# If Tab and Diet Coke are the same, why different caffeine content? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tab-and-diet-coke-are-the-same-why-different-caffeine-content/296127 "2005-03-25T01:46:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tab-and-diet-coke-are-the-same-why-different-caffeine-content/296127/21 "2005-03-26T15:36:36Z")
The idea that there is no taste difference between various diet sodas is making me reel. When Pepsi came out with Pepsi One they had a strange (to me) commercial. There was a ferry. Lots of people sitting on benches. They alternated between drinking Coke and drinking Pepsi One. As the ferry swayed in the water, their drinks slid around and Coke drinkers happily, and unknowingly, drank the Pepsi One. Pepsi One drinkers happily, and unknowingly, drank the Coke. Soooo, it seems to me that the commercial was claiming that Pepsi One tasted like… Coke. Not like Pepsi, but like Coke. And since I’m certain they wouldn’t be claiming that Pepsi One tastes bad, they are also claiming that Coke doesn’t taste bad. In fact, they are claiming that Pepsi One’s biggest selling point is that it tastes really good–like the competitor’s product. (Which actually I would agree with. I think Pepsi One tastes more like Coke than it tastes like Pepsi.) ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tab-and-diet-coke-are-the-same-why-different-caffeine-content/296127/22 "2005-03-26T18:32:52Z")
What I don’t get is why Coke, Pepsi, whoever use different amounts of caffeine for different offerings in their own product line. I can see Jolt using more caffein than Coke. “All the Sugar, and Twice the Caffeine”, right? Makes sense. But why should Diet Coke have more caffeine than Coke Classic? And why should Diet Pepsi have less than Pepsi? What logic informed the decisions behind the differing formulations? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tab-and-diet-coke-are-the-same-why-different-caffeine-content/296127/23 "2005-03-26T18:35:59Z")
My guess is it’s a taste issue. Caffeine is bitter. Colas without caffeine are less bitter than colas with. So when they took out the sugar and replaced it with something with a different, sweeter, taste, they needed to counter that sweetness a bit so they upped the caffeine. ---
**Author:** ![Perderabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Perderabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perderabo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tab-and-diet-coke-are-the-same-why-different-caffeine-content/296127/24 "2005-03-27T03:22:18Z")
I’m a Diet Coke kind of guy. But my sister, who drinks Tab, recommends [this web site](http://home.epix.net/~tjwagner/tab.html). ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tab-and-diet-coke-are-the-same-why-different-caffeine-content/296127/25 "2005-03-27T04:29:26Z")
I’m another person who’s surprised that they still make Tab. I haven’t seen that brand around here since some time in the late 80’s or early 90’s. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2005, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tab-and-diet-coke-are-the-same-why-different-caffeine-content/296127/26 "2005-03-27T07:50:28Z")
A little Tab trivia here. It was the drink Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) first asked for at the soda fountain when he went back in time in _Back to the Future_. It was also the only drink in Michael Douglas’ fridge in the film _Running_. I don’t know why I remember these things. I just do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tab-and-diet-coke-are-the-same-why-different-caffeine-content/296127.md?page=1)