Red Bull Cola jolts market
Kola nut, cardamom and corn mint are among the 12 "natural flavors" in the new Red Bull Cola, released a few weeks ago.
Gone are the sucrose, glucose and taurine that made up the original Red Bull, introduced to the U.S. market 11 years ago.
(Keith Hale/Sun-Times)
Both are carbonated drinks containing the powerful organic compound that gives you wings: caffeine.
In an unofficial taste test, the difference is clear. Gone is that strange, Tang-like taste. The new cola is refreshing -- not quite Pepsi, not quite Coke, not quite RC Cola, but a combination of them all.
What remains the same is the signature blue, red and silver cylindrical can, which became an accessory for hipsters, NASCAR fans and Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano vowed to drop coffee -- but not his beloved Red Bull -- after suffering cramps he thought were tied to caffeine overload.
Twelve ounces of the cola contains 45 milligrams of caffeine, about half the amount in an average cup of coffee, a company spokeswoman said.
The American Dietetic Association notes that for most healthy adults, moderate amounts of caffeine -- 200 to 300 milligrams a day, or about two to three cups of coffee -- shouldn't pose any health risks.
Jennifer Belongi, regional communications manager for Red Bull, says the product is "made 100 percent from natural ingredients."
According to the company, that means no phosphoric acid and no high fructose corn syrup (controversial because some doctors link it to the obesity epidemic), unlike most colas. Coke connoisseurs will tell you that Coca-Cola's switch in the 1980s to high fructose corn syrup altered the drink's flavor for the worse -- something company officials would argue.
One has to wonder if the new Red Bull Cola will evolve as its energy drink sibling did into a mixer. A "Jack and Red Bull Cola" doesn't quite have a ring to it.