rdewald's Journal: Manhattan Special - made in Brooklyn

It's on the front page right now. Coca-Cola has decided to market a coffee-coke blend soda, first in France, but also here in the US.

Here at the Center of the Known Universe, we have had a similar product available for four generations, Manhattan Special, which is, like so many NYC legends, misnamed because it is made in Brooklyn (similar to the Lexington Avenue Egg Cream, which has no egg, no cream, and can't be obtained on Lexington Avenue, or Herald Square, which is a triangle, or Madison Square Garden, which is not on Madison, is not square, and does not contain a garden).

I even know a place in Cobble Hill, a neighborhood in Brookln, that has Manhattan Special on tap, as it were, i.e., dispensed from a fountain soda dispenser.

Manhattan Special is great, and they use cane sugar, so it is one of the few non-diet carbonated cold drinks I still consume. I would try the new coke product, but I'm certain they will still be putting profits ahead of their customers' health; using HFCS. If they put out a diet version, I may give that a try.

But, if you can find Manhattan Special where you live (try your specialty grocers), I assure you, a carbonated coffee drink is not a bad thing. I give Coca-Cola credit for thinking a bit outside their box.

heh

[stoolpigeon]

if they come out with a diet, caffeine free one I'd give it a go, but I doubt that's gonna happen. caffeine really doesn't do anything good for me (that I can figure) but I know when I've taken a good amount of it in because of the adverse effects.
 
Of course my wife still wouldn't touch it now that she is on her anti-aspartame kick

Re:heh

[rdewald]

Manhattan Special does have a caffeine-free version made with Splenda. The website claims to help you find a local retailer. I haven't tried it, so no claims here about it. However, it would not suprise me for Coca-Cola to do the caffeine-free sugar-free version if the regular product is well-received.

AFAIK, there are people, a significant number of them, who have an adverse reaction to Aspartame, but aside from that it's a pretty innocuous substance.

Re:heh

[stoolpigeon]

I've read up on it a bit since my wife brought it up. I found one study that was done with people who were bipolar IIRC. And they stopped the study due to the number of problems. It seems, from what I've read, if you already have depression issues, it is good to avoid. I've consumed tons of aspartame and never noticed anything, but my wife swears she notices a difference since she's stopped. Whether it is due to the chemical, or a 'placebo' kind of thing she's happier. (Of course digging around for st