# Is it just me, or does Coke Zero go bad much more quickly than other diet sodas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** soda-softdrinks\ **Created:** [April 18, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-coke-zero-go-bad-much-more-quickly-than-other-diet-sodas/493505 "2009-04-18T04:26:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-coke-zero-go-bad-much-more-quickly-than-other-diet-sodas/493505/21 "2009-05-15T18:16:12Z")
Clearly opinions vary here. I love Diet Coke with Splenda the best of all, but it is virtually impossible to find anymore. Coke Zero is my second choice. I also prefer Diet Coke at a McDonalds to DC in a bottle or can. I think it’s because they use a different sweetener (saccharine?) that would go bad during the shelf life of a bottle or can, but can easily last the life of a soda fountain canister. Each to their own!..TRM ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-coke-zero-go-bad-much-more-quickly-than-other-diet-sodas/493505/22 "2009-05-15T18:32:58Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Missed that part. > > It’s surprising to me that you think splenda diet coke tastes more like coke than coke zero. I love coke zero exactly because it tastes, to me, so much like coke, while diet coke (splenda or not) does not. > > But tongues differ. I’m not sure I taste the “bite” you referred to, for example. Same here. I think Coke Zero is pretty damn close to the original. Diet Coke with Splenda tastes weird to me. I don’t mind sucralose-sweetened drinks, but they all have an odd back-of-the-tongue greasiness to them that irks me. Even though it’s a bit sharper, I’ll go for Nutrasweet over Splenda every time. The Coke Zero mix of Ace K & aspartame strike the most perfect balance for me of the artificial sweeteners I’ve tasted. I often wonder what Coke would taste like sweetened with something like stevia. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-coke-zero-go-bad-much-more-quickly-than-other-diet-sodas/493505/23 "2009-05-15T19:28:38Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > I’ve had diet caffiene free Coke that went bad in six moths. Literaly, all of the sweetener had decomposed. It was bizzar. Aspartame (which is the artificial sweetener in Diet Coke) has a surprisingly limited shelf life (i.e., it’s measured in months). The “best before” dating that Coke and Pepsi started putting on all of their sodas a few years ago started with the diet sodas, for this very reason. So, yeah, if you have some Diet Coke sitting around for six months (and who knows how long it was sitting around at the distributor or retailer before you got it, too), it’s not going to taste right. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-coke-zero-go-bad-much-more-quickly-than-other-diet-sodas/493505/24 "2009-05-15T19:49:41Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Same here. I think Coke Zero is pretty damn close to the original. Diet Coke with Splenda tastes weird to me. I don’t mind sucralose-sweetened drinks, but they all have an odd back-of-the-tongue greasiness to them that irks me. Even though it’s a bit sharper, I’ll go for Nutrasweet over Splenda every time. The Coke Zero mix of Ace K & aspartame strike the most perfect balance for me of the artificial sweeteners I’ve tasted. I often wonder what Coke would taste like sweetened with something like stevia. I like coke zero the best but my wife really prefers splenda coke, we are also finding it very hard to find anywhere though. The last time she found some she bought 24 cases of it. We are now down to our last one. But as far as Stevia goes, I have never found anything that tasted good sweetened with it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-coke-zero-go-bad-much-more-quickly-than-other-diet-sodas/493505/25 "2009-05-15T19:54:53Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > I like coke zero the best but my wife really prefers splenda coke, we are also finding it very hard to find anywhere though. The last time she found some she bought 24 cases of it. We are now down to our last one. I suspect that DC with Splenda didn’t take off as well as Coke hoped, and they’re scaling it back. Could be wrong. Before I became diabetic, I strongly preferred Pepsi over Coke (I thought that Coke Classic tasted like battery acid). Given that, I’m not surprised that I prefer Diet Coke over Coke Zero (for that matter, I prefer Diet Coke over Diet Pepsi!) ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-coke-zero-go-bad-much-more-quickly-than-other-diet-sodas/493505/26 "2009-05-15T19:57:50Z")
Tried to edit but was too slow so for Stevia coke try: [Zevia](https://store.zevia.com/?gclid=CPvVoquNv5oCFQVaFQodrl6Nqw) ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-coke-zero-go-bad-much-more-quickly-than-other-diet-sodas/493505/27 "2009-05-15T20:02:30Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > After years of Diet Coke, Coke Zero was a happy surprise. It’s probably my favorite carbonated beverage these days. > > But there seems to be an oddity with it - with Diet Coke, I pretty much ignored expiration dates. By a case, keep it in the garage, six months later it still tastes exactly the same. > > Coke Zero on the other hand - man, I know when it has turned. It’s not really like it spoils - it’s too acidic I’m sure to do that. But it loses its sweetness, almost completely. And then tastes bad. > > I’m to the point where I won’t even buy a 12-pack unless the expiry date is like two months off. It just is so nasty once the sweetness goes. > > Has anyone else noticed this? I can’t seem to stop posting to this. I found out that Fountain Diet Coke has some saccarin in it to extend shelf life. If this is true it stands to reason that non-saccarin drinks might have a shelf life problem. ---
**Author:** ![Suse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Suse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suse)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-coke-zero-go-bad-much-more-quickly-than-other-diet-sodas/493505/28 "2009-05-16T03:51:00Z")
Diet Coke with Splenda is available in 12-packs (cans) in every Meijer that I’ve visited lately (Indiana and Ohio). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-coke-zero-go-bad-much-more-quickly-than-other-diet-sodas/493505.md?page=1)