The Atlanta-based soft drink giant Coca-Cola is developing a coffee-flavoured soft drink that can be drunk at room temperature or heated in a microwave (in a can?) in an attempt to boost sluggish sales in the US and Europe.

The Coca-Cola Company has attempted to register three potential brand names for the drink — Coca-Cola Blak, Makkio and Maquio. Though it seems that all three names were officially refused by the US Patent Office 2 days ago (12/5/2005). All three had received a FINAL letter of refusal: Coca-Cola Blak : Makkio : Maquio, by mail but there isn’t any reasons why accessible to the public just yet.

Coca-Cola already makes a similar beverage in Japan called Georgia Coffee. It is the biggest-selling non-carbonated soft drink on the market there and comes in a multitude of flavors including but not limited to Chocolate Coffee Milk, Cinnamon Coffee Milk, Guarana Coffee & of course Coffee flavor.

The new drink could be on sale in the US and Europe by next year and is being worked on by a new unit headed by Mary Minnick, who spent the last four years as president of Coca-Cola Asia.

The team is looking at encouraging consumers away from buying their coffee hot from smaller cafes or chains such as Starbucks and Caffe Nero.

I have a much better feeling about this brand than Coca-Cola’s previous brand extension, the mid-calorie drink C2 which turned out to be a misadventure in the US. Not to mention this wouldn’t be the first time these two ingredients mixed.