Proper Soda Co. Sweet & Strong Coffee Soda

Do you long for the days when you could just sit at a restaurant all night with your friends, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes? You would squeeze at a minimum eight people into a booth and everyone would order coffee and a single plate of fries to split between the table. I'm sure the waitress loved the change that was left behind as a tip for what would invariably be her table occupied for hours. Those were the days of my youth and I assume a decent amount of you out there had the same experience. I have no idea if kids still do such a thing, but the amount of 24 hour restaurants has plummeted and the anti-smoking laws probably took away some of the allure.

Why do I bring up such things? Well it's because with a heavy heart I have to report that this soda tastes like I was at one of those late night meet ups and someone played a practical joke on me and ashed into my mug. At first this has a strong coffee taste, but it quickly turns into something that I can only liken to the way that stale old half smoked cigarettes smell. It is a shame because Proper Soda Co obviously puts effort and care into their products. Their cans look fantastic and while a coffee soda isn't a new idea, it is still something that is fairly rare, and I appreciate them taking a risk with it. Unfortunately the arrow didn't hit the mark (the can looks like a design that would have an arrow on it). When I drank this straight from the fridge it was far more carbonated than I expected, or needed, and the flavor was very off-putting as I have stated. I was leaving on a road trip, and I knew I would need some caffeine so I put it in my cup holder, planning on forcing myself to work through it. I will say that after it warmed up a little and some of the carbonation dissipated it wasn't as bad, but it still had a ton of room for improvement. I'm sorry folks, I really wanted to love this, but it just didn't work out that way.