The Worst Coca-Cola Flavor Could Double As A Coffee Syrup

From its nostalgic taste and nose-tickling bubbles to its iconic packaging, Coca-Cola hits all the flavor right notes for those who enjoy the classic soft drink. While Coca-Cola has released a host of varieties to great reviews through the years — including Coca-Cola Cherry, Diet Coke, and Coca-Cola Lime — not all of them can stand on their own from a flavor perspective.

We tried and ranked eight different kinds of Coca-Cola and chose Vanilla Coke as the worst flavor. The flavor has had quite a journey since it was introduced. Released in 2002, it remained on store shelves until 2005 and made a permanent return in 2007. Unfortunately, it's a flavor we'd rather not taste again.

The biggest problem for us is that Vanilla Coke doesn't taste anything like Coke, or soda for that matter. We found it to be akin to a caramel syrup that may work better in coffee, but certainly not in a soft drink. The drink has a strong vanilla scent, but the taste is short on cola and heavy on syrup, and it tastes like synthetic syrup at that. While we understand what Coca-Cola may have been going for flavor-wise, it seems like the vanilla flavor and the cola flavor are competing rather than complementing each other.

Vanilla Coke launched to great fanfare when it was introduced in 2002, complete with commercials featuring Simon Cowell of "American Idol." It was the first new flavor the company introduced since Coca-Cola Cherry in 1985 — not including New Coke, which was a short-lived revamp of the original Coca-Cola formula.

Vanilla Coke's appeal — and the secret behind its vanilla flavor for that matter — may remain a mystery to us. But Coke's signature vanilla drink — marketing as having just a hint of vanilla flavor — has served as the jumping-off point for other drinks, including Coca-Cola Cherry Vanilla, Coca-Cola Orange Vanilla, and Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla. It also elicited responses from Pepsi, which introduced Pepsi Vanilla in 2003 and Pepsi Cherry Vanilla in 2010.

While Vanilla Coke may not be high on our list of Coca-Cola flavors, or sodas for that matter, there is one vanilla-infused Coke we can get behind. Coca-Cola Zero Sugar OREO, introduced in 2024, aimed to pair an iconic drink with an iconic sandwich cookie and we think the pairing was successful. Released at the same time as Coca-Cola-flavored OREOs, the drink gives hints of the cookie's familiar flavors of vanilla creme and chocolate without overpowering the flavor of the Coke.