????綠山咖啡公司（Green Mountain Coffee Roasters）以生產單杯的Keurig膠囊咖啡機而聞名。但去年9月份，當它在投資者日宣布已開始制造冷飲機時，著實讓人大跌眼鏡。

????這家位于佛蒙特州的公司到底在做什么?它真覺得自己能拓展到碳酸飲料、果汁、多味汽水和類似產品的市場中去嗎？它有這個實力嗎？

????本周三，當綠山公司獲得了來自可口可樂公司（Coca-Cola）的大手筆支持后，持懷疑態度的人一下子安靜多了。綠山與可口可樂宣布，雙方將在“Keurig冷飲”平臺上提供可口可樂旗下的子品牌冷飲——比如雪碧（Sprite）、芬達（Fanta）和美汁源（Minute Maid），不過兩家公司并未明確表明會是哪個品牌。它們還宣布，可口可樂公司斥資12.5億美元收購綠山10%的股份。

????綠山的首席執行官、同時也是可口可樂公司的前高管布萊恩?凱利對《財富》雜志（Fortune）表示，這項交易已經談了好幾個月了。他說：“他們需要確信我們確實也能生產可樂，而且能始終如一保持絕佳的口味才行。”這臺Keurig冷飲機計劃于明年正式上市。

????從表面上看，這種合作顯得有點不同尋常，但對兩家公司來說，它完全有可能成為一個巨大的雙贏。綠山剛剛開始自己的國際化征程。對它來說，這項交易意味著它能進入一個強大的全球分銷網絡，同時還能獲得多個強勢品牌。對可口可樂來說，單杯膠囊冷飲機是接觸消費者的全新渠道，畢竟這些消費者在咖啡領域早已徹底接受了Keurig。

????對咖啡業來說，單杯模式一直讓它受益匪淺。近期由美國銀行（Bank of America）發布的一份分析師報告指出，單杯咖啡目前已占據美國30%的市場份額，比三年前上升了8%。對可口可樂公司來說這是不可錯過的一個機會，因為碳酸飲料的消費量在美國已連續八年下降，它亟需為泡沫飲料尋找新的增長點。

????綠山通過為消費者提供多種選擇，已成功將其Keurig熱飲平臺打入1500萬個家庭。如果你不喜歡綠山咖啡，也就是該公司的同名品牌怎么辦？沒問題——這臺機器還能提供21種合作品牌的飲料，包括星巴克（Starbucks）、詩尚草本（Celestial Seasonings）和馴鹿（Caribou）。

????分析師表示，綠山必須打造出類似的生態系統才能在冷飲領域贏得消費者，而與可口可樂的合作是其邁出的第一大步。它將推出的各種飲料不僅有碳酸飲料，還有Fuze（一種健康果汁飲料——譯注）和誠實茶（Honest Tea）這種廣受認可的果汁和茶飲。

????盡管這項合作確實給了可口可樂先人一步的優勢，但凱利表示這并不排除其他品牌也可進入Keurig冷飲體系。他并不認為可口可樂所購的股份會讓其他公司對加盟這個體系望而卻步。就算在熱飲領域，這也不是什么問題。他說：“樂維薩（Lavazza）也有我們公司的股份，但這并不妨礙它的對手向我們尋求合作。”

????Keurig冷飲機將是和Keurig熱咖啡機不同的單獨機器。不過去年秋天當我造訪這家公司位于馬薩諸塞州柏林頓的辦公室時，凱利向我表示，公司今后會造一臺既能提供熱飲、也能提供冷飲的機器。他還表示，今后可口可樂可能也會與Keurig的熱咖啡機業務開展合作。

????如果綠山制造飲料的方法不是和可口可樂公司對品質一致性的要求如此吻合的話，這兩家公司的合作可能根本無從談起。比如Sodastream這種碳酸飲料機，用戶可以通過二氧化碳儲罐決定往水中加入多少碳化作用，此外他們還可以隨心所欲地加各種調味劑。對于想要多一點或少一點泡沫的消費者來說，這臺機器很稱心，但這也使可口可樂公司不太可能和Sodastream合作，因為它希望自己的產品無論何時喝起來都該是可口可樂那個味兒。

????正如我們在2014年1月16日的《財富》雜志中所寫的，據綠山的一份專利申請書稱，它的冷飲可能可被含有二氧化碳這類吸附氣的膠囊內的顆粒劑加以碳化，這種膠囊一接觸水就能釋放出氣體。這也就意味著，Keurig冷飲機不需要什么二氧化碳儲罐，它能精確釋放出健怡可樂（Diet Coke）或雪碧所需的那種水平的碳化作用和口味。

????去年年末當我造訪綠山的辦公室時，我得以對員工正在著手制造的Keurig冷飲機先睹為快，當時它的代號是Geyser。盡管這個項目當時還蒙著保密的面紗，但公司高管知道，我對自己看到的東西其實一無所知，因為我不是工科專業出身的。

????不過，當時我至少能看得出，這個項目已經進行了很長時間了——事實上已經開發了五年之久。那么為什么在這個節骨眼上還要把股份賣給可口可樂公司呢？凱利向我表示，這筆交易意味著，可口可樂不僅對自己的產品在Keurig冷飲機上表現良好有興趣，還意味著整個系統運作良好與可口可樂公司利益攸關。

????去年11月我見到凱利時他正在喝一罐健怡可樂（早上10點以后他就改喝蘇打水以減少咖啡因攝入了，因為他說蘇打水所含咖啡因比咖啡少）。在一月采寫的報道里我們曾指出，如果一切順利，他很快就能從自己公司制造的機器中、而不是鋁罐里喝到蘇打水了。現在看來，這一時刻已經近在眼前。

????譯者：清遠

????Eyes rolled when Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR), best known for its single-serve pod Keurig brewing machine, first announced at its September investor day that it was building a system for cold beverages.

????What was the Vermont-based company doing, thinking it could expand into sodas, juices, flavored waters and the like? Did it even have the know-how to do it?

????Skeptics got a little bit quieter Wednesday when Green Mountain received a major endorsement from Coca-Cola (KO). The two companies announced an agreement to make Coca-Cola's brands -- such as Sprite, Fanta, and Minute Maid, though the companies didn't specify which -- available on the "Keurig Cold" platform. They also announced the beverage giant's $1.25 billion purchase of a 10% minority stake in Green Mountain.

????Green Mountain CEO Brian Kelley, a former Coca-Cola executive, told Fortune that the deal had been in development for a number of months. "They needed to have the confidence that we could make Coke and it would taste perfectly every time," he says. The Keurig Cold platform is scheduled to launch next year.

????The partnership seems unusual on the surface, but it has the potential to be a big win-win for both companies. The deal means access to a strong global distribution network and a portfolio of powerful brands for Green Mountain, which is only just starting its international expansion. For Coca-Cola, single-serve pods give the company a new channel to consumers, who have already embraced Keurig in the coffee space.

????Single-serve has been a boon for the coffee industry. A recent Bank of America analyst note reported that single-cup coffee has now captured 30% of the dollar share of the market, up from 8% three years ago. That's a point likely not lost on Coca-Cola, which is looking for a boost with fizzy beverages as soda consumption has seen eight straight years of decline in the U.S.

????Green Mountain managed to get its Keurig platform for hot beverages into 15 million households by offering consumers choice. Don't like Green Mountain coffee, the company's namesake brand? No problem -- there are 21 other partner brands in the system, including Starbucks, Celestial Seasonings, and Caribou.

????Analysts have said Green Mountain would have to create a similar ecosystem to win over consumers in cold beverages, and Coca-Cola is a huge first step. Its portfolio includes not only sodas, but also names in tea and juice like Fuze and Honest Tea that have wide recognition.

????While the partnership does give Coca-Cola a first-mover's advantage, Kelley says it won't preclude other brands from having access to Keurig Cold. He doesn't believe that Coca-Cola's equity stake will keep others from wanting to be part of the system. That certainly hasn't been the case in hot. "Lavazza has an equity stake," he says, "and that didn't prevent their competitors from coming to us."

????Keurig Cold will be a separate machine from the hot Keurig brewer, although CEO Brian Kelley told me this fall when I visited the company's offices in Burlington, Mass., that the company could one day build a machine that handles both hot and cold. Kelley says that Coca-Cola's involvement with the hot Keurig brewer is something the two companies may pursue over time.

????Conversations between the two likely would never have taken place if Green Mountain's approach to making beverages wasn't so in line with Coca-Cola's demand for consistency. With Sodastream, for example, users decide how much carbonation to add to their water through a carbon dioxide tank. They can also pour in as much flavoring as they'd like. That's great for consumers who may like more or less fizz, but makes it unlikely Coca-Cola would ever partner with Sodastream because it wants its product to taste exactly as Coke should every time.

????As we wrote in the January 16, 2014 issue of Fortune magazine, according to a patent application from Green Mountain, its cold beverages may be carbonated by granules inside the pod that contain absorbed gas, such as carbon dioxide, which would be released upon contact with water. That means the Keurig Cold, which won't have a carbon dioxide tank, will dose for the exact level of carbonation and flavoring necessary for, say, a Diet Coke or a Sprite.

????When I visited Green Mountain's offices late last year, I got a sneak peak at employees working on Keurig Cold, which at the time went by the code name Geyser. Despite the secrecy surrounding the project, executives knew I would have no idea what I was looking at since I don't have an engineering degree.

????What I could tell, however, was that the project was far along -- it had been in development for five years. So why give Coca-Cola an equity stake at this point in the game? Kelley told me that the deal means that not only does Coca-Cola have an interest in its products doing well on the Keurig Cold, but it means Coca-Cola has in interest in the entire system doing well.

????Kelley was drinking a Diet Coke when I met with him in November. (He switches to soda after 10 a.m. to reduce his caffeine consumption because he says soda has less caffeine than coffee.) In our January magazine story we noted that if he had it his way, he'd soon be able to get his soda out of a machine made by his own company than out of a can. That moment is no longer that far off.