Also, I'm guessing this just uses add-in syrup which usually makes the drink taste horrible. Peach Sprite sounds great but I don't know how much peach flavor syrup is going in that thing. You also won't know how many calories it is adding. How about if you get diet? Does it still use regular syrup? I love the idea but I don't see this going over well.

Oh and old people hate technology... so they will need help. Oh yeah and people break things too easily.

I will only be very impressed if they add the Green Tea Coca-Cola flavor that came out in Japan.

@CrissyT:
Yes I watched the guy replace them. They look like ink cartridges. Also, to get into the machine he had some sort of magnetic key that he touched the corner of the screen with, then that brought up a virtual keyboard, and he typed in some code, then it opened!

Also, Orange Fanta plus Purple Shot does not equal Purple Fanta. It's clearly not just what you think it is.

Anyway, count me the hell in. I can't find info on the supposed Atlanta locations, so I asked on the Freestyle's Facebook page.

Michigan wont get anything like this for 10 years! it always takes forever for us to get cool stuff like that. I really want to try Coke Rasberry. or peach sprite. damn..

I'd imagine something like regular coke would have a huge 5 gallon bucket hooked up to it, while something like Fanta Srawberry would have a small bottle.

Still a lot of hoses, though.

@Drew5764:

I love how to a New Yorker, Philadelphia is a "remote area"--you know, we have a subway system and tall buildings now :)

So you might end up getting the BSOD when you drink Coke.

@scoosdad: I would love to subscribe to that Twitter feed.

"Just dispensed 17oz of Raspberry Coke (11:32am)

Just dispensed 23oz of Sprite (11:33am)

Come check out my webcam! bit.ly/cokewebcam (11:33am)

Just dispensed 12oz of Fanta Orange (11:33am)

A woman lost 34 lbs of belly fat by obeying this one old rule: www.tinyurl.com/^%^#@$% (11:34am)

Just dispensed 32oz of Diet Coke (11:35am)"

The future is here.

You'll never see this reply but I had to mention my hate for the NJ Transit machines. Nothing like running to catch a train only to realize you haven't bought your ticket yet.

And the sole existence of two beat-up ticket machines on the platform means that if you buy your ticket onboard you'll get dinged for the $5 surcharge. God help you if there's someone in front of you at those machines, because it takes so freakin' long to get your ticket printed there's no way you're making your train.

@parrotuya: Probably, but the flavored syrup would cost $3000 a gallon, so it would not be profitable.

Can you imagine the average idiot behind this thing? By the time he is done going through all the screens there is a huge line behind him.. Even with multiple machines lunch and dinner rushes will get bottle necked at the soda fountain..

I'd seriously like to see how one of these works. Someone needs to take one apart, or at least take some covert x-rays of the machine. Shouldn't be too hard.

Hmm...apparently it doesn't use the bags of syrup, but rather cartridges tagged with RFID to monitor consumption. [www.informationweek.com]

[fastfood.freedomblogging.com]

SoCal Locations. I want to find ATL locs :(

@Drew5764:
You people are killing me...(((wipes away a tear))) I grew up in the NE, and haven't been in a WaWas in 5 years. I remember they had some of the best ice cream, availability of TONS of dairy products and a multitude of foods, quality deli meats sliced fresh, the best hot macaroni & cheese on the planet, fresh fruit, superb hot meatball sandwiches or hot roast beef on Amoroso's heaven-like rolls. Even available at 3 am! Ohmigod.... I now live in the armpit of the US- Mississippi, (armpit for more than just location) where the convenience stores sell soda, beer, chips, and candy. That's IT. I'm going to go cry now.

@TonySoprano:
Some of the times it actually wasn't loading, there is a "right and wrong" way to press it. The actual load itself was only between 1 - 2 seconds

@bdsakx:
Yep I agree. Fancy and cool looking, but certainly not pratical in a lunch/dinner rush.
Way.....too slow!

hey this is mikeeey1337 from youtube, the uploader of the 2nd video and camera guy. I'm glad to see my video is here on the consumerist!

Reference was either Darwin Awards or Snopes but I know I read this story somewhere.

Except for the part where they started looking for Mountain Dew.

Not everything can be responsive like an iphone people.

@scoosdad: DAMMMMMIT! I own a condo there, and USED to live within walking distance. And now this awesome thing comes out and I live in damned-hell Japan. No cool Coke machines here. Lots of other cool machines, but none of them Coke-related. I am SO. PISSED.

@shepd:

I have some coke and pepsi made with sugar in my fridge right now... If you live close, stop on by!

@sasha27: Call me smug if you desire but I am just telling the truth. Not everyone has problems. Just a small select few but that small select few can create headaches for everyone behind them.

Sounds great, but looking at the screen of the first video, there's 19 different "parent" products on the main screen. That means 19 different boxes of syrup have to be hooked up somewhere in the back and pumped to that machine on demand. On top of that, you have to keep the other syrups for the various flavor shots. Plus if the Fanta is actually different flavors, then a box of syrup for each one.

19+ different boxes of syrup that have to be kept on hand and changed out quickly when they run out? That is a space and inventory nightmare for any restaurant.

@scootinger: I am waiting for the day when the soda machine gets a "Blue Screen of Death"

@Joeb5: Not really. This is a post mix system where they use normal tap water to create soda water as needed. The flavored syrups all come in boxes (with internal bags), so they can easily be stored on a shelf or custom storage unit. Many years ago, a restaurant I worked at switched from a Pre-mix (metal tank) system to a post mix, and the storage area was about 1/4 the area that was required for the post mix system

@DPGumby: It looks like the concept is really no different than the soda "guns" that are used by many bars. You have plain soda water dispensed out of the large center nozzle, and flavored syrups dispensed out of smaller nozzles in the center of the large nozzle. The soda water and the syrup are mixed together as the product is dispensed, therefore there is no "cross contamination" unless one of the syrup nozzles leaks.

Cleaning schedule is probably no worse than a standard soda machine.

any bets on how long before the soda fountain and the fast food restaurant interface with the iPhone to the point where no human hands ever touch the food and you can download an app for that?

Cool concept, but do we really need to have over 100 flavors? I can envision getting behind the person who can't figure out how to work it, and once they do, can't decide what flavor to choose. It is bad enough with 6-8 flavors.

Based on it's size, I can't wait to use one and find out 98 of 100 choices are out of syrup.

"My god, its full of Squirt"

Most often where this machine will be installed, you get the drink bundled with the meal and all you do at time of sale is select the size of the cup. It's not an impulse buy like jam in a gourmet food shop would be, in the example you gave.

I doubt very much that someone walking into a McDonalds, seeing all the selections of beverages on the machine before stepping up to the counter, will say, "hmm, too many beverage choices... I think I'll pass on the drink that comes with the meal."

Definitely high on the cool factor. I can't wait to see one. Although, everything comes here about a year after everywhere else, so it might be a while...

I'm going to LA next month, I think I'll look for one there.

/jk, I think.

I like this for one reason - it is currently impossible to get a non caffeinated diet soda at a restaurant these days.

I will hate standing behind somone who is pushing all the buttons trying to find all the new flavors and choose among them. I also dread standing behind the mother with three kids as they argue over what they can and cannot have.

@djanes1: I have this problem when I get water at fast food places.. because the water button is always underneith something like Pink Lemonade or something like that. To combat it I always push the water button for a little bit before I put my cup under so I clean it out.

I hate lemon. Yuck.

If it doesn't do residue-mixing, I'd actually appreciate it because I only drink diet Sprite as a soft drink and restaurants never have it.

@dadelus: LOL!

Correction: It's flavored HFCS water. Sugar's too fancy for them.

It comes from corn! And it's fine in moderation!

/HCFS zombie

@gtsports: Coca-Cola donated a bunch of money to my High School so that they could build a computer lab in the mid 90's. I don't know whose bright idead it was to name it, but from the day it opened there was a bronze plaque by the entry to the computer lab that proudly annouced that you were entering "The Buchanan High School Coke Lab"

How I wish camera phones had existed when I was in High School so I could have gotten a picture of that plaque.

But...but... It was the best soda ever!

"Hey, Mike! Try a sip of Beverly!"
"Beverly? What kind of a name is *sip* OH GOD!"

Alright. Give me a Tab.

Won't this be like those old hot-beverage machines, in which even the chicken soup came out tasting like coffee?

Really, when he turned to apologize to me for the wait with "Wow, technology is sure complicated" I barely resisted the urge to snap back "No, you're just an idiot."

Maybe I am being overly smug. Or it's just that my brain doesn't shut down in the presence of technology.

@Hawkins: Oh, come on. It's a brand new type of machine, thus it's new technology, thus us nerds are like "WOW THAT IS COOL!"

That's because when you give people too many choices, they often end up not purchasing anything!

Here's some research:
[blog.mindvalleylabs.com]

@henrygates:

Ahhh...the old switch-a-roo...the introduction of New Coke allowed the KO folks to make the switch to HFCS when they "brought back" Coca-Cola Classic...

why do you want to drink that?

There's also probably a self-rinse cycle after each soda.

Or, like most of these devices, it initially dispenses a concentrated form and then shoots in a bit of water at the end to filter it out.

Perhaps this fountain will not only dispense all the sodas that have been, but also all those that ever will, or could be. The delivery man will tape a small, ominous note to its face:
ALL THESE DRINKS ARE YOURS EXCEPT GRAPEFRUIT COKE. ATTEMPT NO CONSUMPTION THEREOF.

But yeah, this coke machine isn't nearly as good at slicing bagels as that bagel slicing machine.

That said, all it's doing is giving you the normal range of products, then giving you the option of adding a fruit flavor shot to the mix. If it were formulating complex mixes, I'd be impressed, but I'm betting they've got syrup tanks of coke, sprite, fanta, barqs, etc in the back, and the only thing that makes this unique is the addition of peach, raspberry, etc.

Wow, I can understand someone being a little proud or even smug about some exceptional skills they possess, but to be so proud of having the ability to use a card reader or Redbox machine just boggles the mind. You just go use your new beverage dispenser and I will try to stay out of your way.

don't look now, but Wendy's is introducing a strawberry frosty. . .

7-11 has similar machines- you pick the soda you want, and you can add 'flavors' which puts a shot of syrup in while you're dispensing, and all the sodas come out of one nozzle.

Filling drinks for more than one person at the same time, we didn't notice any funny flavors or aftertaste from other sodas.

Plus the machine is pretty cool looking.

@futuresuperbowlMVPJayCutler: Hey you want a Pepsi pal, you're gonna pay for it.

[www.facebook.com]

The people who bother me are:

1. The ones who write a check, but DON'T START TO WRITE IT UNTIL THEY GET THEIR TOTAL - Hey stupid, you just stood in line for 5 minutes - ever think about getting the check started & just write in the amount later?

2. The ones who wait until the total is given to ever start to look for their card and/or money. It like they are surprised when it comes time to pay and don't even think about having the card or cash READY to pay, and then after standing in line for 5 minutes, you wait another minute as they fumble through their purse and/or wallet to find the item.

I kid, I kid!

@DjDynasty:

That's 'Jean Luc', but I still approve.

-you can only pour one drink at a time
-people may take a while to figure out the machine and get past the "wow" factor, thereby annoying the people in line
-the touch screen interface is slower than just pushing your cup under the beverage dispenser of your choice
-some customers may develop "beverage choice overload", which could cause them to take forever just to pour the freaking drink.

I would bet the entire system is networked, so maybe it could be done at every location simultaneously.

Other thoughts... I wonder how hygienic the machine is. That is, how often it has to be cleaned and how often it will be in reality. I'm also curious how it uses the same nozzle to dispense multiple drinks without cross-contaminating their flavoring.

@jbrecken: Yes John Luke!

Wait, wait, wait a sec. - Coca-Cola with Orange? With Raspberry?!

I have now seen it all.

Well, it dispenses Dasani.

Oh wait, you wanted *water*. Well, perhaps there's a club soda option? You could let it sit a while.

Tired of Diet Coke being the best tasting coke. I want to have a good tasting Coke made with SUGAR again.

(*gasp* such a thing has never been done)

With manual dispensers I can reach in, dispense, and be on my way. This futuristic machine, adds steps on top of feeling slow.

I'd be even more impressed if the flavoring agents and the sweetening agents were separate so you could get diet versions of any flavor they have, but, from the display, it doesn't look to be the case.

"Tea, Earl Grey, Hot."

I'll bet it sends out an email message to managers when it needs to be refilled or serviced. Or posts on Twitter, who knows.

What Atlanta area restaurants? What Atlanta area restaurants? This looks so cool.

Coca-Cola 'adopted' my elementary school in Atlanta back in the mid-80s...I think I was one of the first to taste New Coke, introduced by Max Headroom in a school-wide assembly..."C-c-c-catch the wave!"

We call that a nerdgasm.

@Hawkins:

Then count me in among the man-apes worshiping at the god of wakeful liquid providing goodness.

Cool yes but it is going to suck when you get stuck behind someone who has no clue how to operate it. Some people have problems swipping a card in the check out line and if they have to enter their PIN and answer a few question they get really lost.

It is also fun watching people trying to use a Redbox machine as well. Some people stare at the screen as if they where a deer in headlights.

These idiots remind one of the apes jumping around the obelisk at the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey.