Did you know that Coca-Cola has less caffeine than either Pepsi or Diet Pepsi, but that Diet Coke has more caffeine than any of those (by at least 8 mg/12 oz)? As does Dr Pepper, which has a few mg less than Diet Coke; and as commonly known, Mountain Dew has all those beat. As might be expected, generic brands tend to have really sucky caffeine content (12.7 mg/12 oz for Sam’s Cola). The Journal of Food Science has a comparison of caffeine content from a variety of sodas; unfortunately, the article is available online only to subscribers; but the abstract (I found from Digg) at least is somewhat informative. I’d like to get my hands on the full article, but don’t feel like subscribing just to get at it.

On a related note: what do you think the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero? My initial assumption, when Coke Zero first came out, was that they had replaced the asphartame (“NutraSweet” brand) with sucralose (“Splenda” brand), but a quick inspection of the ingredients on the bottle proved this to be wrong. So I spent some time wondering: what’s different, then? They both use asphartame, they both have zero carbs, zero calories: what makes Zero, Zero, and not Diet? (There is, BTW, a completely Splenda-sweetened Diet Coke; it’s still not as good as regular Coke, perhaps due to what I’m about to explain about the Diet Coke formula, but IMO it’s better than NutraSweet.)

Well, according to Wikipedia (Coke Zero, Diet Coke), the answer is that Diet Coke is not based on the same formula as regular Coca-Cola, but instead uses the same formula that the ill-favored and short-lived “New Coke” was based on. It’s not Coca-Cola with all the corn syrup replaced by asphartame, but rather New Coke before all the asphartame was replaced with corn syrup! So, the answer is that Coke Zero fills the “Coca-Cola with all the corn syrup replaced by asphartame” gap.

Of course, if you’re like me, you’d prefer a variety of Coke that fills the “Coca-Cola with all the corn syrup replaced with actual cane sugar once again” gap. For now, I’ll just have to continue to make do with the occasional bottle import from Mexico, when I’m out at a Mexican restaurant that offers these.