Coca-Cola Discontinuing Beloved Holiday Flavor

Fans of Coca-Cola‘s Cinnamon flavor are going to have a sad holiday season this year. The soda giant has seemingly eliminated Coca-Cola Cinnamon from its lineup just a few years after it was first introduced. 

Back in 2020, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said the brand was going to crack down on “zombie brands” that weren’t selling well. As a result, sodas like Tab and other brands like Odwalla juice were killed off. 

“We are shifting to prioritizing fewer but bigger and stronger brands across various consumer needs,” Quincey said at the time. “At the same time, we need to do a better job nurturing and growing smaller, more enduring propositions and exiting some zombie brands.”

Cinnamon Coke was introduced in 2019 as a limited-time offer for the holiday season. At the time, the company was excited to be “spicing up the season with the limited-edition launch of Coca‑Cola Cinnamon, which blends the delicious taste of Coca‑Cola with a warm cinnamon flavor associated with the holidays.” They even partnered with Brown-Forman and Delish to create holiday cocktail and food recipes using the soda flavor. 

Cinnamon Coke came back in 2020 but not in 2021. While it might have seemed like a pandemic-related decision, it likely marked the end of the flavor’s life. It didn’t return in 2022 and isn’t coming back this year, so it seems the corporation has quietly killed the flavor. 

It remains to be seen if there are protests to bring it back, similar to what happened when Tab fans were outraged about the death of their beloved brand.