Dive Brief:
- Coca-Cola Life is set to debut in the United States in September or October, according to a report by Beverage Digest.
- Beverage Digest, a newsletter that publishes 22 times a year, broke the news on Twitter on Thursday. Details on the launch are few, but an expansion beyond the test market in Argentina has been widely expected.
- Coca-Cola Life is a mid-calorie soda sweetened with stevia. Coke formally announced plans last week to introduce the drink in England later this year.
Dive Insight:
Stevia growers must be thrilled with the news that the big boys of the soda business are ready to move beyond the test stage and start selling stevia-sweetened soda. Certainly some anti-obestiy activists are likely to view the news positively as well.
The big question, of course, is how will consumers react. Last week came news that folks weren't too pleased by Coca-Cola's decision to switch to stevia in its Vitaminwater brand.
But early reviews for Coca-Cola Life would suggest that the new soda tastes better than might be expected.
