When someone says the phrase "comfort food," this generally brings to mind thoughts of things like macaroni & cheese, pot roast, or spaghetti & meatballs. All hot foods that make you feel good. While lemonade is not hot, this is a comfort beverage that is generally consumed in the heat. There's something comforting about getting out from the hot summer sun and enjoying a long drink of the lightly sugared lemon drink that cools and refreshes the whole body. Finding the perfect glass of lemonade however can be fairly elusive. Too acidic, too much sugar, not enough lemon, too much lemon; it's a fairly difficult balancing act. I'm going to take a look at Simply Lemonade and see if they come anywhere close to a perfect glass of lemonade… or miss the mark entirely.

Simply Lemonade is a brand of the The Simply Orange Juice Company, which is part of The Coca-Cola Company. The first thing you can't help but notice are the many bottle sizes. They start with the 13.5 oz "travel size," work up to the popular 59 oz, and finally cap out with the jug-like 89 oz. The small size is something you can easily fit in a lunch sack and somewhat mocks the larger 59 oz shape. A funny note here on pricing: The small size can generally be found for about $2.50 a bottle, the medium size anywhere from $3-5 dollars and most of the time the "jug" size can be found for about $5-7 dollars — at least as experience from a local sampling of grocery stores in the Houston area. So if you're looking to save money, go for the larger size for sure, but then again, the point of this review is to see if it's worth even buying in general.

All of the bottles let the color of the lemonade show through: it is a vibrant pale yellow that doesn't contain any artificial colors. The labeling has a white background with a picture of a large lemon on it. Lettering is in a black frilly font, spelling "Simply Lemonade" on the front with the phrase "all natural" in yellow across the top. The screw-on top is a nice solid green shade, reminiscent of the color of lemon tree leaves.

Looking at the contents on the back of the bottle solidifies what they say on the front about "all natural." Containing only "pure filtered water, natural sugar, lemon juice, natural flavors," this lemonade is also 11% actual lemon juice. (From my personal experience most lemonades stay in the 7 to 10 percent range). So right from the onset, Simply Lemonade is setting the bar fairly high. They don't hide their product behind colored plastic, they claim all natural ingredients, and you can only find it in the refrigerated sections (thus implying it'll go bad otherwise). An 8 oz. serving contains 120 calories, 15 mg sodium, and 30 g carbs (28 g sugars).

Let's pop the seal and see if it delivers on its promises!

The green cap is held in place with a green sticker that reminds you to "Shake Well," and once the green screw cap is removed there is a foil cap under that that needs to be peeled away. Once that is removed a faint hint of sweet lemon comes from the top. Pouring out the first few glasses provides a nice satisfying "glug" sound due to the concave nature of the neck of the bottle.

Simply Lemonade delivers on its claims: the lemon flavor here is strong, but at the same time (because of the natural sugar?) it isn't followed by a sickeningly sweet aftertaste. Another thing that amazes me is that it's not as acidic as I was expecting for 11% lemon juice. I've had lemonade that is 7% lemon juice that feels like a kick in the mouth. The "tart" flavor is held back very well and in fact it's one of the first times I have actually been able to refer to the more "fruity" nature of a lemon. It has a very clean finish due to the natural sugars and the taste is very smooth overall. This drink is almost the personification of "refreshing" in my book. They seem to have worked hard to perfect a lemonade recipe and it shows.

If you have been gun-shy about poorly made lemonade or it being too tart or acidic, I'd suggest giving Simply Lemonade a try. Its bottles don't hide the goodness they have managed to create and it might change the way you think about lemonade.

Watch:

Brand: Coca-Cola
Title: "Arghh"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

The Coke Polar Bear trilogy wraps up with the Giants bear screaming disgust at the finish to the game… and then drinking a Coke.

Watch:

Brand: Coca-Cola
Title: "Catch"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

Coke's Polar Bear trilogy continues with the Patriots bear pulling off an impressive bottle catch, but only after knocking out a lot of his friends on the ice.

Watch:

Brand: Coca-Cola
Title: "Superstition"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

Coke's trilogy of Polar Bear commercials kicks off with one bear wearing a red scarf, representing the New York Giants, while the other wears a grey/blue scarf, illustrating the New England Patriots.

The holidays are here and I can't let them pass by without showing you a classic set of Sundblom Santa cans from Coca-Cola. Cola-Cola has featured the Sundblom Santa on their packaging since 1931. Haddon H. Sundblom is perhaps best known for his work for The Coca-Cola Company with his rendition of St. Nick based on the popular poem, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" (a.k.a. "A Visit from St. Nicholas", Moore, 1822). Sundblom also created the "Sprite Boy" and the Quaker Oats man. Sundblom's association with his Santa Claus artwork is so strong that he is often thought of as the first person to depict him as the modern image of "jolly old St. Nick". This, of course, is not true as St. Nicholas can be traced back to the 4th century and the jolly fat man with a white beard had his origins in the late 18th century and more so by the mid-19th century.

The Coca-Cola Company in the United States chose four of Sundblom's pieces to print on their Coca-Cola Classic cans in 1996. Each 12 oz (355 mL) can has "1996 EDITION" in gold at the bottom left of the artwork and they all stay true to their bold red color branding, unlike recent can designs. Likewise, all four cans have a little history followed by the title of Sundblom's work on one side of the can. The historical text under the Always Coca-Cola logo reads: "The Coca-Cola 'Sundblom' Santa: From 1931 through 1966, The Coca-Cola Company commissioned artist Haddon H. Sundblom to create Santa Claus illustrations for its Christmas advertising. Since then, people everywhere have identified this Santa Claus with The Coca-Cola Company."

The first can is Sundblom's "The Pause That Refreshes" from 1958. Here we see Santa kicking back in a green chair as jolly as can be with a bottle of Coca-Cola. He is missing a boot and is in the process of sliding off his remaining black boot with the red sock covering his left foot. Below the chair is a fawn, peacefully sleeping. The "Pause" could mean Santa is taking a break from his Christmas deliveries. Let's go with that. The illustration text on this can reads, "'The Pause That Refreshes,' was rendered in 1958. This holiday season, the only pause that refreshes is ice-cold Cola-Cola."

Sundblom's "Refreshing Surprise" from 1959 is on the second can. In this illustration, a small boy catches Santa sneaking into his family's refrigerator. He is smiling at a surprised Santa who is starting to use a bottle opener to open a bottle of Coca-Cola. The illustration text reads, "This creation, entitled 'Refreshing Surprise,' was rendered in 1959. Surprise your guests with real holiday refreshment. Serve them ice-cold Coca-Cola."

The third can features Sundblom's "When Friends Drop In" from 1961. Here a small dog has spotted Santa. Santa is in front of a decorated Christmas tree holding a bottle of Coca-Cola in one hand and holding up a finger from his other hand to his lips to tell the dog to stay quiet. The illustration text reads, "This creation, entitled 'When Friends Drop In,' was rendered in 1961. Make sure you always have plenty of ice-cold Cola-Cola when your friends drop by in this holiday season."

Sundblom's "Season's Greetings" from 1962 is on the fourth and final can of this set. In this illustration we see a happy Santa enjoying a bottle of Coca-Cola while playing with a toy train set. The illustration text says, "This creation, entitled, 'Season's Greetings,' was rendered in 1962. This holiday season greet your guest with ice-cold Coca-Cola. THE ONLY REAL HOLIDAY REFRESHMENT". To me it looks like they forgot to add an "s" to the word "guest"… unless they think you are only going to have one guest. If that's the case, it would mean that you wouldn't need to buy as much ice-cold, refreshing, Cola-Cola. Nah… I really think they forgot the "s".

The Sundblom Santa and Coca-Cola go hand in hand with the holiday season. It was refreshing to dig these 15 year old cans out of my collection to share with you this week. They are all great designs and when you look at them, you can't help but feel the warmth and happiness of Christmas… and perhaps a craving for an ice-cold Coca-Cola. Happy Holidays!

Coca-Cola has a long tradition of releasing holiday cans. Some years we see their famous Haddon Sundblom Santa Claus who was first introduced on cartons of bottles in 1931. Some years we see the Coca-Cola Polar Bears, having first starred in commercials in 1993 and which Coca-Cola holds as a beloved icon since 1922. This year Coca-Cola partnered with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to raise awareness and money to help "Save the Polar Bears." As part of this campaign, Coca-Cola decided that this year they would put polar bears on their Coca-Cola cans.

Coca-Cola made a public announcement on October 25, 2011, in the United States that beginning in November 2011, they were going to release the Polar Bear can design on their flagship brand, Coca-Cola. To make the cans stand out, they proposed something that had never been done before… make the Coca-Cola cans white.

The release window for these cans was slated to be from November 1, 2011, until February 2012, with 12-pack cases for the 12 oz. (355 mL) size and in 8-packs (with a special red plastic band holding the cans together) for the 7.5 oz. (222 mL) size. The can designs showcased a solid white background with a mother polar bear and two cubs in silver. The polar bears are walking across the silver snow in the Arctic. Not only was the red background turned white, but the white Coca-Cola logo was now red. Both cans display the text, "Protect the Polar Bear's Home. Join us at COKE.COM/ARCTICHOME." The design looks great. It was a very bold move by Coca-Cola to change history by changing the color of their cans.

Coca-Cola was very excited about this promotion to help the WWF and the polar bears. They made an initial donation of $2 million to the WWF and invited Coca-Cola consumers to make a $1 donation to the WWF by texting the package code to 357357. Coca-Cola also promised to match all donations made with the package code by March 15, 2012, up to a total of $1 million.

Fast forward to the beginning of December 2011, when Coca-Cola learned a very important marketing lesson concerning branding. For those not familiar with this concept, it encompasses recognition of a product, most notably visual aspects of the brand such as a logo and colors. For example, everyone associates dark blue with Pepsi, green with Mountain Dew, orange with Sunkist, and red with Coca-Cola. Coke themselves have promoted an initiative they called "Red-Black-Silver" to denote their regular, Zero, and diet lines. Let's not forget that Coke Zero originally was released in white packaging here in the U.S., before eventually setting on the black color used today. Other companies, such as Pepsi (with Pepsi Max) and Dr Pepper Snapple Group (with Dr Pepper Ten) have adopted this color association of black/grey to mean "calorie-free soda" aimed primarily at men vs. "diet soda" which finds more favor with women.

Perhaps we'll never know why history had to repeat itself, but it did. Last week, countless articles appeared in print and online in many news sources including The Wall Street Journal reporting on the backlash from consumers concerning the white and silver Coke can. The headlines were very creative… "A Frosty Reception for Coca-Cola's White Christmas Cans" (WSJ) and "Green promotion with white cans has consumers seeing red" (Examiner.com). Consumers felt tricked as many thought the white cans were actually Diet Coke cans. Numerous cans were returned and consumers received refunds for unopened cans from retailers. Diabetics complained that they were also fooled by the color of these cans and their health was affected by the extra sugar. Flight attendants were reported serving the white cans to passengers asking for Diet Coke because the cans looked like Diet Coke. Many of those that correctly read the labeling claimed that the formula changed and that the soda in these cans didn't taste like regular Coke, but instead it tasted closer to Diet Coke. There are even YouTube videos with people performing blindfolded taste tests claiming that Coke out of a white can tastes different than out of a red can. Finally, Coke purists called the color change on Coca-Cola's 125th Anniversary blasphemous.

In response to this backlash, it was reported that Coca-Cola decided to pull all of the white cans off of the shelves and replace them with red cans. This information later changed to Coca-Cola not pulling the cans, but instead, stopping production of the white cans. Coca-Cola planned on selling the rest of the existing cans and phase in red cans of the same design.

As an attempt to save face, Coca-Cola published a press release on December 1 announcing that the red polar bear cans will be hitting shelves in early December. In the release, they stated , "People have told us that they love the limited edition white 'Arctic Home' Coca-Cola cans, and we know they love our iconic red cans, especially during the holidays. So we're introducing the next limited-edition 'Arctic Home' can, which will still feature the same polar bears, but with our iconic red Coca-Cola background." There no mention of any customer complaints or the similarity to Diet Coke.

In fact, Coca-Cola went as far to create an updated (and unannounced) Coca-Cola Holiday Cans Fact Sheet (PDF) which was publicly available on their website detailing the can design release schedule and the differences between the white cans and the Diet Coke cans. Please note that this fact sheet is linked to from a Company Statement dated November 15, 2011.

• Phase I – (Nov. 1 – Dec. 2): Coca-Cola White "Arctic Home" 12 oz. Can
• Phase II – (Dec. 2 – Feb 2012): Coca-Cola Red "Arctic Home" 12 oz. Can
• Diet Coke "Holiday" 12 oz. Can [no dates mentioned]
• Coca-Cola "Arctic Home" 7.5 oz. Mini Can [no dates mentioned]
• Diet Coke 7.5 oz. Mini Can [no dates mentioned]

Here's where the story gets strange, as if Coke is attempting to rewrite history. If you view the properties of the Coca-Cola Holiday Cans Fact Sheet (PDF), you can see that it was created from a Word 2010 document by "mdoser" on 11/30/2011 12:24:06 PM and Modified on 11/30/2011 12:32:29 PM. This is well after the November 1, 2011, release of the Arctic White cans at the beginning of the promotion, and after the November 15 date on the Company Statement that links to it within the text of the statement. It's as if Coca-Cola wants to brush this whole debacle under the rug and have the public forget about it. Are they thinking they can trick us into believing that this was the plan all along? As a can collector I welcome the white and red cans into my collection. As a consumer, I have lost respect for Coca-Cola, not for turning the cans white, but for not being honest enough to admit they failed.

Pepsi Fusion at Quiznos

According to the reader, "Pepsi Fusion was at my local Quiznos about 1.5-2 years ago until a few months ago when it was removed."

Original Story 9/1/11: Earlier this week, John Sicher of the industry publication Beverage Digest teased that "Pepsi recently tested fountain equipment designed to compete with Coke's Freestyle."

Pepsi Fusion
(Name Source: US Patent and Trademark Office)

For those not familiar, Coca-Cola's Freestyle is a type of beverage dispensing machine that custom mixes drinks using a series of cartridges, allowing it to serve up 100+ different beverages, all ordered from a touchscreen interface.

The many brands of Coca-Cola Freestyle

We spent a lot of time last year learning about how the machine worked at the National Restaurant Association show.

While it originally was hard to find in various markets, Coke has stepped up the rollout of these machines, and according to the official Coca-Cola Freestyle Facebook Page, is currently in 1000+ locations.

Freestyle in action

Overall, it's a clever concept to mix-and-match flavors from established brands, and Coke sure does have a lot of them! The big appeal, I believe, is creating drink flavors that don't currently exist in the mainstream marketplace. For example, I remember trying out a Grape Vault not too long ago. You'll never see that flavor on the shelves!

Pick a flavor, any flavor

The one challenge I would see with the Freestyle concept is that it's a very niche device, not really designed for quick service. The touchscreen interface is clever, but not designed for speed.

Many Fanta flavors await!

One hopes that as Coke further perfects the technology, we'll see a device that can better handle a large audience over a short period of time (i.e. sitting in your local McDonalds).

Pepsi's Social Vending Machine at NRA 2011

Is it any surprise, then, given the buzz that the Coke Freestyle has been generating that Pepsi would want a piece of that action as well? During the 2011 NRA Show, I got to spend some time with Pepsi's own new vending concept, the Social Vending Machine, but it focuses more on friends and relationships vs. actually revolutionizing the beverage flavor experience.

Machine, they name is "Pepsi Fusion"
(Source: Facebook Page)

Sources pointed us to an obscure Facebook Page called "Pepsi Fusion Machine only 3 in the country, only at Culvers and I tried it." Granted, we're talking a Facebook source here, but just to play along, the "About" information reads as follows: "Ever dreamed of having a drink with almost any flavor. How about a pepsi, seira mist [sic], amp, brisk tea or lemonade, with the flavor of lemonade, lime, grape, orange, cherry, strawberry, raspberry, and wild berry." Well, it was a starting point, I guess.

Social vending option from Pepsi

Exploring filings with the US Patent and Trademark Office, there actually is a trademark filed from PepsiCo for the name "Pepsi Fusion" (#77897923), falling under the classification of "Refrigerated beverage dispensing units" (the exact same classification as Coke's Freestyle, by the way). Coke applied for their trademark on the "Coca-Cola Freestyle" name (#77897369) on December 18, 2009, while Pepsi went after "Pepsi Fusion" on December 21, 2009. Pepsi seems to still be working through the registration process, as back in April they applied for an "Extension of Time to File a Statement of Use."

Drinkfinity
(Name Source: US Patent and Trademark Office)

It should be noted that another name to keep an eye on is "Drinkfinity", as Pepsi seems to have some machine and "essences for making non-alcoholic beverages" applications out for that phrase, whatever it is (#77561469, #85156726, #85156728).

Other pieces of online evidence that seem to validate the "Pepsi Fusion" name are Twitter references from what appeared to be a test location, a Culver's restaurant in Downers Grove, IL: "Pepsi Fusion is here! 100+ choices to make your own! You have GOT to check this out!" (January 9, 2010). Unfortunately the image referenced in this tweet is no longer available.

Pepsi Fusion spotted at Culvers
(Source: @CulversDG on Twitter)

Chicago-based medical fundraising firm GiveForward, Inc. also tweeted regarding the abundance of flavors associated with the Pepsi Fusion machine: "Pretty sure this Pepsi Fusion machine has more possible flavor combinations…" (September 29, 2010)

Another Pepsi Fusion reference
(Source: @GiveForward on Twitter)

Additionally, the blog of Wheaton, IL-based band 'Sleeping At Last' noted in a May 27, 2010 posting: "Pepsi Fusion Soda Machines (okay, so you get to choose what brand of soda AND then you can add a flavor to it! what!?!? amazing. grape mountain dew, please)" No doubt that last comment refers to Mountain Dew Pitch Black.

Quiznos had a Pepsi Fusion machine
(Source: @jonathan_butler on Twitter)

As recently as July 2011, it seemed a Pepsi Fusion machine was spotted at a Quiznos by a Twitter user by the name of Jonathan Butler, who notes Chicago as his location: "Sad day for Quiznos – they got rid of the Pepsi Fusion machine." Based on this social media-oriented evidence, it would seem that Pepsi was conducting some tests on this Fusion concept near the Chicago area starting in 2010 up through this year.

Can Pepsi compete with Coke's 100 flavors?

We discussed these reports with the editor of the former Salute to Soda website, Terry Knab, who mentioned that Pepsi has a disadvantage when compared to Coke on the basis that their "flavor roster" is much smaller. Coke has an abundance of brands, both domestic and international, that can easily keep the flavor options on Freestyle fresh. Pepsi's has a significantly smaller amount to work with.

An unknown future awaits

Additionally, it should be noted that when the flavors on the Pepsi Fusion machine were mentioned, you didn't really see Mountain Dew come into play. Everything else was listed. Odd, huh? A niche device such as a Freestyle-type machine could be a great way to test concept flavors as part of a on-location "Dew Labs" installation. That would be one way Pepsi could counterbalance their lack of flavor depth. Another option could be licensing flavors from another company, such as the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. It should be noted that Pepsi currently distributes DPSG's Crush flavors to compensate for their own lack of fruit-flavored beverage options.

So what does this all mean? It could just mean that Pepsi was testing the concept and that's it. Or there might be something in the works. But the initial research conducted by Beverage Digest's find does seem to open the door for a lot of options. It will be interesting to see if anything develops in the coming months!

Frankenstein-like design of Mello Yello Zero

Probably the most notable part of this drink is the design decisions made on the logo. Rather that just offer a diet version of Mello Yello, keeping the 1970s vibe, Coke decided to carry over their successful "Zero" label to the drink.

Original Mello Yello

What's most interesting, however, is that they basically cut-and-pasted the "Zero" design onto the existing Mello Yello design, created an odd hodge-podge of "retro '70s + Zero logo thingy." You've got all this nice yellow coloring and then BOOM, it's a bunch of black just thrown in there. It's like a mismatched marriage. It's obvious that Coke would like to spread "Zero" more globally across their brands, and that's just not in name, but also in look/feel.

With that said, upon opening a bottle of Mello Yello Zero, you are greeted by the familiar scent associated with the drink. The light yellow color remains. As for the flavor, it's also light, but the use of artificial sweeteners aspartame and acesulfame potassium are quite noticeable, probably more so than in standard Coke Zero. Those accustomed to diet beverages probably won't have an issue with this, but for others transitioning from full-calorie to zero-calorie, it's worth noting. The familiar Mello Yello flavor is present, however, though I don't think it's as smooth as the flagship. The harsher aftertaste and seemingly less bubbly carbonation may play into this.

Ingredients:

Mello Yello ZeroCarbonated water, citric acid, aspartame, sodium benzoate and EDTA (to protect taste), acacia, potassium citrate, acesulfame potassium, caffeine, sucrose acetate isobutyrate, natural flavors, coconut oil, Yellow 5

A 20 oz. bottle contains 0 calories, 80 mg sodium, and 0 g carbs. Caffeine content is 4.3 mg/oz, which is slightly less than Mountain Dew's 4.5 mg/oz.

Brand: Coca-Cola
Title: "Siege"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

Is it a DreamWorks animated film packed with ridiculous CGI? Nope, just another brand commercial for Coke!

Brand: Coca-Cola
Title: "Border"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

It's a showdown between two border guards… but a bottle of Coke brings them together!