Oh but a cola flavored slushie is sooooo good!
Well, kinda… If you’re tipping 15%, you just jilted her out of, like, 30 cents! Then again, she coulda been a Nazi. And we all know how testy they get.
They say that it’s mostly expectations, that in blind taste-tests most people can’t tell the difference.
Three tries fall more into anecdote territory than data, but I once blind-tasted three cups at a Purim carnival. I got all of them right.
Since I’m Canadian, I didn’t vote.
Though I don’t drink soft drinks personally, I’m the one who buys the soft drinks around here, and it’s COKE all the way, preferable in the six-pack glass bottles.
It also matters a lot if it is out of a can/bottle or out of a fountain. At least from what I’ve heard, the settings on the fountain (ratio of syrup to carbonated water) can make either taste like the other.
Coke Zero… I’m addicted to the stuff. I prefer it’s flavour to regular Coke, and I refuse to drink Diet Coke. I don’t hate Pepsi, but given a choice, I’ll never buy it.
When I could drink full-calorie soda (i.e., before diabetes), I strongly preferred Pepsi to Coke.
Now that I’m limited to diet stuff, I strongly prefer Diet Coke to Diet Pepsi.
Weird.
Not worth starting a new thread about it, so I’ll ask the question here: Why do both Diet Coke and Coke Zero exist?
Re the poll question: They both taste like malted battery acid to me.
Two reasons:
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When Diet Coke was created (around 1980), Coca-Cola’s goal was to create a diet soda whose flavor profile was similar to Diet Pepsi (which was the leading diet soda at that time). However, this made a diet soda which tasted fairly differently from regular Coca-Cola. Coke Zero was formulated to taste more similar to regular Coca-Cola.
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Coke Zero (as well as Pepsi Max) are intended to appeal more to men. The soft-drink makers have learned that many men who would be interested in a low-calorie soda are turned off by the word “diet”, feeling that it connotes a product which is intended for women. (Yes, I know it sounds silly, but it’s true.) So, they introduced different “diet” products, which don’t contain the word “diet”, for that purpose. Note that Dr Pepper’s new entrant in that area, Dr Pepper 10, has advertising which overtly says this.
Wow, that’s actually pretty interesting stuff. It always seemed redundant to me. Btw I vastly prefer Coke Zero (female here) as it actually tastes almost like Coke… but Diet Coke is godawful to me and leaves an aftertaste in my mouth.
I love Coke Zero - I get that whenever it’s an option. Otherwise it’s Diet Dr. Pepper, Diet Coke, or Diet Pepsi.
If I was forced to choose between the two non-diet colas in the OP, I’d pick the Coke but I’d bemoan the calories.
Straight up? Coke.
Diet, on the other hand, I go with Coke if it’s ice cold, or Pepsi if I’m stuck with room temperature. (I haven’t really made a decision on Coke Zero vs Pepsi Max.)
Diet Dr. Pepper tastes the most like “the real thing” of any diet drink I’ve tried. And fortunately I like Dr. Pepper. Still don’t drink the diet unless there isn’t anything else to chose from.
I love Coke but I don’t need a whole 12oz can of it. I wish they came in those snazzy 7.5oz cans that I see Diet Coke in all the time. I can slurp down ungodly amounts of fountain Coke but I always end up throwing some of a can away which is a crime at $7.50 per box.
I don’t really have that strong a preference anymore. I’ve swapped back and forth in the past. I guess I have to go with Coke because it still tastes good even when the syrup-to-carbonated-water ratio is messed up, which means I don’t have to worry when getting it in fountain drink form.
Plus it mixes better with cherry.
Sugar or HFCS, either way: Coke over Pepsi. Of flavored variants, though, Holiday Spice Pepsi was my favorite, and I’d drink it over even a regular Coke.
Traditional diet versions: Diet Coke over Diet Pepsi. I’m glad I’m not the only one to notice that Diet Pepsi is… flat. I will buy a can or bottle on occasion, and within 15 minutes, it’s flat. I’ll drink any diet soda–including generics–over one from the normal Diet Pepsi line, even if I’m wanting a cola.
“Manly” diet versions: Pepsi Max over Coke Zero. I actually really like Pepsi Max; it’s probably my favorite diet cola (though I do also drink and like Tab, which may be tied with Pepsi Max, so I know my tastes are kind of bizarre).
Your local stores don’t carry the 100-calorie “short can” 8 oz. Cokes? Most of the Coca-Cola range (Coke, Sprite, Fanta, et al.) is available in those cans through most bottlers in the US.
Coke Zero goes flat really quick, too. The day after you open a 2 liter it’s noticeably flatter.
Another OP violator here.
I grew up with Coke in the US and then Fanta whenever I visited relatives in Mexico. Now that I live in Japan, I usually buy Coke-related drinks.
Ironically enough, I’m drinking a can of “Pepsi Nex Zero” at this moment. That’s the only soda sold in the vending machine on this floor. Doh!