Dive Brief:
- The Coca-Cola Company is adding a drink to its Vitaminwater line with Vitaminwater Energy, a lightly carbonated drink that features a natural energy boost from green coffee bean extract.
- The new drink, which made its debut on Wednesday, is to be sold at convenience stores around the U.S. in three flavors: strawberry-lime, berry-punch and orange-mango. A fourth flavor, raspberry-citrus, is to be sold exclusively at 7-Eleven stores.
- The beverage is sweetened with a blend of cane sugar and stevia leaf extract, and contains 80mg of caffeine (from green coffee bean extract) and 50 calories per 11 ounce can.
Dive Insight:
Coca Cola is picking up on a number of drink trends with this new offering from Vitaminwater. One of them is the trend of reducing drinks' sugar without resorting to artificial sweeteners that have gained a bad name. Stevia is an attractive ingredient for consumers who want to be assured they are getting natural sweetness without extra calories. The company's choice of fruit flavors also reflects current trends, as does the bit of carbonation in a drink that is not called soda. Another growth category is the energy drink sector, which was predicted to grow to $21 billion by 2017.