# Tab (drink) {#tab-drink .reader-title}
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13-16 minutes
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"TaB" redirects here. For other uses see Tab
![[file:///home/geoff/Documents/wikipedia%20extra/Tab%20%28drink%29%20-%20Wikipedia_files/Tab_logo_pink_text.png){file-width="285" |
file-height="159" height="84" width="150"}
![[file:///home/geoff/Documents/wikipedia%20extra/Tab%20%28drink%29%20-%20Wikipedia_files/Tab_can.png){file-width="363" |
file-height="687" height="284" width="150"}
12 fl oz (355 mL) can of Tab
Type: Soft drink
Manufacturer: The Coca-Cola Company
Origin: United States
Introduced: 1963; 63 years ago
Discontinued: December 31 2020; 5 years ago
Color: Caramel
Flavor: Diet cola
Variants
Tab Clear
Tab X-Tra |
Tab Energy
Related products
Diet Coke
Coca-Cola Zero Sugar
Website: us.coca-cola.com/tab
Tab
'Tab' (stylized as 'TaB') was a diet cola soft drink produced and
distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. It was introduced in 1963 as the
company's first diet drink and was produced until its
discontinuation in 2020. Several variations were made including a
number of fruit-flavored root beer and ginger ale versions
Caffeine-free and clear variations were released in the late 1980s and
early 1990s and a Tab-branded energy drink was released in 2006 though
it used a different formula from the standard cola
Following studies in the early 1970s that linked saccharin Tab's main
sweetener with bladder cancer in rats the United States Congress
mandated warning labels on products containing the sweetener. The label
requirement was later repealed when no plausibility was found for
saccharin causing cancer in humans
Tab was popular among some people throughout the 1960s and 1970s as an
alternative to Coca-Cola. It did not gain much attention in
international markets however. Tab's popularity declined after
the Coca-Cola company's launch of Diet Coke in 1982. Coca-Cola
continued to produce Tab in the United States though in considerably
smaller quantities than its more popular mainstay beverages such as
Coca-Cola and Diet Coke. According to the company three million cases
of Tab were made in 2011 and the beverage retained a cult
following. Coca-Cola discontinued Tab at the end of 2020
Tab was created in 1963 by Coca-Cola after the successful sales and
marketing of Diet Rite cola owned by the Royal Crown Company
Previously Diet Rite had been the only sugarless soda on the market
Tab was marketed to consumers who wanted to "keep tabs" on their
weight
Coca-Cola's marketing research department used its IBM 1401 computer to
generate a list of over 185000 four-letter words with one vowel adding
names suggested by the company's own staff; the list was stripped of
any words deemed unpronounceable or too similar to existing
trademarks.[10] Of a final list of about twenty names "Tabb" was
chosen influenced by the possible play on words and shortened to
"Tab" during development. Packaging designer Robert Sidney Dickens
gave the name the capitalization pattern ("TaB") used in the logo as
well as creating a new bottle design for the soft drink.[11]
For a time in the 1970s Coca-Cola introduced six variety flavors of Tab
(all of which were also sugar-free): Root Beer Lemon-Lime Ginger Ale
Black Cherry Strawberry and Orange.[12] A caffeine-free version of
the original Tab flavor was introduced in 1983 alongside caffeine-free
versions of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke.[13] Tab Clear a caramel
color-free version of Tab[14] was released in the United States in
1992 and subsequently in the United Kingdom and Japan in order to
confuse consumers into thinking the new rival Crystal Pepsi was a diet
cola and thereby limit its appeal.[15][16] Tab Clear was
discontinued in 1994.[14]
In 2006 Coca-Cola introduced Tab Energy. Though it shares the Tab
branding its formula is entirely different from that of the standard
cola: it is sweetened with sucralose and has a sour tart
flavor.[17]
## Saccharin safety debate {#Saccharin_safety_debate}
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file-width="1728" file-height="1521" height="202" width="230"}
Tab was reformulated several times. It was initially sweetened with a
mixture of cyclamate and saccharin.[18] After the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) issued a ban on cyclamate in 1969 sodium saccharin
was used as the beverage's primary sweetener.[18]
Studies on laboratory rats during the early 1970s linked high volumes of
cyclamate and saccharin with the development of bladder cancer. As a
result the United States Congress mandated that further studies of
saccharin be performed and required that all food containing saccharin
bear a label warning that the sweetener had been shown to cause cancer
in laboratory animals. Despite this Tab remained commercially
successful and was the best-selling diet soda in 1982. In May
1984 Coca-Cola introduced Nutrasweet into the Tab formula which
alienated a significant portion of its market and resulted in numerous
consumer complaints regarding a perceived change in flavor
In the absence of further evidence that saccharin caused cancer in
humans the substance was delisted in 2000 from the U.S. National
Toxicology Program's 'Report on Carcinogens*; this led to the repealing
of the warning label requirements for products containing
saccharin.[19] In December 2010 the United States Environmental
Protection Agency removed saccharin from its list of hazardous
substances.[20]
Tab's popularity began to decline in 1982 with the introduction of Diet
Coke although Tab retained something of a cult following in the United
States[21] where customers purchased about 3 million cases in
2008. In 2011 the Coca-Cola Company reported that it
produced approximately 3 million cases of Tab that year (in contrast to
885 million cases of Diet Coke). John Sicher editor of 'Beverage
Digest' commented in 2013:
> [Tab] has pockets of popularity around the country. You see it on
> shelves in New York and a few other places. It certainly is not a
> brand you would find in most stores in the U.S. It has a small but
> devoted following. Coke is right to keep it available
<figure>
<img
src="file:///home/geoff/Documents/wikipedia%20extra/Tab%20%28drink%29%20-%20Wikipedia_files/SaveTabSodaBillboardCampaign.jpg"
class="moz-reader-block-img" data-file-width="5760"
data-file-height="3840" width="250" height="167"
alt="Save Tab Soda Committee billboard" />
<figcaption>During Summer 2022 the Save Tab Soda Committee targeted the
Coca-Cola company with several billboards to encourage Tab's
revival.</figcaption>
</figure>
The product was also available in the United States Virgin Islands the
Southern African Customs Union Norway (under the name 'Tab X-Tra')
Canada and
Spain.[*[citation needed]{title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (September 2025)"}*]
Tab was available in Australia in the 1960s to
1980s.[*[citation needed]{title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (September 2025)"}*]
It was also sold in the United Kingdom from the late 1970s to the mid
1990s.[*[citation needed]{title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (September 2025)"}*]
As part of their efforts to scale back on under-performing brands during
the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020 Coca-Cola announced that it was
discontinuing Tab along with Coca-Cola Life Delaware Punch Diet Coke
Feisty Cherry Northern Neck Ginger Ale Diet Northern Neck Ginger Ale
Odwalla and Zico.[22]
As of June 2021 Tab was still available at Coca-Cola stores in Atlanta
Orlando Las Vegas and select Georgia locations.[23]
In 2021 a group of Tab soda fans created the Save Tab Soda
Committee.[24]
--------------
Name Year Notes Picture [Ref.]{.abbr
launched title="Reference"}
- - -- --------- --
Tab 1963 Original flavor. ![[file:///home/geoff/Documents/wikipedia%20extra/Tab%20%28drink%29%20-%20Wikipedia_files/Tab_can_002.png){file-width="363"
Sweetened with file-height="687" height="189" width="100"}
cyclamate-saccharin
mixture upon release
but cyclamate was
removed after 1969
and saccharin was the
principal sweetener.
In 1984 Nutrasweet
was introduced to the
formula
Tab Strawberry 1970s Strawberry flavored [12]
diet soda; sold for a
time in the 1970s
alongside other diet
drinks using the Tab
name
Tab Lemon-Lime 1970s Lemon-Lime flavored [12]
diet soda; sold for a
time in the 1970s
alongside other diet
drinks using the Tab
name. This is a
predecessor to Sprite
Zero by which it
likely was replaced
Tab Black 1970s Black-Cherry flavored [12]
Cherry diet soda; sold for a
time in the 1970s
alongside other diet
drinks using the Tab
name
Tab Root Beer 1970s Sugar-free root beer; [12]
sold for a time in
the 1970s alongside
other diet drinks
using the Tab name
Tab Ginger Ale 1970s Sugar-free ginger [12]
ale; sold for a time
in the 1970s
alongside other diet
drinks using the Tab
name
Tab Orange 1970s Sugar-free orange [12]
soda; sold for a time
in the 1970s
alongside other diet
drinks using the Tab
name. This is a
predecessor to Fanta
Zero which was
launched in the early
2000s
Tab Plus 1977 Tab Plus was a [12]
short-lived variant
of Tab out of Canada
that appeared in some
northern US states.
However Tab Plus was
made with sugar. It
is assumed this was
Coca-Cola's effort
to bring a non-diet
version of Tab into
the normal soft drink
market which did not
succeed
Caffeine Free 1983 Original Tab flavor [13]
Tab without the caffeine.
It was sold during
the 80s and vanished
soon after
Tab Clear 1992 Clear diet cola. Was [16]
first sold in the
U.S. and later to
Australia the UK and
Japan and was
discontinued within a
year
Tab (Southern 1990s In these countries ![[file:///home/geoff/Documents/wikipedia%20extra/Tab%20%28drink%29%20-%20Wikipedia_files/Tab_Cola_%284186648047%29.jpg){file-width="457" [25]
African Tab uses a different file-height="723" height="158" width="100"}
Customs Union recipe compared to
variant) Spain and the U.S.
where it is a
caffeine-free drink
and uses less
carbonation. The
areas this can be
found are Botswana
Lesotho Namibia
South Africa and
Eswatini
Tab X-Tra 1994 A Norwegian version [27]
of Tab with a
different name made
to compete with Pepsi
Max in the country.
It was also sold in
Sweden and Finland
but the drink was
discontinued in
Sweden in 2007 and
discontinued in
Finland at an earlier
date. After 2007 it
was exclusively sold
in Norway until it
was discontinued in
2021.[26]
Tab Energy 2006 A Tab-branded energy ![[file:///home/geoff/Documents/wikipedia%20extra/Tab%20%28drink%29%20-%20Wikipedia_files/120px-TabEnergy.jpg){file-width="266" [17]
drink which uses an file-height="411" height="155" width="100"}
entirely different
recipe from the cola.
It was also sold in
Mexico New Zealand
and Spain where it
is called Tab
Fabulous.
--------------