Review: Coca‑Cola Cherry Float — The Fruity Cream Rises To The Top

Coca-Cola already has plenty of fine products on its roster, but the soda maker has never been one to rest on its laurels. It often drops new flavors to try and freshen things up, and not all that glitters and bubbles up in caramel color is gold. Remember Coca-Cola Spiced? Probably not. In early 2025, it untapped Coca-Cola Orange Cream, which wasn't exactly the cream of the crop, so we're not surprised it's quietly being discontinued.

Then again, some new icy cold Coca-Cola flavors can truly warm the heart. For example, this past holiday season marked the debut of the winningly cheerful limited-time Holiday Cream Vanilla. Now, Coca-Cola is at it again, hoping another new cream variant is the one ready to rise to the top. Let's welcome the Coca‑Cola Cherry Float, and its leaner friend, the Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar Cherry Float, to this world.

We know what you're thinking — doesn't Pepsi already have a similar product on the market, with its dynamic duo of Wild Cherry & Cream? Well, yes. So, what's the story with this new Coca‑Cola Cherry Float? Is it a soda-hopper or a not-so-treasured sinker? We popped open a few cans of this new brew and its zero-sugar equivalent to find out.

I procured a 12-pack of both Coca‑Cola Cherry Float and Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar Cherry Float from a local Target. I stored cans of each beverage in the fridge overnight before trying them the next day. The taste test began with the full-sugar version, and then moved on to its zero-sugar iteration. Subsequent sips were taken to come up with a fully formed opinion of the two products.

This review is a summation of my own personal tastes and opinions. It also takes into account my previous experiences with Coca-Cola products, especially its cherry and cream-flavored ones, as well as similar products by other soda makers. The ultimate criteria considered for this review were flavor, carbonation, aftertaste, originality, how the two flavors play together, and the overall level of Coca-Colacity.

For the longest time, the Coca-Cola company made a singular product under its good hyphenated name. Things got a bit more funky when Diet Coke burst onto the scene in 1982, and Cherry Coke became a fruity affair in 1985. Vanilla flavoring got into the mix in 2002, with a string of other novelty flavors popping up in recent years.

In 2026, Coca-Cola is further flexing its cherry-flavored muscles by infusing it with vanilla cream to form Coca‑Cola Cherry Float and Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar Cherry Float. It will be joined on shelves with the return of Diet Coke Cherry, which should not be confused with Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar Cherry. Coca-Cola describes its latest cherry and vanilla dream beverage innovation as "a new flavor experience inspired by the classic soda fountain treat. Crafted to deliver the taste of a Cherry Coke float — without ice cream or dairy — the beverage blends Coca‑Cola Cherry with smooth, creamy vanilla notes for a familiar yet new profile."

This is not the first time the company has combined these two unique flavors. Black Cherry Vanilla started its limited run in 2006, and fans started pouring Cherry Vanilla Coke freely from the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines in the ensuing decade. The company took notice of the demand for that Freestyle combo and actually turned Cherry Vanilla Coke into a physical canned product in 2020, before it was discontinued a few years later.

Coca‑Cola Cherry Float is available in its standard full sugar version, as well as a Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar Cherry Float variant. Both are rolling out to U.S. retailers throughout February, as well in Canada, starting in March.

These two drinks will be available to purchase in the form of both bottles and cans, and in some of those fun flavor-packed Coca‑Cola Freestyle machines. While the exact price will inevitably vary per location, the Target I visited to pick up cans for my review offered 12-packs for $8.89 each. Meanwhile, at another local supermarket, I found 20-ounce bottles selling for $2.49 apiece. Some stores may even sell individual cans of Coca‑Cola Cherry Float and Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar Cherry Float.

Coca-Cola Cherry Float consists of carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, and less than 2% of caramel color, natural flavors, phosphoric acid, and caffeine. In the Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar Cherry Float version, the high fructose corn syrup is replaced by sodium benzoate (to protect taste), acesulfame potassium, sodium citrate, aspartame, and sucralose.

A 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola Cherry Float nets a drinker 150 calories, 30 milligrams of sodium, and 42 grams of total carbohydrates (all of which are added sugar). In the same serving size for Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar Cherry Float, all the numbers naturally are toned down to zero, except for sodium, which pitches in 55 milligrams.

The latter drink comes with the warning of the inclusion of phenylketonurics, which contain phenylalanine. While the drink is meant to evoke the flavors of a sweet, milky dessert, the cans clearly state that they contain no dairy whatsoever.

While I prefer the taste of any soda from the fountain, a can is the next best option, and what a beauty of a can the Coca-Cola Cherry Float is. It's a piece of pop art, where a scoop of vanilla ice cream, accented with pink contours, rests above some Coke in a glass, with a cherry on top.

I popped open the can and introduced myself with a quick whiff through the small opening. It had a hard-to-nail aroma, somewhere between a birch beer and perhaps something medicinal in nature. I poured some of it into a glass and took a moment to look at its body. The caramel coloring here seemed darker than regular Coke, and only lightened up a bit when literally held up to the light, showing dark red tints, almost as if it were a Merlot. I took a second whiff, which produced similar results, but now with a touch of creaminess peeking through.

My first sip ended up being more about the liquid's makeup than its flavoring. This bubbly brew had a real sharp snap to it that my mouth found very biting. The flavoring came through after that initial snap, where the cherry and cream came through clean together. Neither flavor comes on particularly strong, which is probably for the best. The cherry attributes were less potent than those found swimming within a Cherry Coke, and the vanilla cream comes off as a smooth, complementary partner, and thankfully not at all nauseating. Subsequent sips brought more of the same greatness — a snappy bite, followed by the cool-flavored combo. Those two lead flavors struck a wonderful equilibrium that made this drink a sure-sipper.

The Zero Sugar version of Coca-Cola Cherry Float also comes decked out in a lovely can, here with its text filled with black, in lieu of white. After popping open the can and taking a quick whiff, this brew didn't seem to have any discernible smell — not even a cola-like odor. I poured it into its own glass, and its body was identical to the full sugar version, with a darkness that barely perked up under the light. A closer sniff of the glass didn't reveal much more. My nostrils tried to search again and again for any kind of notes, but whatever was in there was just too faint to detect.

While I wasn't expecting to be wowed by Coca-Cola Zero Cherry Float, I was at least hoping it could capture that same great flavor combination in zero-calorie form. Sadly, I could quickly tell that wasn't on the cards after my initial sip. First off, the beverage was devoid of that biting wallop the regular version had, leaving the flavoring to define its profile. That flavor profile was a poor and pale imitation of Coca-Cola Cherry. Both the cherry and cream flavoring felt way too askew here.

On my next round of sips, I kept hoping for the toothsome Cherry Float's winning combination taste to return at any moment, but I resigned myself to that never happening. The whole drink just didn't taste or feel right. It felt a bit like a rejected take on a Diet Mr. Pibb, just with a new name.

Cream sodas with a dash of fruity flavoring are a tricky proposition. I had forgotten all about Coca-Cola Orange Cream before this new review jogged my memory. The Holiday Cream Vanilla was a step in the right direction, and what turned out to be the perfect lead-in to Coke's next creamy adventure: Coca-Cola Cherry Float.

I am happy to report this is a wonderful drink, and totally on par with Pepsi's own high-ranking take on the flavor combo. While its namesake and imagery whip up thoughts of a dessert at the soda shop, it turned out to be a beverage worthy of any drinking occasion, day or night. Great to guzzle on its own, but also a biting sidekick to wash down a meal, or a sweet new way to cut into the saltiness of popcorn at the movies. Speaking of which, I will definitely be pouring a Cherry Float from the Freestyle fountain on my next trip to the movies.

It's a shame the Zero Sugar version couldn't remotely compare. Whatever flavor this Zero Sugar delivers, I was 0% into it. It actually had me running right back to Coca-Cola Cherry Float, not just to refresh my memory but to wash that Zero-taste out of my mouth.

Coca-Cola has a lot of very cherry-goodness on tap these days, and I assume the company won't stop there. Can a Shirley Temple be next on the horizon? Although mixed with Coke, they're actually called a Roy Rogers. Regardless of what it may be called, I'm ready to saddle up for more cherry adventures.