"How'd you like to go black and make a really tough decision about whether or not to go back?" - Family Guy

My very first blog involved Coca Cola flavor combinations. I bought Vanilla Coke and Cherry Coke and tried to mix them together to make Cherry Vanilla Coke. It didn't work. I could taste each individual flavor. They didn't melt together into one new majestic flavor. Now, two years later or so, Coke has released Cherry Vanilla Coke. It takes exactly like mine did two years ago. Don't get me wrong, it's not BAD...It's just not better than Vanilla Coke or Cherry Coke by itself. I still like to buy it though because it's in a new bottle and everything. I have, in my lifetime, had the following Coke products:
Original Coke, New Coke, Classic Coke, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Cherry Vanilla Coke, Coke with Lime, Diet Coke, Coke Lite (German Diet Coke), Diet Coke with Lemon, Diet Coke with Lime, Diet Cherry Coke, Diet Vanilla Coke, Diet Cherry Vanilla Coke, Coke Zero and C2. Apparently there's a Coke (not diet) with lemon out there, but I've never seen it. Of course, this list doesn't count all the homemade flavors, like when you buy a Big Gulp at 7-111 and slap all the sodas and run your cup back and forth underneath them all, getting a Root Beer/Sprite/Orange/Diet/Pepsi/Coke/Lemonade atrocity. C2 is a slightly lighter version of Coke. The difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero is all in the taste. Both have the exact same nutritional information and ingredients, even though Coke Zero is advertised as "the zero calorie cola"....Diet Coke is zero calories, too. Coke Zero tastes sweeter. Diet Coke is much crisper.

Now, Coke has released their newest scraping of the flavor barrel with Coke Blak. The first time I saw it, I held it my hands and immediately conjured up a line from Max Barry's book, Syrup:
"New cola product. Black can. Called Fukk."

In fact, that line is the basis for the entire book, but I won't get into that too much. But here in my hand is a black bottle called BLAK. Not FUKK, but still very similar. And while, in Syrup, FUKK is nothing more than an ordinary cola with more bubbles, BLAK is actually something different. Not actually GOOD, but different. It tastes almost exactly like 4/5 C2 and 1/5 iced coffee. It's got a hint of Aspartame and a dollop of coffee "essence," according to the ads. Would you like seltzer in your coffee? No! So why put coffee in soda? It's billed as a "carbonated (really? From Coke????) fusion (Why is it "fusion?" because it's two flavors? Then why isn't Diet Cherry Vanilla Coke a SUPERFUSION??) beverage. It's more expensive than regular Coke and it comes in a black, glass bottle with a label that covers it completely. You are left to your imagination as to whether the carbonated fusion beverage inside is actually black. I never poured it out, so I have no idea. I assume it is, but with a hint of copper coloring...Excuse me, CARAMEL coloring... To make it more delicious.

So I'm not a big fan, but I must admit, it does everything it is meant to do. I bought it and drank it, and when people saw me with it, they all said, "Wow! What's THAT! How do you pronounce it? BLAKE?? What's it taste like?" And at a paltry 8 oz, versus a standard 12 oz, nobody gets a taste of mine! So I bet at least 24% of them went out and tasted it for themselves. So it was cool to have but it does not go well with pizza.