What the heck is the additional flavor that Jones adds to their cream soda that isn’t usual for cream sodas?
Bought some of these and they are just about un-drinkable. There is a flavor present, a very pungent flavor, that I’ve never noticed in other cream sodas. It seems familiar but I can’t put my finger on what it is. Anyone recognize the flavor?
-rainy
Here are the ingredients. I’d suspect either you’re reacting to the inverted cane sugar (as opposed to the normal type) or the cause is hiding in the “natural and artificial flavors” industrial secrets catch-all.
Inverted sugar is simple sugars combined physically, but not chemically (in which case it would just be regular table sugar, sucrose). Inverted sugar has a different flavor profile than sucrose. It COULD be the problem. I can’t say for sure, though. Who knows what that “natural and artificial flavors” has in it?
If you live in America and consume any food at all, invert sugar won’t taste “off” or “unusual” to you. That’s basically what high fructose corn syrup is, and that stuff’s in everything.
I seriously doubt it is the sugar it is sweetened with. This flavor is front and center and familiar though I get the feeling out of context which is why I can’t figure out what it is. Anybody that likes these I’d be interested to hear what flavors you can name when tasting one purposefully.
I’ve never had it, but, out of curiosity, as I’ve never really thought about it before, what is cream soda flavor? Is it just supposed to be a cream-and-vanilla flavor?
Yes. Mixed fresh at a fountain, it’s soda water with vanilla syrup and cream.
Hard to find these days, of course. You might be able to get them to make you one at Margie’s, but it’s not on the menu.
Whoops. I should say, I never had Jones’s cream soda. I have had general cream soda, but I never was quite sure if it was supposed to be cream-and-vanilla, as some of them taste a bit bubble-gummy or cotton-candy-like to me. I’ve never had a real cream-and-vanilla cream soda. That sounds pretty good. I’ll have to get me a bottle of seltzer and whip some up one of these days.
Some reviews of Jones cream soda mention a cotton-candy taste.
That’s the New York fountain specialty called an “egg cream” (no eggs are harmed in the making of this drink).
“cream soda” is a vanilla-flavored soda, clear or colored brown or red according to local preference.
I’m wondering now if I did have it, then. I’m looking at reviews, and the only ones that I could find that mention a bubble gum-like taste are Big Red cream soda, but the one I’m thinking of I could swear was clear. I thought it was just some store brand we got as kids, but maybe I’m conflating the memory, and it was Jones.
Jones Cream Soda definitely tastes different than other cream sodas. In fact, it’s the only cream soda I like (and my other family members, who like, say, A&W cream soda, don’t like Jones). I think it tastes a bit like angel food cake. Not sure if it’s supposed to, but it does to me.
Yes, and the later evolved from the former. Cream Soda
Green, in South Africa…
When I was a kid in 1980, my dad and I would go to Big Pierre’s Lumber Supply in Hermiston, Oregon. They had a vending machine with green cream soda. I’ve never seen nor heard of it since. Try explaining green cream soda to someone who has never heard of it.
I really, really want to find that again. I have no idea what brand it was, though.
It was so much better than any cream soda I’ve ever had, even the fancy pants craft over priced stuff.
That sounds like it could be cream of tartar. I’ve never had Jones cream soda, can’t have the sugar these days, but cream of tartar is definitely a component of the taste of angel food cake.
It could also be some sort of egg-based flavoring, given that angel food cake is mostly egg white, and given creme soda’s eggy history.
I have egg cream as soda water, milk, and chocolate syrup.
Chocolate’s the classic, but you can also get vanilla, strawberry, and who-knows-what else. But you are correct that an egg cream is made with milk. There are no eggs and no cream in a Brooklyn egg cream.
Purists will tell you that the syrup in a true egg cream has to be the rich, dark, and caramelly Fox’s U-Bet. It is good, but I have to confess that I, personally, prefer Hershey’s.