Coming Soon: “Healthy” Coke

Coca-Cola has opened a research center in Beijing within the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in hopes of developing beverages using Chinese herbal ingredients to add to its line of offerings. The corporation has entered into a long-term collaboration with the academy (the national center for research, health care and education in traditional Chinese medicine) attempting to connect the brand with Chinese medicine’s “more holistic view on health,” according to a statement released by Rhona Applebaum, Coke’s Chief Scientific and Regulatory Officer, and Hongxin Cao, President of the academy.

Companies like Taiwan’s HeySong have already proven successful in serving herbal sodas to Asian markets for quite some time now, so it’s unclear who Coke will be targeting with their future products. But we’re pretty curious to see how an American audience will take to the distinctively bitter, un-artificial taste of Chinese herbs in their soda pop.

[via BrandRepublic]