Coca-Cola has quietly tweaked the recipe for one of its biggest fan favorites — and some shoppers aren’t thrilled.
Coke Zero, the company’s calorie-less cola, now contains stevia extract, a plant-derived sweetener that’s long been marketed as a natural sugar substitute.
The change appears to have rolled out around September 2024, when the US ingredients list was updated to include the new additive, DailyMail.com found.
New bottles and cans appearing in grocery stores have the sweetener tacked onto the end of the label. Customers took notice.
‘It was already delicious. Now it tastes kinda like Pepsi,’ one hawk-eyed Redditor said about the new drink mix.
‘Very sweet and tasty at first, though, as I keep drinking it, I dislike the taste more and more.’
Coke has openly changed the recipe for its fan-favorite product several times in the past.
The sugarless drink received revamps in 2017 and 2021, with the latter changes earning thousands of positive reviews.
Daily Mail spotted a change in Coke Zero’s ingredients list, tacked on likely around September 2024
The company also had a famous ingredient swap in 1985 that didn’t go so well.
Coca-Cola launched a new formula for its flagship soda, branding it ‘New Coke.’ The rollout sparked a full-on consumer revolt, with people hoarding the original version and calling corporate hotlines in protest.
‘The Coca‑Cola Company was getting 1,500 calls a day on its consumer hotline, compared with 400 a day before the taste change,’ Coke said in a blog about the recipe shake-up.
‘People seemed to hold any Coca‑Cola employee — from security officers at our headquarters building to their neighbors who worked for Coke — personally responsible for the change.’
The backlash was so intense that the company reversed course within three months, bringing back the original recipe under the name Coca-Cola Classic.
At the time, Pepsi was riding high with a marketing blitz known as the Pepsi Challenge — a taste test campaign that chipped away at Coke’s market dominance.
The challenge was partially successful, and Pepsi briefly gained ground.
But it’s since sputtered to third place in the soda market, with Dr. Pepper sneaking past for second.
Coke Zero has won thousands of endorsements, including from celebrities like pop singer Rita Ora
Fans of the outgoing Coke Zero mix said the new additive ‘tastes kinda like Pepsi’
Coke has changed its recipes several times before, including an infamous swap in 1985
Coca-Cola has remained dominant in the American soda wars, with huge grocery sales
Curiously, Pepsi just relaunched a new version of the Pepsi Challenge in 2025 — this time pitting the zero-sugar drinks head-to-head.
Representatives for Coca-Cola didn’t immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
Coke’s soda wars
Coke and Pepsi have engaged in a decades-long battle for soda pop supremacy.
But Coca-Cola may have just received an unforeseen financial power boost over its nemesis.
In 1970, Pepsi moved manufacturing for some of its most popular concentrates to Ireland because of the country’s lower tax rates.
The third-place soda brand’s manufacturing strategy is in the middle of President Donald Trump’s trade war crosshairs.
Trump has slapped a 10 percent tariff on all imported products.
The import tax threatens to cut into Pepsi’s profit margin right as the sodamaker just reported a 1.8 percent drop in net sales.
Pepsi reported $17.92 billion in sales during its first quarter of 2025. Coca Cola will release its earnings later this week.
