So I’ve been imbibing Diet Coke with Lime for about two years now. The cafeteria at work dispenses my health-conscious drink of choice on a daily basis…$1.19 total. I have a bottle cap collection to measure how much of the liquid I consume, stuffed in a plastic bag and stowed away in a drawer in my cubicle. On those days when the supply of Diet Coke w/ Lime is threatened to be yanked by changes in distributors, I simply fall back to regular Coke or just plain water. The cafeteria manager tells me it’s a popular drink and the regulars let them know immediately when stock is gone. But that doesn’t stop me from missing it when I fail to have my daily fix. And most fast food chains don’t list Diet Coke w/ Lime on their menus, so I usually have to order the rather-flat tasting Diet Coke that comes with those combo/value meals.

So anyway, I’ve been off the soda drinks for about two weeks when I decide it’s back to the limey flavor of DCwL. I saunter over to the refrigerated section of the cafeteria and beheld TWO different-labeled DCwLs. First one I spotted was the classic green-ribboned metallic labeling of the 20oz bottled Diet Coke with Lime that I consumed for my daily libations. The one right next to it featured a cleaner, brighter, decidedly lime-greener label. I figure, what the hey, and grabbed the new label and checked out at the register.

The moment I popped off the cap, an intense lime flavor hit my tongue and I began to wonder…did Coca Cola reinvent the recipe of this newly-dressed Diet Coke with Lime? Or had I been away too long from the DCwL that my tastebuds merely forgot the flavor? But no, I had a 2-Liter of Diet Coke (old label) sitting in my icebox at home that I had sampled earlier this week. This new label DCwL had a much stronger lime flavor that hit front and center, not like the subtle back-of-the-throat approach of the old label DCwL. Quickly I scoured the net for any tidbits of information that might suggest a profile change of the drink…but so far, nothing.

I’ll be rushing home tonight to try out the old label drink and see if I’m just imagining all this. But just in case, the new-label bottle I had was stamped: FEB0408 BSC05262.