# Unusual soft drinks **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** soda-softdrinks\ **Created:** [April 10, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885 "2011-04-10T18:54:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/101 "2011-04-15T14:41:12Z")
> [@Rahne\_McCloud](#): > > Any one for Birch Beer? Oh, Lord yes. I love diet birch beer, which is only hard to find if I pass it on the shelf. It’s one of the few carbonated drinks that’ll hold its carbonation fairly well, so I can nurse one for quite a while without it going flat. My vote is for Cheerwine, which is a caffeinated cherry soda made somewhere in the south. A co-worker and I found it in an antique mall and figured we had to try it. The diet version is pretty good; most fruit-flavored sodas tend to be too sweet for me, but Cheerwine has enough of a bite that it’s tolerable. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/102 "2011-04-15T18:18:09Z")
I forgot to mention [Afri-Cola](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afri-Cola), a German cola beverage with enough caffeine to perk you right up. It was a decent tasking cola…not overly carbonated (sort of flat, actually) but quite popular when I was living in Berlin. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/103 "2011-04-17T03:37:34Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Japan has Pepsi White. It’s Pepsi! > > With yogurt flavoring (or yogurt in it, sources differ). Whenever it’s time for the World Cup, Pepsi over here puts out Pepsi Gold. It tastes just like regular Pepsi, but it truly is a gold color. How about [Mecca-Cola](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecca_Cola)? They have an office in Bangkok, or at least used to, but I have yet to see it on the shelves here. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/104 "2011-04-17T04:46:01Z")
On the third page and no one has mentioned a Cherry Phosphate? Or even a LemonLime Phosphate? We had an old time soda fountain well into the sixties and those were my favorites. Description [here](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/04/phosphate-with-a-twist/8404/). ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/105 "2011-04-17T05:26:17Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > On the third page and no one has mentioned a Cherry Phosphate? Or even a LemonLime Phosphate? We had an old time soda fountain well into the sixties and those were my favorites. Description [here](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/04/phosphate-with-a-twist/8404/). I used to LOVE Cherry Phosphates. Thanks for reminding me! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/106 "2011-04-17T20:47:19Z")
I was curious, so I bought a bottle of this stuff-very strange taste-almost metallic (must be the ferrous sulfate added). Not unpleasant, but really strange:D ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/107 "2011-04-17T21:30:09Z")
I always liked [Zeltzer Seltzer,](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramfile/1380596508/) but it never made it out of 1987-land. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/108 "2011-04-18T18:44:01Z")
Similarly, there was [Original New York Seltzer](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/parenting/detail?entry_id=26506). It stuck around into the nineties but alas is long gone. Seems like yesterday that I had one of those with a sandwich at the Big Apple Deli (Which was really a California made soft drink at an Ohio Deli.). ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/109 "2011-04-18T23:17:49Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > Similarly, there was [Original New York Seltzer](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/parenting/detail?entry_id=26506). I remember those! I’d forgotten all about them–when I was a kid that used to be my favorite soda treat, they came in stubby little glass bottles with weird, styrofoam-y labels, and I always went for the vanilla cream. Googling around for more info, I came across this [fabulosity](http://www.predatorsinaction.com/newyorkseltzerbio.html) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/110 "2011-04-18T23:30:11Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > …[W]e were served green glass bottles of green, tarragon-flavored soda. It was pretty good - not too sweet, with a light herbal flavor. You can get tarragon soda in just about every other corner market here in Little Armenia. And because Little Armenia is _also_ Thai Town, in the other markets you can can get dragon fruit (pitatya), pennywort (boisson au cotyledon), soursop, and various other sodas. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/111 "2011-04-19T00:58:27Z")
> [@NajaNivea](#): > > I remember those! I’d forgotten all about them–when I was a kid that used to be my favorite soda treat, they came in stubby little glass bottles with weird, styrofoam-y labels, and I always went for the vanilla cream. Googling around for more info, I came across this [fabulosity](http://www.predatorsinaction.com/newyorkseltzerbio.html) 😃 Believe it or not, [Clover Valley](http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=122313) [Sparkling Water from Dollar General](http://www.google.com/search?q=clover+valley+sparkling+water&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a) does a pretty good job of mimicking New York Seltzer. It’s cheap and the flavors are surprisingly bright. ---
**Author:** ![allice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@allice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/allice)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/112 "2011-04-19T08:37:11Z")
My favourite of weird soft drinks is absolutely cherry cola. Actually I don’t know if that’s so unusual, but at least for me it is. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/113 "2011-04-19T09:00:58Z")
Apropos of nothing, [anybody want a rim job?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=381370) ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/114 "2011-04-19T17:34:22Z")
There’s Tahn, which is yogurt, water and a little salt. It’s good but not really a soda. I said it’s good but the only time I had a friend try it, he ran right to the sink and spit it out. They do, however, sell a carbonated version of it. Vile stuff. Armenians also have a tarragon soda which was mentioned earlier in the thread. Tarkhun is how it’s pronounced. [Here’s a picture of the bright green tarragon soda.](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/40/108987063_7b7f2ec1cc.jpg) It’s a little too sweet for me. There’s also [kvass](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass). Bread soda… ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885/115 "2011-04-19T21:40:03Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Armenians also have a tarragon soda which was mentioned earlier in the thread. Tarkhun is how it’s pronounced. Some brands actually leave a spring of tarragon in the bottle, I suppose so you don’t buy it mistakenly thinking it’s lime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-soft-drinks/577885.md?page=5)