More On the New Coke Calorie-Burning Drink

So here's the latest on the Coke (KO) calorie burner -- and a review of what I talked about on CNBC's On the Money last night. So while Coke won't talk on the record, I have it from very good sources that Beverage Digest was right with its report that Enviga will be rolled out in New York and Philadelphia in November. (Another story, from a European publication, says it will be rolled out in European test markets later this month.) The product will be green-tea based and will help burn calories by boosting the metabolism. In its press launch later this month, it's likely to trump up studies supporting its claims in what it believes will be a new niche.

While Coke (which is partnering with Nestle for this product) doesn't offer up details (yet!), it already has competition from Elite FX, a small Florida company that believes it was first to the niche with its calorie-burner, Celsius. According to Elite, Celsius, which is increasingly distributed nationally, can burn 70 calories per bottle by boosting metabolism by 12% (it cites studies.) The calorie-burner is something called chromium. Oh, it also has the caffeine of two cups of coffee.

Elite says it's not worried about Coke, but even with Elite's success, it's unclear how big the niche is. "Products that seem interestsing before they come out sometimes do beautifully, sometimes do poorly," says John Sicher, editor of Beverage Digest. "It depends on how good the marketing is."

If Coke succeeds, he says, while it would be relatively small in the scheme of the company, Enviga would be highly profitable.

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