When I was in London several years ago ('92 to be precise) I bought a can of 7up. This 7up tasted completely unlike that beverage that we get here in the states (a lot better IMO). Anyone know why there’s a difference, and if there’s an equivalent soda available here?
Famous brand soft drinks are often bottled locally, and the formula can vary from place to place, depending on local tastes. When I lived in Venezuela, the local Coca Cola was very sweet and syrupy, which was in line with most Venezuelans’ preferences. The expat Americans often mixed it half-and-half with club soda to make it taste more like American Coke. One of the most popular local brands of soft drinks tasted exactly like Bazooka Joe bubble gum.
Kevin B.
You can get that bubble gum flavor by just mixing cola, lemon-lime, Mt. Dew, and Dr. Pepper all together.
Or, you can just ankle round to the local bodega and pick yourself up a six-pack of Inca Cola, the Peruvian soft drink that tastes just like bubble gum.
Always thought that 7up in the US tasted a bit thin and weak but I put that down to drinking lots of it because of the Florida heat, never thought that there might be differances.
The Japanese seem to have a taste for very sweet syrupy drinks, so much so that one would not use them to quench ones thirst at all.
There was a recent thread about different formulation of CocaCola in different countries. I would say it is not only a matter of taste but also a matter of price. People in countries where Coke uses sugar are also willing to pay more. In the US price seems to be the overriding factor.
The difference: real sugar
In the US, they use corn syrup. In other countries where sugar is cheaper than CS, they use for-real cane sugar.
You can still get soft drinks with real sugar in some places in the US though; Dr Pepper in Dublin, TX still uses sugar.
There can be a couple of reasons for variation in soda taste:
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Local water. The local water here in my hometown sucks, and 7Up made here tastes like the crappy local water.
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Soda fountain vs. canned. Soda fountains (i.e. the 7up you buy at a burger joint) use concentrated syrup and compressed C02 to make soda from tap water. Many of the machines aren’t adjusted well, so there’s a huge variation in the amount of syrup concentrate added to the water.
I don’t know about variations in taste between countries, could be an attempt to accomodate local tastes. I do note that my local (Iowa) grocery store started stocking the old-style glass bottles of CocaCola, imported from Mexico, they have them in the Mexican foods section. I thought maybe it was because people liked the old-style reusable glass bottles, but maybe they think the taste is different. Personally, you couldn’t get me to drink any product made with water from Mexico.