Inside Coca Cola’s lab of flavours: ‘People anticipate their soda to do extra work for them’

In a so-called ‘great lab’ on the outskirts of Brussels, I watch chemists hard at work, surrounded by colourful liquids bubbling in beakers. 

These scientists could be mistaken for working on medical cures. But instead, they are experimenting with different iterations of mango tastes – from lactic to floral to ripe.

This is one of a handful of soft drinks giant Coca Cola’s research and development labs, where the flavours of tomorrow, and the vessels they are consumed from, are tried and tested.

In the 1980s, Coca-Cola and its main competitor Pepsi vied to be the first to serve a fizzy drink in space in the so-called ‘space cola wars’. 

NASA astronauts tried both aboard the space shuttle Challenger in July 1985, from specially designed cans.

That was just one episode of their rivalry – soon to be depicted in a Hollywood blockbuster directed by Judd Apatow and produced by Steven Spielberg.

Present competition is taking place firmly on Earth – but now the market offers more choice than ever.

And Coca Cola’s portfolio brags dozens of brands, including different flavours of flagship Coke, Fuze iced tea, Sprite, plus Innocent smoothies in the UK.

Coca Cola’s flagship Coke drink was developed in 1886 by John Stith Pemberton, a pharmacist in Atlanta, containing cocaine from coca leaves and caffeine from kola nuts. 

It was advertised as a healthy tonic – and in the centuries since has gained a cult-like following due to its distinct branding.

Celebrities like Rita Ora and Taylor Swift have been ambassadors – while Gen Z have even coined the phrase ‘fridge cigarette’ to describe an afternoon craving for a cold Diet Coke.

Decades ago, cyclists and football players would be seen on the finish line drinking Coke to ‘put back in sugar and caffeine,’ Rami Sabanegh, the company’s vice president of strategy for Europe, explains.

But health-conscious consumers have different standards today.

‘People are expecting their beverage to do more work for them,’ says Sabanegh.

At the R&D centre, scientists are experimenting with pre-biotics and probiotics – which help with digestive health. 

No doubt this is influenced by the soaring success of brands like Poppi, bought by PepsiCo for £1.5bn, HipHop and Living Things, among healthy Gen Zs.

And meal-replacement drinks – to challenge brands like Huel – could be next on the list, Sabanegh reckons.

Companies ranging from sausage roll maker Greggs to Michelin starred restaurants have said they are considering tweaking menus to keep up with the roll out of ‘fat jabs’.

But Coca-Cola bosses say they have not seen an impact yet. Many of the heavy lifting to reformulate drinks to be lower calorie and lower sugar has taken place already over the past twenty years. Diet Coke was launched back in 1982, followed by Coke Zero in 2005.

But the Ozempic effect ‘is something to keep monitoring,’ Sabanegh says. ‘Every time we launch a new flavor, we launch it both in zero and in regular – with the same idea of offering choice.’

‘At the end of the day, the main thing that people look for, and that we innovate around, is taste. Nothing else matters if your taste is not there,’ says Sabanegh.

A lot of it is trial and error. Cherry Coke is a popular flavour across most markets, including the UK. 

The company said it was inspired to relaunch diet coke Cherry here last year in part after a spike in interest in cherry red on fashion catwalks among Gen Z social media users.

But there are sometimes misses. Oranges and cream, a flavour the company says ‘has been around since 1905’, was one that didn’t go down too well in the UK, Sabanegh recalls.

The company plans to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to pinpoint exactly what will work where. ‘The amount of data that we have and understanding of the consumer is huge. 

‘The ability to sift through it, AI should help. It will help us identify, ultimately, what’s going to be the flavor du jour in five years,’ he adds.

‘The future belongs to the discontented,’ is the phrase, first popularised by Robert Woodruff, the firm’s president from 1923 to 1955, which Sabanegh repeats.

It is language reminiscent of Marks & Spencer boss Stuart Machin’s favourite catch phrase ‘positively dissatisfied’.

One thing sure to be causing a certain amount of discontent at Coca Cola HQ is Costa Coffee – which the business failed to sell, despite a rumoured price tag of nearly £2bn less than the drinks giant snapped it up for six years ago.

Coffee has faced fierce competition too – both in hospitality and at-home or on-the-go brands. 

While Costa and its express machines, found in supermarkets and petrol stations, seemed like a great deal in 2018, this isn’t so much the case now that people have access to all sorts from fancy coffee machines to Matcha sachets.

In Brussels, bosses are tight-lipped on talk of a sale – before news emerges that sales talks are abandoned. I ask, what is the future of Costa Coffee within Coca-Cola’s stable? ‘We wouldn’t speculate,’ says Sabanegh.

Another pressing issue faced by the C-suite and scientists at the group is the unglamorous issue of packaging. Across Europe, countries are cracking down on plastic waste in different ways.

This has brought with it several experiments. One recent introduction is a ‘tether cap’, attaching the cap to a bottle. At first, customers were irked by this, as the cap kept hitting their nose, Sabanegh admits. Although the innovation worked technically, it took ‘a few months’ to convince customers to come round.

Another pilot currently underway in UK shops is Sprite bottles with no labels. Instead, QR codes are lasered onto plain bottles, which the company is hoping customers will recognise by their shape.

And for good reason. In a new report by Planet Patrol, Coca-Cola proved to be the worst offender every year from 2019 to 2024, producing 6.5 per cent of all branded litter.

In the UK, drinks manufacturers are grappling with the new Extended Producer Levy, as well as the upcoming Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

The scheme will launch in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland in October 2027, which will charge customers a deposit on single use drinks containers. They can get this back if they take back their bottles to supermarkets.

But an extra headache for firms is that Wales is introducing its own scheme. Coca-Cola are among many businesses that would prefer one scheme that covers the whole island.

Coca Cola’s sustainability boss Joe Franses in Europe says while well-intentioned and needed, these policies are an ‘added challenge’ as firms face higher costs of doing business.

He says: ‘All of this needs to be carefully planned for. There are other discussions in GB on taxes and what have you. 

‘And we bring those arguments to this table, like, if you want to ensure that we continue to invest and grow in GB, we also need to look at the overall fiscal pressure from the private sector.’

On your way out of the R&D center, you are confronted with a shop of Coca-Cola merch, run by super-fan Johan van Mierlo. 

He says he has three apartments – two are just stacked with Coca Cola merch. At his shop, you can buy fridge magnets, socks and Coke car air fresheners.

It is a reminder of not only the behemoth’s legacy in the soft drinks market, but also the cultural power of a group that will fight to win a popularity contest even in a space shuttle.