Coke Has a Brand-New Flavor, and It's Not What We Expected

Coca-Cola has made some controversial moves in its illustrious history. A few years ago, it discontinued Tab, the brand’s first diet soda, and despite a fan-led campaign to bring it back, it hasn’t been seen since 2020. And who could forget New Coke? The 1985 reformulation of the original Coke wasn’t a popular choice, so it didn’t take long for Coca-Cola to bring back the original.

Coke is also continuously adding new varieties. In 2020 it debuted Coca-Cola Coffee and Sprite Ginger but discontinued both just two years later. Coke just dropped its newest limited-edition flavor, and we have no idea how long it will be around, but we do know this—it’s not what we expected.

An AI-Created Coke with the 'Taste of the Future'

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been front and center in the news lately, mostly because of ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot that can do creative thinking and problem-solving in the workplace and at home, including the kitchen. 

Coca-Cola Creations just dropped Coca-Cola Creations Y3000 and Coca-Cola Creations Zero Sugar Y3000, limited-edition flavors “co-created with artificial intelligence to help bring the flavor of tomorrow to Coke fans.” The company is calling it the first limited-edition Coke flavor from the future.

Like other drinks from the Coca-Cola Creations line, the drinks taste like Coke plus something else. In this case, it’s the future. But, what does the future taste like? 

What Does Y3000 Coke Taste Like?

Both versions are just hitting store shelves, so there aren’t a lot of reviews, but we hunted down comments from a few people who have tried it. When Instagram’s Markie_Devo posted about the sodas, one of his followers said, “I love it!!!!! i’ve only had the zero sugar version but its my favorite besides the coke starlight! this one tastes like sprite remix to me lol.” Another said, “I think it’s orange cream. Definitely a creamy aftertaste. It’s a LOT better than the past Creations. Maybe even better than starlight.”

But Redditor Ashorito, who lives in the Netherlands and got his hand on the Zero Sugar Y3000 last month, was not impressed. “I have no idea what flavor it is, all I know is that it's bad,” he said. “Tastes like as if they mixed What The Fanta 4.0 with Coke.” He also mentioned that “They must've asked ChatGPT to create a recipe with the worst tasting ingredients.”

Someone else on the Reddit thread said, “Currently trying this drink, it is.. Very interesting. Smells like it's from Haribo's candy bags, tastes like peaches, cola and mango all together.” That’s neither a negative nor a positive review, but it—along with the orange cream comment—does give us some idea there’s a fruitiness to it. 

From the little we’ve read, we’re not sure we’ll be running out to hunt down the flavor of the future, but if someone handed us a bottle, we’d give it a try, even though the use of AI to create it and its reviews are a bit controversial.