Correction


This article in the AJC quotes a Coca-Cola spokeswoman who tells us that caffeine is largely used as a flavoring.


What does the Bible tell us about caffeine? Page 434 informs us that "[c]affeine is the most widely consumed behavior-modifying chemical in the world. It is an alkaloid ." No mention is made of caffeine as a flavoring. Page 258 answers the alkaloid flavor question: "Alkaloids are bitter-tasting toxins that appeared in plants about the time that mammals evolved and seem especially effective at deterring our branch of the animal family by both taste and aftereffects. Almost all known alkaloids are poisonous at high doses, and most alter animal metabolism at lower doses: hence the attractions of caffeine and nicotine."


Long quotes aside, anyone who has consumed crystalline caffeine or Water Joe knows that caffeine is bitter. The Coca-Cola spokeswoman says that this bitterness is detectable and a selling point in sodas like Coke, Dr. Pepper, and Mountain Dew. But has anyone who's ever drunk these beverages been able to detect the soupçon of caffeine under the calories, acids (for "bite") and various other flavorings? I doubt it.


Coke and other beverage manufacturers put caffeine in drinks because it kicks up people's metabolisms, and there's nothing wrong with that; it's why most people start their days with a cup of coffee or tea. They take it out when their drinkers, having developed an addiction, seek to cut back or quit caffeine entirely. And while some people seek out the bitter flavors in coffee and tea--which have more caffeine, the major source of that bitterness--it's unlikely that young children and habitual soda drinkers are looking for bitterness. In fact, sodas are often seen as more drinkable forms of caffeine.


So let's be honest now Coca-Cola. As one caffeine-freak to another, there's nothing wrong with wanting a buzz, or selling it to someone else.