There is nothing more soothing than a cold coke. Whether to mask the taste of medicine, just cool off on a hot day, or with a meal Coke is my drink of choice.
Coke is such a favorite that I (as well as several of my friends) use our Palms to track which restaurants serve Coke. Any restaurant that serves Pepsi has to be pretty special to get our business.
What makes Coke different from other colas? Each cola has its own distinct taste and I do not presume to compare Coke to all of them. I am just going to concentrate on Pepsi, Diet Coke, and Diet Pepsi. All three of these other sodas taste the same (to me at least) - sweet. I just get an overwhelming sense of sweetness, almost to the point of being unbearable. Coke has flavor which isn’t overpowered by that sense of sweetness.
About 15 years ago, Coke was removed from the shelves and replaced with New Coke, or New Croak as we called it. Somehow they managed to make New Coke even sweeter than Pepsi and the diet colas. Thankfully they brought back Coke Classic (which is not quite the same as pre-New Coke Coke but is still a vast improvement on the other options).
I have noticed that Coke tastes slightly different in different parts of the world. It seemed slightly sweeter in Europe compared to the Coke available in the United States. It also tasted different in Israel but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what the difference was.
Coke is also sold in different sizes in different parts of the world. Sold mostly in metric sizes even in the United Stated (12 oz and 16oz sizes being the exception), Coke comes in 1 and 2 liter bottles in the US and Canada. In Europe and Israel it came in 1.5 liter bottles. I am puzzled by the size differences since they cannot be attributed to the difference between metric and non-metric units.
I highly recommend Coke to anyone looking for a carbonated soft drink. It has more flavor and isn’t as sweet as the alternatives.