Fresca is a grapefruit-flavored citrus soft drink created by the Coca-Cola Company. Borrowing the word fresca (meaning "fresh") from Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, it was introduced in the United States in 1966. Originally a bottled sugar-free diet soda, sugar sweetened versions were introduced in some markets.
Fresca is now sold in multiple flavors: grapefruit citrus (the original flavor), black cherry citrus, peach citrus, and blackberry citrus.
Fresca also entered the cocktail space in 2022 with a line of ready-to-drink canned cocktails (5% ABV), produced in partnership with Constellation Brands. Fresca Mixed is a vodka spritz with 100 calories per can and no added sugar.
History
Trademarks
According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, "Fresca" was first trademarked by the Coca-Cola Company in July 1962 as a trade name for "frozen concentrated orange juice" and "frozen concentrated tangerine juice". The company also applied for a trademark for "Fresca" in 1962 as a "Non-alcoholic Maltless Soft Drink and the Syrups for Preparing Soft Drinks". In 1969, the company applied for a trademark for "Fresca" as a trade name for "soft drinks and syrups and concentrates for making same".
Fresca as a soft drink
The Coca-Cola Company described the original Fresca soft drink formula as "a citrus-based, sugar free product - a soft drink, a low-calorie beverage, a mixer, all in one" and said the Fresca name was picked because the word is "short, memorable and distinctive". Fresca was the second artificially sweetened, low-calorie product launched by the Coca-Cola Company. Coca-Cola's Tab, an artificially sweetened, low-calorie cola made its debut in 1963.
Fresca competed primarily against Squirt.
Test marketing
Coca-Cola began limited test marketing of Fresca in 1964. 1965 saw expanded test marketing in Providence, Rhode Island, and Seattle-Tacoma, Washington. It was also advertised for sale in Michigan and Ohio in late 1965.
Introduction
thumb|left|upright=.5|The original Fresca bottle design from 1966, designed by Hodgman-Bourke of [[New York City]]Fresca was introduced across the United States and in international markets in 1966.
Since its introduction, Fresca has been marketed in the United States as a sugar-free, citrus (lime and grapefruit) flavored diet soft drink. In 1966 then Coca-Cola Company president J. Paul Austin announced the company's profits had doubled since 1959 and said "Other developments, notably the introduction of Fresca, now underway, promise further advancement in the refreshment industry".
Multiple references in contemporary newspapers and Coca-Cola corporate websites refer to a wide 1966 US and international rollout of the Fresca soft drink brand.