Ames is the most tech-savvy, frugal shopper I know. If something is on sale at a great price she will know about it. As part of her daily quest for righteous deals, she found a thread on one of her discount sites that said that the 777 code on dreamhost is back.

This is the code I signed up under when I switched to dreamhost last July that gave me my first year of their L1 (Crazy Domain Insane) plan for only $.77/month. That amounts to one year of hosting and a domain registration/transfer for only $9.24. I figured that was only a one time deal, but I checked it out, and apparently they’ve re-activated it:

All you have to do is:

• Go to the signup page.
• Click the “L1: Crazy Domain Insane (20GB disk, 1TB bw, $9.95/month)” radio button.
• Click the Automatically bill me “once a year. (No set up fee!)” radio button. (You can change this preference from your account once you’re signed up.)
• Choose your domain option and fill out your info.
• Enter 777 in the “Promo Code or email of who referred you” box.
• Check the I agree to Dreamhost’s TOS and Anti-Spam policies checkbox.
• Click “Continue to secure payment…”

As I’ve said before, I’m very happy with dreamhost as my hosting provider. Although their referral program is great incentive to send people their way, I recommend them regardless. You just can’t beat their price and feature set…and at only $9.24 for a whole year, you might as well do it just to register a silly domain like monkeysmakemehappy.com. Did I mention they have ruby on rails installed? Perhaps monkeysmakemehappy.com would be an app to keep track of all my imaginary monkey friends…or not - they like to roam free.

Honestly, I didn’t see this one coming. I never thought of the idea of adding soda to my coffee or coffee to my soda. If you haven’t heard, Coca-Cola has added a new beverage to their lineup that is just that: Coffee and Cola. Even though Coke wasn’t the first to come up with this idea, they are certainly the first to market it with bongos and funk music riffs - Visit the official Coca-Cola BlaK site.

I actually heard about Coke BlaK back on April 10th after my friend Jeremy tried it during a national sampling tour. Apparently he grabbed one on his way to work in New York:

jeremy: Hey man
me: Hey Jeremy, how’s it goin?
jeremy: not bad…just tried the new Coca Cola Blak
jeremy: not good
jeremy: not good at all
me: LOL
me: haven’t heard about it…
jeremy: coffee+coke=sick

Ever since then I’ve been casually watching the aisles of the grocery store hoping to try some “Coke effervescence with coffee essence”. About a month later, the 4-packs showed up at Publix here in Columbia, SC. At over $7 for 4 I was a little hesitant to pick it up but I had to know what this stuff tasted like. After letting them chill in the fridge, I pulled one out of the pack and passed another to a friend that was visiting for the weekend. I tried giving one to Ames, but she wasn’t all that interested. At first swig it tastes almost like regular coke, but as you swallow you immediately get an aftertaste of coffee and aspartame (mmmm, aspartame). I’m sure the intention was for that coffee taste to be like that of espresso, but it tastes more like overbrewed regular coffee. It wasn’t akk (freudian slip) all that bad in my opinion, but not what I expected. My friend didn’t particularly care for it, but made the observation that the more you drink of it, the more you just taste the Coke and lose the coffee flavor.

If I had to give the stuff a rating, I’d give it about 6.5 out of 10. I would probably have one again if it were free, but at almost 2 bucks for a tiny 8oz bottle, I probably wouldn’t pay for one again. I don’t drink soda that often, but when I do, I want soda - preferrably a Dr. Pepper - not coffee. The same applies for coffee. If I want a good coffee, I’ll go to a coffee shop.

I was curious to see what other people thought about Coke Blak, and there are quite a few reviews out there about it. Here’s a quick sampling:

It didn’t taste like Coke with some cold coffee mixed in, it tasted like coke with drops of Coffee Flavor #57 dropped in. I don’t have a better way to describe it other than ‘artificial’. Michele gave it a taste and said, “My god, that’s horrid. I mean truly terrible!” Zoe took a taste as well and commented, “That’s yucky.”. Sadly, I tend to agree.

- via Cruftbox

Folks, I can say with serene confidence that yes, it really is f***ing awful. It’s really bad. Terrible, actually.

- via Plognark
(which also has a sketch of his experience…)

There wasn’t a soul in Times Square without a bottle of complimentary Coke BlaK, but for all of this clever/shrewd/whatever marketing to work, the drink really needed to not be awful. I’m happy to report that Coke BlaK is NOT awful. I will never buy it, but it’s not awful.

- via X-entertainment Blog

You could probably recreate the flavor of Coke BlaK by opening up a can of Tab cola and adding a small droplet of brewed hazelnut coffee. Seriously, Coke BlaK tastes a lot like Tab with a slight hint of bad, flavored coffee.

- via Brand Autopsy

It tastes like coffee candy. Also I don’t know how much caffeine is in here, but I feel crazy. My eyes won’t focus or something.

- via Pocket Pig

We tried a little taste and found it to be quite good. It’s really not that sweet and is much better than say a Starbuck’s bottle drink because of being less sweet.

- via Single Serve Coffee

They call it a “caffeinated fusion beverage,” but all they managed to fuse together is disgust and revulsion.

- via Needcoffee

Did it taste like coca cola? Not really, but it did taste good.

- via Slashfood

Coke Blak is suprisingly gross. After the first sip, my brain went: “Really? That?” It suffers from the same problem that afflicts all the big [brand-name cola + vanilla/cherry/whatever] sodas: the additives are too chemical-y, too fakey.

- via Knowledge for Thrist

It tastes like they’re using a low quality coffee extract… It is very artificial tasting.

- via Idea Sandbox Blog

So you’re wondering about the taste. Well, I give it two thumbs up. If this were a five star rating system, I’d probably give it four out of five stars. The coffee flavor is definitely there, but I almost feel like it could be a little bit stronger.

- via Drink It!

The taste of the product is enjoyably sweet and creamy, but the aftertaste is somewhat brutal, with bitter flavors of coffee and aspartame left behind.

- via BevNET

So I tried the new Coca-Cola Blak on my way to work this morning, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It reminded me of Coke float with a hint of coffe, or maybe it was creme soda with a coffe flavor.

- via Brody Vercher

If someone left coffee sludge in the bottom of a mug and poured Diet Coke and sugar into it, you’d have Coke Blak.

- via Chicagoist

Now, I love Coke, and I love coffee. But even I’m not sold on this odd little concoction. But I’ve got 3 more bottles to decide.

- via Metroblogging Chicago