Over the years there have been many versions of our favorite drink… “TaB flavors, such as ginger ale and root beer, were an idea that made sense when TaB was Coca-Cola’s diet-drink entry and they wanted to compete in other flavor categories. The concept failed, in part because substantial segments felt that TaB had a disagreeable taste; it was basically perceived as low-quality by large parts of the market.” (Managing Brand Equity, David A Aaker)
Here is a short list:
Original TaB – Sweetened with saccharin and cyclamates (1963)
TaB(ver 2.0) – When cyclamates were banned, a version of TaB was developed that was sweetened with saccharin and a small amount of sugar.
Caffeine-free TaB – (1983)
Root Beer TaB
Orange TaB
Black Cherry TaB
TaB with Calcium
TaB – The current version available, sweetened with a saccharin and aspartame (Nutra-Sweet) blend (1984)
TaB Clear – During the “clear” everything phase of the early ninetines, Coca-Cola tinkered with the formula to create this nightmare. Was discontinued shortly thereafter. (circa 1992)
