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 🙂