet Coke tastes terrible, whereas Coke Zero is great tasting.
It's all I drink now.

i much rather would drink diet coke rather than zero i find that zero kinda leaves a slightly weird taste in my mouth

the sprite zero is nice but if its not really cold it can have a little bit of an aftertaste as well
if you want to make your diet coke taste like vanilla , just add a few drops in to your glass with the diet coke , its just wonderful