Friend of mine had this at his shop the other day,..he said here try this. I haven't drank a real coke or pepsi in about 25 years,..but I tried this and gotta say it was great. Not sure if its what your referring to or even exactly where he got it at.
I've had Coke Life, and it's pretty good. It's not the same as the Mexican coke, though. Some sodas sweetened only with Stevia can have a bitter, saccharine-like aftertaste, but Coke Life doesn't seem to have this problem. The Cokes that come from Mexico are cane sugar only, and they have a different taste than Coke sweetened with HFC.
The sugar is bad enough, whether it is cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Sucrose (the stuff you get from sugar cane) is 50% glucose, 50% fructose. High fructose corn syrup is 45% glucose, 55% fructose.
Fructose, regardless of it source is an all liver process. Your cells need glucose so it is easily dealt with (though, too much will cause insulin resistance). Your liver deals with fructose by converting it to fat.
Sugar in any beverage is bad, be it sucrose or high fructose corn syrup because there is no fiber. Fiber help keep sugar (particularly the fructose) out of your blood stream (and out of your liver).
Another problem with the brown sodas is the "phosphoric acid". It does a number on your teeth. Phosphoric acid is a type of acid that readily dissolves bone. It is why Coke and Pepsi make good cleaning agents.
The brown color itself is usually not derived from caramelizing sugar. More often than not it is generated though some ammonia process.
Caramelizing sugar is more expensive than the ammonia process. Cane Sugar is more expensive than High Fructose Corn Syrup. It is a no brainer as to which they choose for the manufacturing processing.
The only way to win the soda game is not to play - Diet Soda or not. They are both horrible for your health.
I was once a two case a week Coke/Diet Pepsi drinker. Been clean now for 6 years. Polar Seltzer water, water, green tea, black coffee, or nothing.