Much like the highly competitive world of fast food, the beverage space is also overflowing with brands trying to figure out the answer to a key question: how to get you to spend money on its products, not just once, but time and time again.
In the fast-food space, a common tactic is to constantly bombard customers with something new. Sometimes that looks like fancy collaborations with influential celebrities, such as Korean band BTS collaborating with McDonald’s for a limited-edition meal or Charli XCX making her own signature drink for Dunkin’ Donuts.
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Other times, it just looks like debuting a new seasonal menu full of items that make people “ooh and ahh.” Starbucks is the master of this tactic, which is so well-executed that fans wait with bated breath for each year’s drop (especially every fall for the brand’s legendary Pumpkin Spice Latte, along with whatever new flavors Starbucks has managed to dream up).
While it’s not quite as impressive as a whole new menu, beverage companies also try to move with the seasons, offering things like Coca-Cola’s new Orange Cream flavor, which is now being sold in stores. And speaking of Coca-Cola, it’s also testing out a new flavor for its lemon-lime classic Sprite, and it sounds like a pretty unusual mashup.
A lineup of classic popular sodas.
Image source: Shutterstock
Sprite is trying an unexpected flavor combination
Back in January, Coca-Cola announced a new flavor of Sprite that was inspired by a viral TikTok trend where people popped a tea bag into their soda and steeped it for 20 minutes to see how it changed the flavor.
Simply called Sprite + Tea, the drink is now available on store shelves and comes in both regular and zero sugar options. The release was flagged by food blogger Markie Devo, who posted about it on his X account on May 19 with a note that the drink had been spotted early at Walmart stores.
Redditors who had tried the new flavor took to the message board’s soda subreddit to discuss their takes on it, which ranged from positive to less than impressed.
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“I like it a lot I’m not a tea lover but this was a great drink and will be in my summer rotation!!” wrote user Lou-Lineas69.
“Torn on this one — flavor is not bad, but I can’t get over carbonated iced tea, and I was not ready for how that hit,” wrote user Nhblacklabs.
However, user HighwayStar77 was less than impressed, saying, “It has a very off-putting artificial tea flavor. Somehow doesn’t taste very sweet, even with something outrageous like 65 grams of sugar. Imagine a watered-down brisk mixed with a cheap club soda. Not a fan. I had the plastic bottle version so maybe the canned version will taste better.”
Coca-Cola edges forward
While the legacy soda company is not making huge gains right now, it’s still in the green when it comes to profit. Coca-Cola reported a net revenue growth of 3 percent for 2024 and 6 percent for the year during its earnings call on February 11.
That’s great news, especially in an economic climate where people are pulling back on unnecessary spending in the shadow of President Trump’s tariffs. And speaking of tariffs, it sounds like Cola-Cola may be one company that’s very well-positioned to weather them.
In a recent interview with CNBC, Cola-Cola CEO James Quincy said that the company is “a profoundly local business from an operational point of view,” and that “drinks in the U.S. are made by American workers in American factories.” Thanks to that, the iconic company is not feeling the pinch as much as other companies that rely heavily on imports.
“Our exposure to import/export, on a global basis, on a trade basis, is actually relatively low,” Quincy said.
