Coca-Cola Quietly Discontinues Fan-Favorite Flavors

It turns out that some Coca-Cola flavors weren’t as successful as some fans had hoped.

After a flurry of online speculation, the company confirmed to TODAY.com on Sept. 24 that it would stop selling Coca-Cola Spiced, the flavor that debuted earlier this year. The soda, which combines raspberry with a “hot spicy blend of flavors,” is one of the few products the brand has seen people online disappear from store shelves.

“We are always looking at our consumers’ tastes and adjusting our product lineup,” a spokesperson for The Coca-Cola Company told TODAY.com via email. “As part of that strategy, we plan to phase out Coca-Cola Spiced and introduce an exciting new flavor in 2025.”

The Spiced flavor first launched in February, and in a March press release it was called a “permanent addition to the lineup in North America.” Now, seven months later, the flavor is being retired, but it’s not the only one.

Coca-Cola Cherry Vanilla was also discontinued late last year. The company confirmed the flavor’s demise in March in a post on X stating that it had been discontinued and was only available while supplies last.

“I think @CocaCola stopped selling Cherry Vanilla Coke in the bottle,” another X user wrote on September 1, tagging the company. “Haven’t seen it in months.”

“We have decided to discontinue Coca-Cola Cherry Vanilla due to the ever-changing taste preferences and lifestyles of consumers,” the brand wrote on X on September 4. “As a complete beverage company, we are always looking for ways to evolve our product portfolio to give consumers the beverages they want.”

While some social media users missed the initial announcement by a few months, that’s nothing compared to people still asking if Diet Coke with Splenda still exists, even though it was discontinued years ago and is marked as out of stock on sites like Walmart.

“@CocaCola do you still have Diet Coke with Splenda?” asked one X user on September 4. “I’m allergic to aspartame 🥺.”

“Unfortunately, Coca-Cola Light with Splenda is no longer available,” Coca-Cola responded. “We apologize for the disappointment.”

As expected, netizens were unhappy to learn that these flavors had become metaphorically flat.

“This is a national tragedy, are you proud of yourself?” wrote one X user.

“Congratulations on convincing me to switch to Pepsi,” another said. “That was a huge failure on your part @CocaCola.”

Another even called it “Massive L.”

But not everyone was so moved by the discontinuation. One not-so-sad Redditor wrote, “Bye, Felicia!” when they heard that Spice was running out. Another added, “Yeah, people didn’t really like it.” Many other Redditors suggested relaunching other flavors instead.

Coca-Cola has been busy in recent years releasing a plethora of unique and limited-time flavors.

In 2022, the brand launched Dreamworld, a soda meant to evoke “technicolor tastes and the surrealism of the subconscious,” and Byte, inspired by video games, “inspired by the playfulness of pixels.” In 2023, the brand launched Coca-Cola Move with Rosalía, a soda “with a taste of transformation.”

Last August, the brand teamed up with Oreo to launch two items: the red and black Coca-Cola Oreo sandwich cookie, which contains Coca-Cola syrup, and the limited-edition Coca-Cola Oreo Zero Sugar drink, which features “savory notes” inspired by the chocolate and cream of an Oreo cookie.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com