Question.

As a learned man, who deals with it (I.E. Grocery store ass manager, who’s still in uni), I would guess the taste. Zero tastes more like regular coke.

Reply

“Zero” sounds way cooler than “Diet”.

I mean, let’s face it. You’re a man. You’re a manly man. You eat steak, you smoke cigars, you use sexist language without even thinking about it. You’re sure as hell not going to drink something marked “Diet”. Only pussies drink “Diet”.

“Zero”, though… You can crack a can of Coke Zero just before you go machine-gunning small deer, and nobody will think any the less of you.

Reply

Coke Zero is advertised with explosions and half-naked girls, and Diet Coke is advertised with female-empowering lyrics and half-naked guys.

Reply

Coke Zero tastes better. Diet Coke gives me stabbing pains in the kidneys. Pepsi Max actually made me piss blood once.

I’m genuinely not kidding. And yes, I have booked a doctor’s appointment.

Reply

When Diet Coke was released, it was formulated to taste differently from regular Coca Cola, as Coke was afraid that, if it were possible to get great Coke flavour with zero calories, no one would get the sugared version.

They eventually realized this was not true, so they created a zero calorie Coke variant that tasted like Coke.

And now you know the rest of the story. And knowing is half the battle.

Reply

(Per can)
Coca-Cola Classic: 142 Calories.
Diet Coke: 1.3 Calories.
Coke Zero: Zero Calories.

Coke Zero is sweetened with aspartame and acesulfame potassium (ace-k) and has zero calories. The only chemical difference between Coke Zero and Diet Coke is that Coke Zero has about half the aspartame but has more ace-k.

Confused anyone? It’s a marketing thing – Coke have manufactured a “diet” coke without using the word diet… which in their eyes will appeal to a different demographic.

http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2005/06/14/coke_zero_confused_anyone.php

Reply

Wikipedia is your friend.

“Diet Coke does not use a modified form of the Coca-Cola recipe, but instead an entirely different formula. The controversial New Coke, introduced in 1985, used a version of the Diet Coke recipe that contained high fructose corn syrup and had a slightly different balance of ingredients. In 2005, the company introduced Coca-Cola Zero, a sugar-free variation of regular Coca-Cola.”

— http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_coke

Reply

Same difference as between Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max. Quite shocked at how long it took Coke to do it, to be honest. Although for some reason Pepsi Max manages to avoid tasting like sweat.

Reply

Dammit – I can’t seem to find the Bloom County comic where they’re discussing the Cola Wars. Eventually, you will recall, they agree that regardless of marketing it all tastes like malted battery acid, and they prefer milk.

I’d heard that Diet Coke’s recipe was different in the US and Europe (I think Australia had the same recipe as Europe) and when they’d got their manufacturing worked out they simply imported each country’s other recipe and called it Coke Zero. So presumably the muck you drink from a Diet Coke can in Des Moines is the same muck Pierre drinks from a Coke Zero can in Versailles. Or something. But of course, There Is No God But Google (And Wikipedia Is Her Prophet) so you don’t need us to give you the answer.

Reply

ootg got it — Diet Coke is in fact Diet New Coke, people just preferred it to original Diet Coke so much more that they didn’t switch it back when they undid it for the main brand. Coke Zero is the diet version of actual Coke.

Reply

According to my brother, Diet Coke is for girls, whilst Coke Zero is for boys. It’s all in the marketing.

Reply

As pointed above, it’s more than marketing.

They’re different recipes. Diet Coke was made to test more like Pepsi, and a sugured version of it was what was New Coke (and then Coke2).

Coke Zero is a diet version of regular Coke.

Now, here’s the real question:
What’s the different between “Wavy Layes” and “Ruffles”

Reply

Diet Coke Plus is actually the Coke analogue to Pepsi Max.

In my opinion, Coke Zero tastes like zombified real Coke, while the two Diet Cokes have a distinct taste. They might still taste horrible, but at least they’re not trying to be something they’re not.

Reply

In Britain, those of us who see through the marketing refer to the latter as “Coke Bloke”. It’s basically there so that ‘macho’ men can drink it without feeling as if people think they might possibly resemble less ‘macho’ men.

Coca-Cola: Adding that fresh slice of testosterone-driven manic paranoia to your drinking experience!

Reply

Diet Coke is made with the blood of our enemies.
Coke Zero is people! It’s people!!!

Reply

The difference is that Diet Coke tastes like ass, and is everywhere. Coke Zero tastes a little less like ass, and is nowhere.

Also: Never combine the two, it’s like crossing the streams.

Reply

@Kid Kyoto

Coke with real sugar is not that hard to find in the US. Just look for glass bottles with Mexican words on it (a slapped on english label will say it contains fructose, but its lying).

Reply

There’s been so many comments already that I’m sure no one cares any more, but I always thought Coke Zero kind of tasted like someone mixed half regular Coke and half Diet Coke. It doesn’t have quite so much of that rancid, “Diet Coke” taste, but at the same time you can tell it’s not really 100% regular Coke.

Reply

What is the difference between having sex and making love? Between knowledge and enlightenment? Between redemption for our sins and a truly good dump?

Reply

@JohnW

“Coke with real sugar is not that hard to find in the US. Just look for glass bottles with Mexican words on it (a slapped on english label will say it contains fructose, but its lying).”

Seconding this. I can find Mexican Coke (as it is called) in pretty much any area grocery or convenience store. You can recognize them by their half-liter glass bottles.

That said, I live in Texas, so proximity to the border might have something to do with its ready availability. Whether or not it’s so easy to find in, say, Montana is a good question.

It’s worth the hunt, though. It’s vastly superior to regular Coke. I also encourage everybody to try Dr. Pepper with cane sugar, if they should ever get the chance.

Reply

There’s been so many comments already that I’m sure no one cares any more, but I always thought Coke Zero kind of tasted like someone mixed half regular Coke and half Diet Coke. It doesn’t have quite so much of that rancid, “Diet Coke” taste, but at the same time you can tell it’s not really 100% regular Coke.

I thought that was C2.

Reply

In my part of Canada, we are deprived of Mexican Coke. Unfortunately the city I live in isn’t big enough to have any really ethnic neighborhoods with shops and such that cater specifically to said ethnicities.

Reply

n Britain, those of us who see through the marketing refer to the latter as “Coke Bloke”. It’s basically there so that ‘macho’ men can drink it without feeling as if people think they might possibly resemble less ‘macho’ men.

*****
Marketing, no matter what the official spin is.

Never let pesky facts like that they taste different deter a nice parnoid rant…

Now back to the Wavy Lays vs Ruffles…

Reply

Cherry Coke Zero is really great.

Reply