Best-of-both-worlds beverage has more caffeine and fewer calories than the classic soda’s ordinary version.

Usually, if you’re looking to caffeinate yourself through beverage-based means, you have to weigh respective benefits of coffee versus soda. On the one hand, soda has its youthful fizz and refreshing sweetness going for it, but coffee counters with a relaxing bitterness and mature sophistication.

But soon there’ll be no need to choose between the two, because later this month Coca-Cola Plus Coffee is going on sale in Japan.

Coca-Cola is the parent company of the popular Georgia brand of canned coffee sold in Japan. Don’t think that the recipe for Coca-Cola Plus Coffee is as simple as cracking open a can of Coke, another of Georgia, mixing them together, and resealing the container, though. Coca-Cola Plus Coffee is actually made with coffee extract powder, and the beverage is carefully concocted to let both its cola and coffee flavors work in harmony while both making their presence unmistakably felt on your taste buds. The company touts that you’ll immediately recognize the world-famous cola, but that each sip will also leave you with a rich and lingering coffee aftertaste.

▼ Coca-Cola Plus Coffee has twice the caffeine and half the calories of regular Coca-Cola

This is actually the second time for Coca-Cola Plus Coke to go on sale, following its initial appearance last year (which we got to try for ourselves). However, previously the limited-time drink was available only in select vending machines in Japan’s eastern Kanto, northeastern Tohoku, and central Tokai regions, denying cities elsewhere in Japan the chance to try it. Based on the extremely positive response, though, this time the company is ready to supply the entire country with Coca-Cola Plus Coffee, which will be offered in convenience stores for 128 yen (US$1.15), as well as in vending machines, all across Japan.

The company recommends Coca-Cola Plus Coffee for busy professionals looking for a pick-me-up in the middle of the workday. While drinking sugary sodas at your desk is sometimes seen as unprofessional in Japan, more “adult” beverages like coffee usually get a pass, and so Coca-Cola Plus Coffee is sure to be just as popular as Japan’s stealthy clear soft drinks when it goes on sale September 17.

Source, images: PR Times

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he still has no idea why Coca-Cola doesn’t sell Georgia in the U.S.