TaB Addicts Anonymous

TaB Hall of Fame member Jeremy writes:

The Art Theatre I work at here in Omaha (The Dundee Theatre www.dundeetheatre.com) recently switched from Pepsi to Coke and I pushed for us to sell TaB! I wanted bag-in-a-box TaB for the soda fountain, but apparently they don’t offer TaB for fountain soda in our area, but who cares, cans work just fine.
We’ve only just made the switch, we’ll see how well it sells once we open our next movie, I decided I’m going to push it on everyone who orders a Diet Coke.

Thanks for doing your part to promote our favorite drink!

Natalie and Tess discovered ILoveTaB.com one day when searching the internet for information about they favorite beverage…

Natalie & Tessa - TaB Hall of Fame Members

Tessa says:

My friend natalie and I are openly obsessed with Tab and would like to be part of the Hall of Fame! I drink so much TaB that I have had to incorporate it into my monthly budget!

It happens to the best of us :’)

Tessa continues:

Natalie and I both started drinking Tab religiously in the fall of 2007 while attending college in Orange County, California. I can’t remember the exact day but I remember being hooked after that first inspiring sip. Ever since, the two of us have taken turns buying out entire store stocks of TaB until every Ralphs in the city is completely sold out.

I usually drink around 3-14 cans per 24hour period of time and the two of us combined probably purchase a minimum of 30 six-packs per month. When the fridge is stocked, we freely offer the joy of TaB to our friends… But when we get down to that last six pack the answer is no.

Many of our friends are now hooked on TaB which is great, but at the same time makes the beverage harder to get a hold of. When all the local Ralphs are out of our TaB, we search… I remember once driving around nearly 2 hours in pursuit of some sweet, delicious TaB. When we get to a new store, I’ll run or skip to the soda isle immediately and usually get so excited that I start drinking my TaB before making it to the register.

We get “TaB-Nasty” any time and anywhere: in the morning, at meal time, and late into the night. We’ve been known to drink TaB while playing ping pong, in class,in the car, at practice, parties, in restaurants, and even at the gym! We also never throw the cans away because, to us, they are not trash. Instead, we scatter TaB around campus, carefully set cans on top of trash cans rather than in them, or let tab accumulate in the back seat of my car. At Christmas time TaB cans were the only thing used to decorate our tree.

TaB cola is subject my friend Natalie and I discuss on a pretty regular basis… We talk about how the first sip differs from the second, the distinct almost nutmeg-like taste, and how each TaB tastes better th an the one before making every fresh TaB the “Best TaB you have ever had”. Yes I am totally obsessed with TaB, and in no way is that depressing!

We have a whole set of TaB-vocabulary. We talk about getting “TaBfaced” and spreading our “TaBfulence” to create a “TaBnation!” I have done a beer-bong of TaB and would rather drink TaB than alcohol. For Christmas I got all my TaB friends TaBcoozies so that we can all enjoy a cold TaB in the winter seasons. We all have TaB shirts and are well known for all of our TaB consumption. I am always drinking TaB and usually carry a cold one in my back pocket.

TaB addicts have the best sense of humor – welcome to the TaB Hall of Fame!

ILoveTaB.com: When did you start drinking TaB? What were you doing? In college, etc?

Jennifer: I actually only started drinking TaB about two years ago. I saw a six pack at the local grocery store and thought the packaging was so cute. Of course, as a child of the 80s, I knew about TaB (I still remember laughing at the Michael J. Fox TaB line in Back to the Future), but I had never tried any. I wasn’t really much of a soda drinker to begin with…when I would buy any, I would buy Diet Coke…but one day in the grocery store I saw a six-pack and thought, “I’m just going to try it.”

After I tried TaB, I immediately loved it! I thought it tasted better than Diet Coke, and it was cheaper too. Plus, as I mentioned, the color of the can was super cute. There’s just something about it.

ILoveTaB.com: Does anyone else in your family/circle of friends drink TaB?

Jennifer: I am the ONLY person I know who drinks TaB! My husband thinks it’s weird. Most of my friends say they have some older aunt or something that still drinks it, but they don’t…I’m trying to convert them as well as my coworkers.

ILoveTaB.com: How much TaB do you drink daily/weekly/monthly?

Jennifer: I probably consume one to two six-packs a week. As much as I love TaB, I do try to limit my soda intake in general. But it is the only soda I would ever keep in my house. I admit I just had one with my breakfast (I know, so bad.)

ILoveTaB.com: Is TaB easy to find where you live?

Jennifer: I live in southwest Houston, just a few minutes outside downtown. You can find it at the local Kroger and Randall’s. One time I was picking up a six-pack and ran into a man loading his entire cart with nothing but TaB. He said his wife “bathed in the stuff” and it was not available where they lived…perhaps they lived in a far out suburb or another side of town. However, I have never had trouble finding a six-pack at my grocery stores. Fortunately!

ILoveTaB.com: Have you ever brought TaB on a trip with you?

Jennifer: I pack it for lunch every day and have taken it with me on road trips!

ILoveTaB.com: Any other TaB related anecdotes or stories?

Jennifer: Just the one above, about talking to the man who was loading up his cart. I told him that his wife had good taste.

In addition to just loving the taste of TaB, I find there is something wonderfully retro about drinking it. I love vintage stuff, and drinking TaB feels like a throwback to another time, yet it also just tastes great!

Notice what Lorraine is holding here…

ILoveTaB.com: When did you start drinking TaB? What were you doing? In college, etc?
Lorraine: I started drinking Tab in college. My first Tab was at a physics department social hour that I attended with my (eventual) husband, also a dedicated Tab drinker.

ILoveTaB.com: Does anyone else in your family/circle of friends drink TaB?
Lorraine: My husband… Also Dr. Ed Wheeler, who is a colleague of my husband’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Dr. David Purdy who is my boss here in Mechanical Engineering [Wow!!Special honors for Lorraine for her conversions and TaB friends!]

ILoveTaB.com: How much TaB do you drink daily/weekly/monthly?
Lorraine: I drink 3 cans of Tab a day. One for each lecture and one for in-between. (That’s all the pop I drink in a day.) My husband drinks rather more than that.

ILoveTaB.com: Is TaB easy to find where you live?
Lorraine: Here, they sell it right out in the open in the stores (Kroger, Wal-mart). We lived in Lincoln, Nebraska for 11 years before we moved here, and in Nebraska we had to drive to the Coca-Cola distribution center 60 miles away in Omaha every month. We would buy enough Tab for the month (many cases) and they would bring out these dusty cases of Tab. Then we would take it home and try and make it last until the next month.

ILoveTaB.com: Have you ever brought TaB on a trip with you?
Lorraine: Yes, we always bring some Tab with us.

ILoveTaB.com: Any other TaB related anecdotes or stories?

Lorraine: One April fools one year, half of my students brought Tab to class. It took me until half way through the lecture to realize they were all drinking Tab. On the day before Spring Break, I bring Tab and candy to class so students can see what Tab tastes like.

–

Lorraine was nominated by one of her students — it was one of the best testimonials we’ve gotten! She obviously makes a huge impact on her students.

“My name is [J.G.] and I am a freshman majoring Mechanical Engineering, ME, major at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana. One of my freshman ME professors is in love with Tab.

Her name is Lorraine Olson and she has her BS, MS, and PHD from MIT. She is a genius who, yes you guessed it, loves Tab. When used to live in Nebraska her and her husband used to drive 120 miles round trip just to buy Tab in bulk. The stores in her area didn’t sell it so they would drive the distribution center and pick it up.

Every single period she teaches she has a can of Tab with her, and she even gives visual representations of Free Body diagrams using her Tab can. One day in class we all asked about her love for Tab. She spent about 7 minutes of class time telling us all her stories. After that, the day before spring break we had a Tab party, since a lot of us had never had it. She brought in six cases of Tab and candy and we all enjoyed it while we worked in class.

When I go to her office to get help on work her desk is sometimes littered with empty Tab cans. I’m telling you the lady loves her Tab. On the ME webpage, there are group photos of the all the Me professors and some of them are holding Tab cans in the photo (having a good laugh at her).

Anyway, the reason why I am writing you is because I think she has more than deserved her place in the Tab hall fame. You have heard I am sure just a few of her many stories involving Tab. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology has been ranked the number 1 undergraduate engineering school in the nation for eight consecutive years and beings she has her three degrees from MIT I think she also earned her place in the hall of fame and she would love every moment of it.

There is no doubt in my mind that if someone loves a drink so much that her professional staff jokes with her about it and she incorporates Tab into the nations best engineering programs curriculum she has earned her place. Please let me know.

Thank you/sincerely,

J.G.”

Welcome Jeri!

ILoveTaB.com: When did you start drinking TaB? What were you doing? In college, etc?

Jeri: In the 70′s when it first came out. I was in high school. My family only allowed diet pop! It used to be diet RC and that’s the closest in taste to TaB I can come to when I can’t find it anywhere!

ILoveTaB.com: Does anyone else in your family/circle of friends drink TaB?

Jeri: No one else drinks it that I know of. My sister used to in high school and college but switched.[I know a few of those traitors *cough* cough* my mom]

ILoveTaB.com: How much TaB do you drink daily/weekly/monthly?

Jeri: I limit myself to 2 a day because I drank so much in college that it ate away ate my bladder muscles (the saccharin -sp) and was told not to drink it anymore. I do have permanent damage due to excess drinking of it but try to drink water in between my morning and nightly TaB.

ILoveTaB.com: Is TaB easy to find where you live?

Jeri:Not easy, but I have my grocery store that knew I was addicted. They just closed and I panicked and went to another and talked to the manager. He is now carrying it for me!

ILoveTaB.com: Have you ever brought TaB on a trip with you?

Jeri: I ALWAYS take it with me when I go out of town!

ILoveTaB.com: Any other TaB related anecdotes or stories?

Jeri: Yes… My daughter (20) likes it, but knows not to drink mine! So she does diet coke. Another story is that when I lived away from home and first marriage in 1978, my family sent me a cassette tape of them talking and funny stuff. I had a sister who was 10 at the time and she sang the “TaB. Tab cola what a wonderful drink” commercial for me on the tape! I still have that somewhere! (Also did a Gildna Radner impression!)

I’m going to a Stampin’ Up Regional convention this weekend in another state and told my downline she may want to bring pop for the hotel room. She said, “you have TaB, right? Bring me some of that!” Well, I am going to actually share some of it with her which I don’t usually do! Mainly because I always feel like all of a sudden there won’t be anymore TaB! So maybe 2 cans if she’s lucky!

ILoveTaB.com: Anything you want to add?

Jeri: [A story...] about the night my husband to be (although I didn’t know it at the time) got me the TaB at 4am…

It was New Year’s Eve and I’d just flown in from visiting family over Christmas. My refrigerator was bare! We had people over at my townhouse and drank a lot of champagne. That’s why I woke up so thirsty! Couldn’t believe he actually got up and got me some!

Also, I used to teach at an alternative high school and we were allowed to have drinks on our desk. I’d stop every am at 7-11 and get a TaB Big Gulp and take it with me to work. They all also knew me as the TaB person and I recently talked to one of my students who is now 48 and he asked if I still drank it! (I taught right out of college so wasn’t much older than them).

Thanks Jeri, and welcome to the best club in the world

Here are some pics of my roadtrip across the border to get the stuff!!Thes are pics of me coming out of a Wegmans in Rochester.This was my first store(Wegmans)that I went to in the area.We tried Tops in Batavia and the clerks had never even heard of TaB.Neither did anyone who worked at the Holiday Inn in Batavia.
I was able to get 8-6packs at this store and the 2nd Wegmans only had 3 left so I snapped those up too.Unfortunately I dint take any pics from the second location.
I have tons of other shots with my TaB at the hotel etc.Let me know if you would like to see and post them.I just wanted to share with all my fellow Tabaholics–the long journey to find the nectar of the gods.I may be crazy travelling that far to get my TaB , but thats why were are all here.

Black Cherry TaB:

Her collection:

For more of Debbie’s great photos, click here.

Thanks Debbie!

As most of you know, ILoveTaB.com is supported financially and technically by ILoveTaB.com founders Chris and Natalie, in their own spare time and out of their own pockets. We want to continue to keep this site 100% ad-free.

In order to continue supporting ILoveTaB.com, we are asking for our member’s help. We are offering lifetime forwarding ilovetab.com email addresses for a donation of $25. 100% of the money will go towards paying for the website (hosting, domain name, etc).

If you want an ilovetab.com email address with webmail, POP access, and 100MB of storage, the cost is $25 + $10/each year (for 200MB, $18/each year). You can always upgrade your forwarding email address to a POP account in the future.

Additionally, we are developing several fun TaB products in the near future that will go to support ILoveTaB.com.

As a thank you, the first 25 people that purchase an address will receive a ILoveTaB.com exclusive — 1 package of custom TaB M&M’s!

Each package contains a 1/2 cup of pink, white, and yellow M&M’s that are printed with “Save TaB,” “TaB,” and “TaB TaB Cola.” You will also receive 10 ILoveTaB.com exclusive high quality stickers.

To purchase an ILoveTaB.com email address (or if you have any questions), please contact Natalie aka TaBalie. We accept checks, money orders, PayPal (echecks, transfers, and credit cards).

Thanks for all your support!

Welcome Thomas!

Click here to read more…

T’was the Night Before TaBmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through my flat
Not a creature was awake… but my overweight cat.
The tree was trimmed. The gifts were all wrapped.
And Amazon.com had my credit cards maxed.
The stockings were hung and I was in bed.
Dreams of 2-liter TaBs in my head.
When all of the sudden, who would appear?
But jolly St. Nick, red suit and white beard.
He crept through the darkness and paused by the tree
Saw the TaB I’d left him and was duly intrigued.
“Oh good!” he cried, then turned beet-red.
“Oops, sorry!” he whispered. “Forgot Nightowl’s in bed.”
Then he took a big drink and whispered, “Not bad!”
He ignored the cookies. They weren’t as good as the TaB.
Then he filled my fridge with cans of pinstriped pink.
And 2-liter bottles of the world’s finest drink.
And he cried as he left, “Hope everyone’s happy!”
Ain’t it good to know that Santa’s a TaBbie?

Peace on earth, goodwill to humanity and cheap, abundant TaB for all!

Thanks Nightowl!

Thanks Alan!

Consider this: TaB backwards is “Bat,” making it the perfect beverage for Halloween!!

Some short, scary fiction for you now. You wake in the middle of the night. Something has made an odd noise in your hallway. You whisper in the darkness, “Who’s there?” The only answer is a chilly autumn breeze sighing through the trees just beyond your window. And then, you hear it again. It sounds like a something heavy being dragged.

It’s coming up the stairs.

Keeping your eyes on the dank grey light of the partially-opened door, you reach for your Louisville Slugger and get up slowly. Your heart now racing, you pound the barrel of the bat on the hardwood floors. “Get out of my house!” you scream.

It stops. And starts to withdrawl back down the stairs. So you creep quietly out the door, into the ghostly moonlight of the hall and to the black void where the stairs begin. The lightswitch, to your horror, doesn’t work, but you hear whatever it is, stepping off the stairs and towards your kitchen. And you follow, down the stairs. Your heart now pounding in your chest, you step off the stairs, blindly fumbling your way through the dark living room and place the bat’s head against the kitchen door. It’s in there. You know you must confront it. So you push the door open slowly with the bat. And there.. AND THERE.. AND THERE IT IS!! (chilling organ flourish here). Looking like a cross between a gorilla, a grizzly and an ET, it stands eight feet, covered with black full and red eyes, bathed in the yellow light of the fridge, which it has opened on its own. There, in its paw is- horror of horrors- YOUR LAST TaB!!

You let out a scream. But the creature lets out a big belch… and smiles at you.

Just be thankful you didn’t have Diet Coke in that ice box.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Nighty-Nightowl

Thanks Nightowl!

Thanks TaBSoda105!

Alan is the lucky owner of this fantastic piece of TaB memorabilia:

Click here to read more…

Jen has been a fountain of TaB information and a great help to ILoveTaB.com — she definitely deserves this honor!

She has even gotten her grandson addicted

Click here to read more…

Here is some background information on Jeremy, our newest TaB Hall of Fame member… He is 21 years old, lives in Omaha, Nebraska, and attends school at the University of Nebraska at Omaha for Secondary Education (his goal is to get certified in English and Journalism). He works at a Walgreen’s that carries TaB (lucky lucky lucky!!!) — and the TaB is also really well stocked! Jeremy also works at a Theatre that shows Art Films.

ILoveTaB.com: When did you start drinking TaB? What were you doing? In college, etc?

Jeremy: I started drinking TaB in January of this year, I found it in a 12 pack in South Carolina in a very run down filling station’s back room, I didn’t buy any but was surprised to find it was still being made. When I got back to Omaha I found it mentioned on the Save Surge website and did some research, I loved the can design and it had an interesting back story, but didn’t seek it out. It wasn’t until I went to the grocery store for frozen pizza and soda that I found my first six pack, and to be quite honest I hated it. It sat in my fridge and I ended up drinking another and it had grown on me, before that six pack was done I bought out the grocery store’s stock. (Glad you stuck with it Jeremy )

Click here to read more…

(“Devotees go far to keep tabs on diet pop,” The Columbus Dispatch, May 7, 2006 — by Ana Fisher)

Maybe you’re too young to remember Space Food Sticks and Shake-a Pudd’n.

That’s because those food fads, introduced around the summer of 1969, couldn’t attract the necessary long-term market share.

Consumerproduct companies don’t seem to mind. They just roll out the next crazy idea and hope it sticks long enough to make a profit to bankroll the next crazy idea.
Click here to read more…

Patti was nominated by her friend Oscar for the ILoveTaB.com TaB Hall of Fame! She looks gorgeous in her TaB tshirt and that wonderful vintage TaB poster is fantastic!

Here is what Patti had to say when we interviewed her…

Patti started drinking TaB when I was 9 as a result of a bottle of Tab getting mixed up in a 6 pack of 26oz bottles of Coca Cola.
What a great surprise!

She is the only TaB drinker in her circle of friends and family. However, she has converted several friends from the other energy drinks to TaB Energy.

She drink 4-6 6 packs of TaB per week, when she can find it!
Us TaBbies know what that is like!

The Manager at Patti’s local grocery store does a great job trying to keep TaB on the shelves for her, though sometimes someone else beats her to it!
I think most of us have unfortunately been through this

Like other TaB addicts, she has taken TaB with her when she travels on business.

What frustrates Patti, (like many of us) is that she has noticed that when Coca Cola products are on sale, TaB is never included, and she wonders why.
We wonder was well! My advice to to contact Coca-Cola directly – keep calling until you get someone knowledgeable – and tell them about this. 99% of the time the grocery store is in the wrong, and TaB should also be on sale!

Patti says “I have sent emails to Coca Cola several times inquiring where I can find TaB memorabilia. I have spent a fortune buying Coca Cola collectibles for my Mom and have looked everywhere for items.
I am a true TaBaholic!”

(“The peculiar appeal of Tab cola,” AdFreak.com, February 1, 2006)

Lots of Tab news lately. Brand Noise has a post about Tab Energy, a new energy drink that’ll be sold in slim, Red Bullish cans. Among the early reviewers, Starving Actor’s Loft in Harlem seems to like it, but he did get it for free. And in The New Yorker, Ben McGrath uses the Tab Energy launch to talk about the cult of Tab freaks, which apparently include Steve Brill. The piece suggests that Tab’s “peculiar flavor (‘It tastes like metal’) and reputation for unhealthiness� are actually its strengths. We don’t have much to add here except, OK, here’s a vintage Tab ad. Enjoy.
—Posted by Tim Nudd

Click here to read more…

It is so obvious this article used ILoveTaB.com as a source, why weren’t we mentioned?

(“TaB Scare,” The New Yorker, January 1, 2006 – by Ben McGrath> BEVERAGE NEWS

As if the mainstream media were no beleaguered enough, now comes word that th Coca-Cola Company is about to release a ne drink called Tab Energy. The plan is to capitalize on the popularity of the Red Bull genre while trading on the retro cachet of Tab with those iconic pink cans—a plan that coul threaten the sanctity of one of journalism’ secret, and most self-conscious, power cliques the cult of Tab lovers, who have persisted in drinking the pioneering diet soda, despite it virtual disappearance from the market.

Click here to read more…

(“The plight of the TaB addict. VICES | The lengths to which some Canadians will go …,” TheStar.com, February 12, 2006 — by Jennifer Wells)

When it comes to vices, ya do what ya gotta do. Even if the vice in question isn’t anything near as illicit as say, crystal meth, but instead is sold over the counter in a pink pop can that recalls the era of Mary Quant, paisley shirts and winkle pickers.

Except it isn’t sold over the counter. Not in Toronto. Not in Ontario. Not in Canada, writ large.

Click here to read more…

I have a Sidekick II, and it has been looking a little rough lately. I read in a magazine that you could order a custom “skin” to cover the Sidekick, so I thought it would be fun to get a TaB themed skin — a great way to increase exposure for my favorite drink!

You can get a skin at TMobileSkins.com.

Greetings, and Happy Holidays, fellow TaBbies!

Twas the night before Christmas and all through my flat
Not a creature was awake… but my overweight cat.
The tree was trimmed. The gifts were all wrapped.
And Amazon.com had my credit cards maxed.
The stockings were hung and I was in bed.
Dreams of 2-liter TaBs in my head.
When all of the sudden, who would appear?
But jolly St. Nick, red suit and white beard.
He crept through the darkness and paused by the tree
Saw the TaB I’d left him and was duly intrigued.
“Oh good!” he cried, then turned beet-red.
“Oops, sorry!” he whispered. “Forgot Nightowl’s in bed.”
Then he took a big drink and whispered, “Not bad!”
He ignored the cookies. They weren’t as good as the TaB.
Then he filled my fridge with cans of pinstriped pink.
And 2-liter bottles of the world’s finest drink.
And he cried as he left, “Hope everyone’s happy!”
Ain’t it good to know that Santa’s a TaBbie?

Peace on earth, goodwill to men and women and cheap, abundant
TaB for all!

Thanks Nightowl

(“TaB drinkers, advertising help reveal that choice is king,” GainesvilleTimes.com, November 1, 2005, — by J.C. Smith)

I am proud to tell you that I claim membership in a special market segment. This is an elite group. I carry a membership card for the TaB Drinkers of America.

Many people are not familiar with TaB. Many poor souls may have thought that the Coca-Cola Co. no longer bottled, as I like to call it, “the nectar of the gods.”

TaB is sold in Mozambique, South Africa, Spain, Botswana, Iceland, Namibia and Swaziland, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Granted, TaB may not command the shelf space of other Coca-Cola products. Even with the introduction of Diet Coke in 1982, TaB has held its own over the years. First bottled in 1963, TaB was the company’s first sugar-free drink.
Click here to read more…

(“Fans have a soft spot for old soft drink–A Soda with a Following,” Pressconnects.com, September 19, 2005, — by Elizabeth Cohen)

Sometimes Broome County runs dry. When it does, Tammy Kocak scrambles. “Recently we drove to Scranton, to check out the Wegmans there,” said the Binghamton office administrator, 43, speaking of one recent shortage. “If I locate a place that has some stock, I’m tempted to buy it all up.”

Tammy Kocak of Binghamton works as an assistant to Broome County Executive Barbara Fiala. Kocak admits to drinking two cases of TaB a week.

Click here to read more…

“You can see a billboard for TaB and think: Nancy Regan drinks TaB , Gloria Vanderbilt drinks TaB . Jackie Onassis drinks TaB , and just think, you can drink TaB too. TaB is TaB and no matter how rich you are, you can’t get a better one than the homeless woman on the corner is drinking. All the TaBs are the same. And all the TaBs are good. Nancy Regan knows it, Gloria Vanderbilt knows it, Jackie Onassis knows it, Katharine Hepburn knows it, the baglady knows it, and you know it.”

- Andy Warhol from America

Who are we?

Well, two hard core TaB junkies. Natalie began drinking TaB at a very young age, due to her mother’s addiction (it tends to run in families). In 1993 Chris and Natalie met, and a co-dependant relationship blossomed! From nursing hangovers with TaB to pulling all-nighters studying for exams with our trusty pink cans, we went through it all.

We were lucky then, since TaB was widely available in our hometowns and school. (Although Chris did mount a lengthy battle to convince the school to sell six-packs on the main campus.)

What is ILoveTaB.com?

This is the fourth incarnation of our TaB site. In 1996 we created the first web site for TaB addicts to come together and talk about their experiences, addictions, and search for the increasingly-rare TaB. We got a fantastic response from TaB addicts across the globe!

Many many cases of TaB later, we decided to spruce up our site. TaB addicts are dying off–Natalie’s mother has even given it up! This means that TaB is at extreme risk of disappearing off the shelves–forever!

We need to let Coca-Cola know that as long as they make TaB, we will be here to drink it.

Cheers, and glad to have you here,

Natalie & Chris

Chris is in his 12th year of TaB addiction. He met Natalie–and TaB–as a student at Duke University. He has been lugging those little pink cans with him ever since. He currently stores his belongings in San Francisco and Madrid, but can’t seem to decide which one is home. (There is more TaB in Spain, but it tastes funny. And he can’t understand anyone.) He works as a web programmer, mostly for Trekmail.com. He studies Spanish, has lost at least 3 years of his life to Google, has way too many houseplants and is always obsessed with some new piece of trivia. (Some recent topics: Citicorp Tower and The Walking Snakehead Fish.)

Natalie has been a TaB drinker for over 16 years, and also is responsible for co-founder Chris’ addiction. She is originally from northern California, but has lived in Tokyo, Atlanta, Durham, Seattle, and Los Angeles before settling in the Bay Area. Though her interest and dedication to TaB has held fast, her career interests have unfortunately not been quite as clear. Bouncing from working in a nursing home, to hanging up countless bras in Victoria’s Secret, to pursuing her PhD in Molecular Biology, she has tried it all. For the past several years Natalie has worked as a freelance makeup artist, a career choice that so far seems to be “sticking.” [update – well, now Natalie is going into DNA forenscis, maybe this will work). Besides TaB, makeup, and genetic engineering, Natalie loves ice skating, playing games, taking polaroid pictures, and questing for the perfect bottle of $8 champagne. Cheers! Natalie’s Friendster profile is here – add her as a friend!

Special thanks to our friends and family for putting up with our endless TaB talk and demands of disproportionate fridge space.

Make a statement by placing a pin on the ILoveTab.com map.

I have scoured the flea markets and antique stores and have found TaB glasses (have 12) and bottles. I’ve even managed to part with one extra glass, because my sister is equally crazy about TaB. My husband and sons think I’m a nut, but they look for anything TaB for me, too. Drinking it isn’t enough…I LOVE TaB!!! There are few things as satisfying as an ice-cold bubbling can of TaB.

1. People who know you even casually associate you with TaB.
2. You usually prefer TaB to drinking anything , even liquor.
3. TaB can be substituted for any well-balanced meal.
4. When you know that they are not at your destination, you have packed TaB in flight cargo, only for them to implode everywhere.
5. You have rehearsed a set comeback for “Oh, wow, TaB. I didn’t know they still made it.” or “My mom used to drink TaB.â€�
6. When you wake up with no TaB in your fridge, you panic and desperately speed to a store to quickly replenish your supply, praying to find one in some drink machine on the way.
7. You have a heightened admiration for a movie star when you see him with TaB in hand. And may consider even stalking him.
8. You smuggle your precious can(s) into airplanes, concerts, games, parties (even cocktail!) restaurants, and theatres.
9. You keep an extra cold one in your purse and vehicle at all times, and your precious mom keeps them refrigerated at her home just for you.
10. You collect TaB bottles, bottlecaps, pins, and have yellowed TaB framed ads decorating your home. You wear TaB clothes.
11. You keep TaB newspaper articles and statistics in your wallet, hoping to share them with others, even strangers on the street.
12. You husband/wife is your TaB b*tch. S/he is your stockboy. S/he knows your moods directly correlate to your TaB supply. S/he has been known to cower when you are low, and hide if you are out.
13. 30 years of “this has been known to cause cancer…” didn’t even slow you down.
14. You know all the local stores that carry TaB, what days they get delivery of TaB, and the contact information for your local bottler just in case of an emergency.
15. You have the ILoveTaB.com messageboard set as your homepage.
16. Your have brought TaB with you on vacation when you know it is not available at your destination.
17. You have considered/and or created a website devoted to Tab.

Thanks to Sally & Lisa

Dennis nominated Jane for the TaB Hall of Fame in early September, 2005. He says:

“My wife, Jane, is the biggest Tab-aholic I know. She’s been drinking it for as long I have known her, since 1982. And when I say drinking, I mean tons. When she went on a business trip to Jamaica, she packed it in her luggage. When we moved from the Midwest to Maryland, she called the local Coke distributor to find out what store carried Tab. When we moved to Missouri, we had to do the same thing…

Here is a photo of Jane (with her mom) and of course her Tab. She is never far from Tab. As I mentioned, she packs it in her bag when we vacation. Makes for heavy luggage. When we lived in an area with no cans of Tab, she had neighbors scouring the countryside. One guy found six cases of Tab in a country store, and bought ALL of them for Jane…

Jane drinks less Tab now than she did a few years ago. When we first met, she was drinking 8-10 cans a day. She’s cut down to 2-3 now! She still is not happy unless she has some in the fridge. When we go to see her parents in Milwaukee, we stock up at the store…they sell the elusive refrigerator 12 pack there. We generally will return to St. Louis with as much as the truck will hold! ”

Dennis, Jane is lucky to have you–how would she carry all the TaB without your help?

I grew up in a house filled with TaB. My mother started drinking it in college and never looked back. In our house it was normal to drink Tab, Diet Coke was never even considered. When I was in junior high, I started drinking TaB in earnest. It was at that time, the worst happened–our family moved to Tokyo, Japan, where they didn’t sell TaB at all!!!!

Fortunately, I learned that the Japanese version of Diet Coke (“Coke Light”) tasted similar to TaB (much more so than American Diet Coke), so I was able to become acclimated to my new situation.

I moved back to the states for high school–to Atlanta, Georgia. Home of the Coca-Cola (TaB) head quarters! The city supported TaB, local celebrities were addicted, and it could be found on every grocery store shelf in the city. Through the grapevine, I found out that the President of Coca-Cola was a neighbor, and was a fellow TaB-addict! According to him, as long as he held the reigns, TaB would be produced, which gave me so much hope! He even dropped off TaB Clear before it was available on the shelves–though we all agreed it was a poor substitute.

I attended college in North Carolina, where TaB was also widely available. It was even available in our dorm cafeteria! Over the past few years, we have heard from fellow addicts that TaB is quietly disappearing all over the country–the latest and most damaging loss as been in the California Bay Area. I moved to San Francisco a few months ago, and fortunately have secured a source south of the city. Chris and I are determined to unite TaB Addicts across the country and the globe, we created this TaB web site to revive the brand, and hopefully make Coca-Cola take notice and save TaB!

And yes, I am a TaB Addict.

My name is Kate, and I’m a TaB addict.

It started out simply enough: a can here and there. Nothing big. When I was living in the Midwest, there was always plenty of TaB around. I’d share one with my friends, and once I even gave some to my oldest kid.

That was then.

Now where I live there’s no TaB soda. None. Nada. Zip.

I crave it, man. I dream of TaB. Sometimes, when the sunrise reflects on the ocean in a heavenly pink amid the white caps of the breaking waves, it reminds me of a can of TaB. Man, I miss that stuff. I always beg people who come to visit me to bring some Tab with them. “Hey,� I’ll tell them, “I’ll pay you back. I just need you to get me some. C’mon. Pleeeeeease?�

Some folks get it. My sister-in-law, for example, showed up with 4 12-packs in a spare suitcase. I was a happy camper, until I ran out.

Tomorrow Kelley gets here for a week. I needed an adult to accompany my daughter on her flight from Missouri and, since I have to buy a second ticket anyway, I figured I’d rather fly a friend out. After all, my birthday’s on Tuesday: what a way to treat myself, right? Kelley tells me she’s only bringing 3 cans of TaB. Three. Three!? Her carry-on is too small to fit more in. Man, talk about bummed out.

But there’s always Beverages Direct, right? Wrong. They only ship to the contiguous 48. I did manage to find one place that ships here, but for $35 in TaB the shipping was an additional $189.

So, I guess I’m going to have to resign myself to going through withdrawals. I doubt Betty Ford has a program for this, which means I’ll have to go it alone.

Originally posted on Kate’s site 6.3.04.

I turned diabetic when I was ten (30 years ago), and I’ve been drinking TaB ever since. My Dad bought 100 cases (bottles) of the stuff when the first threat of losing TaB came to light…that lasted a summer. I drink 10-18 cans of TaB every day (I’ve even have it when I am in the hospital-I bring my own. I bring it everywhere: its driven 10,000 miles with me on vacation; its flown 1800 miles with me on vacation; it came with me working the school carnivals (even though I could drink anything else for free); it accompanies me to family picnics, to the Bingo hall (I help there), to my friends’ houses, to parties (even keggers). TaB goes with me everywhere! I take classes at Purdue, it goes there. If I stop in at my parents, I take it there…There is a cooler filled with TaB in the car in my garage right now! I know the number for the Coke bottlers in my area by heart (I’ve had to call) and I inow the delivery guy at my local supplier. I love your web site, and I just knew I wasn’t alone in my TaB addiction…it truly is the nectar of the Gods.

My mom drank TaB when she started Weight Watchers in the late ’60′s. Every once in a while, I’d get to have a sip from her glass. As we never had any other soft drinks in the house, that was a REAL treat. Around age 16, I was allowed one soda a day. TaB was my choice……as long as it wasn’t the last one in the fridge. My favorite “wake me up & get me going” breakfast is actually Frosted brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts & a TaB! I recently got engaged and moved to NC. I told my fiance’ that if I couldn’t find TaB, I wasn’t staying. Fortunately for him, about three weeks after moving, I located ONE store…..35 minutes away…that carried this nectar of the Gods. I was so happy; I could stay!

I have been drinking TaB since I was 10 yrs old. I am 41 now. I am known for my pink cans … in my desk, purse, school locker…leaving one or two with family members, just incase I dropped by! Two years ago, I was married in New Zealand, and there was no TaB there, so I packed a whole suitcase full…and was on a TaB diet, limiting myself to 4 cans daily. I didnt quite make it and by the end of two weeks, I was forced to drink Diet Coke on my honeymoon! My mom (who actually, put TaB in my babies bottles!!) was a die hard drinker until a few yrs back and she had to cut back on her caffine intake for a heart condition. Oh, my god, I hope I dont end up like that!

One of my 1st jobs out of high school was for a whole sale beauty supplier, a family owned business in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA. Alot of our equipment was pretty old, which was fine by me, because they had the coldest Coca Cola 10oz bottle dispensing machine! It was free for employees and HEAVEN!! Nothing beats the heat more than an icy cold bottle of TaB. 10oz is perfect to knock down and stay icy. Boy, I miss those days!

A scary TaB story happened to me just recently. AZ Coke distributors didnt order enough of the 6pks to hold over the stock until the new refidgerator 12pks showed up. I went a whole week without a TaB….calling different grocery stores in southern rural AZ, to no avail. My son found some about 70 miles roundtrip and brought them too me…xxoo But they were quickly gone.

Of course, I was crabby and moaning…and my family was laughing at me… my husband, the love of my life, walks in the kitchen with a can of TaB….he said, look what I found in your car! Evidently, one had rolled under the seats….I was sooooo happy and excited!! Then, he crunched the can before my eyes….it was an empty can, still sealed. We have an empty can problem here in the higher altitude. I was devistated and my eyes teared up! I seriously considered divorce at that moment!! How could he do that to me? He hugged me, now realizing my devotion to TaB. I vowed at that moment, to always have a 1 month supply on hand. To stock pile when they are on sale. (last week, safeway in Sierra Vista, 12pks for $1.99 ea!!)

My current employer, inspired by the bright pink can, painted our entire office the exact same color. Everyone says, there is no way you can be unhappy surrounded by this color! In a strange twist of fate, it was my almost ex-husband who did the painting … he is a painter by trade. And everyday, he looks down at his shoes and see the bright pink splats of paint from this job!

Can you say Karma?

I am an unabashed TaBaholic. I’ve been drinking TaB since it first came off the bottling line. I think I’ve got TaB in my veins. I shop at only one store, because they are kind enough to special order it for me. So every Sat. I’m off to Ukrops for my weekly fix. I used to have to go on weekly treks, scouring the shelves for my favorite beverage. Nobody but a fellow TaB drinker can understand the NEED! I miss the old days when we had caffeine-free TaB and those wonderful 2 liter bottles. I even remember the 32 oz. bottles. Clear TaB was too weird, though. I’ve started my own little TaB museum, though I just have a few pieces – an old 16 oz bottles, a Dark Cherry flavored can, and a set of 4 glasses my wonderful husband got me one Christmas. I would love to meet some fellow TaBsters (there really needs to be a word for us, doesn’t there?). I suggest we have a convention – Wouldn’t that be a hoot! Love your site and am proud to be your newest member.

My name is Andy and I am a Tabaholic. My addiction began in nursing school, late 70′s. The soda machine was the old fashioned kind, you put in a dime, opened the vertical door and pulled out the bottle from the slot. It was a miracle, the only reason why I had chosen that first bottle of Tab was because it was at the bottom of the machine, hence it was the coldest! I attended school in Clearwater Fla and we didn’t have good AC in the school. I fell in love with the first sip.

Over the years I have gone to some extreme to assure I had my Tab with me, my family has two names for my Tab. My ex-husband calls it battery acid, my family and friends call it Andy’s mothers milk. My son has that special gene that allows him the privilidge of enjoying the wonderful flavor of Tab, sadly my daughter lost out!

When Gilligan’s Island became popular, during a promotional “commercial” , I was asked if I was stranded on a desert island, what would I wish for, of course my answer was Tab! I didn’t win anything since the promo was being sponsored by Pepsi!

Thanks for reading my “story”. I have many more!

Hi. My name is Chris…and I am TaB Addict.

You see, it all started a few years ago, when I met my friend Natalie. It was an ordinary day in 1993, but I was desperately thirsty. She offered me the only beverage in her refrigerator—an electric pink can of TaB. At first, I regarded it with skepticism, of course. But as soon as I popped it open, things began to change. Delicate vanilla-scented bubbles tickled my nose as a rush of exotic flavors washed over my mouth. I guess I knew it then–I was hooked. Forever. A real junkie.

Oh, sure, I thought to myself. I can handle this. I’m not “addicted�. Of course, by then it was already too late. I was drinking it alone, hiding the evidence. A pile of pink cans lurking at the bottom of the recycling bin. Pretty soon, I had an 8-can a day habit. And nothing has ever been the same.

Our first TaB Hall of Fame inductee is Jim Rice, who was brought to our attention by a write-in campaign from his adoring co-workers. Jim is the TaB-swilling Financial Aid Director at Ridgewater College in Willmar, Minnesota.

It’s been a long month, so for Jim’s birthday his staff threw a TaB-themed party, dressed in pink and white and prepared him an amazingly pink TaB cake. (Nice job with the logo, by the way.)

Happy Birthday Jim, from everyone at ILoveTaB.com. Cheers!

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