????無糖蘇打水越來越受到消費者青睞，阿斯巴甜甜味劑漸遭冷遇。于是，一家小型飲料公司抓住時機，先于飲料巨擘可口可樂（Coca-Cola）和百事可樂（PepsiCo），開發出了滿足消費者對純天然甜味軟飲要求的新型飲料。

????零卡公司（Zevia）位于加州卡爾佛市，專注生產零卡路里或低卡路里碳酸軟飲。它近期銷量持續增長，已經躋身前全美銷售排名前20名。零卡為什么有這么大的吸引力？它的秘訣是在飲料中加入甜葉菊。這種植物的葉子可用于增加軟飲中的甜味，屬于純天然食品，而此時著名的減肥蘇打水品牌“健怡可樂”與“健怡百事”因為使用人工甜味劑正慘遭輿論質疑。

????據《飲料文摘》（Beverage Digest）報道，2014年上半年，減肥碳酸軟飲在全美的銷量下降了7.5%。與此相反，根據SPINS/IR的數據顯示，盡管零卡的售價比其它著名蘇打水品牌高，但截至5月18日的前三個月中，零卡的銷量比去年還上升了67%。

????零卡旗下有可樂、根汁汽水、姜汁汽水等15種不同口味的軟飲，去年一年的銷量高達9,000萬美元，雖然與百事、可口可樂、Dr Pepper Snapple等巨擘相比還有很大差距，但零卡在飲料界已經算得上小有名氣了。

????《飲料文摘》編輯兼出版人約翰?西歇爾在接受《財富》采訪時說：“雖然大型飲料公司規模大、業務強，但這個領域內的很多創新是由小公司主導的。”

????這些飲料業巨擘也開始警醒起來，開發旗下類似產品，但并沒有與零卡直接競爭。

????據《飲料文摘》報道，可口可樂公司九月份在美國推出了“Coca-Cola Life”系列。這是一種“中卡路里”可樂，混合了甜葉菊葉子提取物和糖。同時，百事公司秋季時節更新了Sierra Mist青檬系列的配方，添加了甜葉菊，減少了20%的含糖量。而且，Dr Pepper Snapple眼下正在三大市場中試驗營銷Dr Pepper、七喜和Canada Dry三種混合了甜葉菊和糖的純天然甜味飲料。食品公司也緊趕潮流：本周，通用磨坊（General Mills）宣布升級優諾酸奶（Yoplait yogurt）的配方，往原配方中添加了甜葉菊。說句公道話，大型公司之所以猶豫不決，主要是因為擔心影響旗下其它熱銷的減肥飲料，或者害怕顧客形成對新型飲料的偏好。

????富國銀行（Wells Fargo）分析師邦妮?荷佐格在研究報告筆記中說：“為了保護現有品牌的銷售，大型生產商是否能有效地參與不斷增長的新型飲料市場，這點值得懷疑”

????As consumers grow sweeter on sugar-free and aspartame-free sodas, one upstart is trying to build a big head start on beverage behemoths Coca-Cola KO 0.38% and PepsiCo PEP 0.17% in the growing market for naturally sweetened soft drinks.

????Zevia, based in Culver City, Calif., produces the only zero or low-calorie carbonated soft drink with rising U.S. sales among the top 20 brands. Its secret? It uses stevia, a leaf, to sweeten its soft drinks naturally at a time when leading diet soda brands such as Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi are getting slammed by a backlash against the use of artificial sweeteners.

????In the first half of 2014, U.S. sales of diet carbonated soft drinks fell 7.5%, according to Beverage Digest. In contrast, according to SPINS/IR data, Zevia saw sales rise 67% in the three months ending on May 18 compared to the previous year, despite being more expensive than leading diet soda brands.

????Zevia, which offers 15 soft drinks, including cola, root beer, and ginger ale, had sales of about $90 million in the last 12 months, making it a tiny player compared to Pepsi, Coke, and Dr Pepper Snapple DPS -0.60% . But that performance has underscored how slowly the industry’s giants have been to adapt to changing tastes.

????“As big and as powerful as the big beverage companies are, a lot of the innovation has been by the smaller companies,” Beverage Digest editor and publisher John Sicher told Fortune.

????The industry’s giants are taking notice, developing their own similar, though not directly competing, products.

????Coke is introducing Coca-Cola Life, a mid-calorie cola sweetened with a blend of stevia leaf extract and sugar, in the United States in September, according to a Beverage Digest report. Meanwhile, PepsiCo is reformulating Sierra Mist with stevia this fall, lowering the sugar content by 20%. And Dr Pepper Snapple is currently testing three naturally sweetened versions of Dr Pepper, 7up, and Canada Dry, with stevia and sugar, in three markets. Food companies are also getting in on the action: this week General Mills GIS 0.54% said it would reformulate its Yoplait yogurt with stevia.

????To be fair, much of the big companies’ hesitation comes from the risk of hurting their still high volume diet brands, or fear of customers by reformulating a favorite drink.

????“We question whether the major manufacturers will participate meaningfully in this growth without cannibalizing their existing brands,” Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog wrote in a research note.