Pepsi unveils coffee-cola hybrid 'Pepsi Café'

Dec. 12 (UPI) -- PepsiCo. on Thursday unveiled its first attempt at a coffee-infused cola in years, which will be in stores next year.

Pepsi Café will arrive in April, the company said, and be offered in original and vanilla flavors. It will contain nearly twice the amount of caffeine than its flagship cola.

"We are confident that cola fans, iced coffee drinkers and anyone in need of an extra caffeine boost will love [it]," Todd Kaplan, Pepsi's vice president of marketing, said in a statement.

Pepsi said the new drink is "balanced" with roasted Arabica coffee to add "a combination of flavors."

This won't be Pepsi's first attempt at a coffee-infused cola. Its first, Pepsi Kona, was tested along the U.S. East Coast in 1996 but it was never widely marketed.

Rival Coca-Cola has introduced a coffee-cola hybrid in foreign markets, but not the United States.