Red Bull Simply Cola is flavored with plant extracts, including galangal, vanilla, mustard seed, lime, kola nut, cocoa, liquorice, cinnamon, lemon, ginger, coca leaf, orange, corn mint, pine, cardamom, mace, clove, and lemon juice concentrate.

In 2008, the year of its release, Red Bull Simply Cola was available in Austria, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Egypt, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy,[4] India, Thailand, Romania, Hungary, Russia, Slovakia, New Zealand, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In May 2009, food regulators from Germany discovered trace amounts of cocaine from coca leaf extracts in Red Bull Simply Cola, Pepsi One, and Diet Coke.

[7][8] After the German Institute for Risk Assessment declared the product safe in a study,[9] the drink was put back on sale from 24 August 2009 onwards.

After the news of the German ban, Taiwan confiscated 18,000 cans of Red Bull Energy Drink;[10] however, the country later acknowledged the mistake.