Pepsi 'real sugar' products

[arbilab]

We've had "Pepsi Throwback" with real sugar (and Mtn Dew too) for several years without any promise they were 'permanent'. Well, in marketing NOTHING is permanent. I've asked them. But Pepsi appears a regular passenger now on the 'no HFCS' express.

They have repackaged sugar Pepsi without the 'throwback' reference. Like it's no longer an experiment. The new packaging does say 'real sugar' but not 'throwback'. If you're used to looking for the 'throwback' version you'll have to adjust your shelf scan. Look for the oldstyle script logo.

Pepsi has also introduced two new 'real sugar' flavors, vanilla and cherry. I know it's real because I just saw a commercial for it. I looked for them last time I replenished but ours still had HFCS. No sale.

I asked Coke about the HFCS issue too. Their response, almost verbatim: "Thank you for your interest in CocaCola products. All our products are flavored the same...." Oh yeah? Then why does Mexican Coke taste like Coke when I was a kid and US Coke taste like drain cleaner? I asked them that too. No reply. Not even a coupon for what I wouldn't drink if it was free.

Oh, FOUNTAIN Coke, like at fastfood places? That IS sugar Coke. At Whataburger 2 weeks ago, their carbonation unit froze up. I dispensed from the fountain; it tasted right but was somewhat flat. They replaced it from a 2-liter bottle of STORE Coke. Blecch! Drain cleaner.

What drew soda mfrs to HFCS? The latest in a long line of "Sugar Protection Acts". Jiminy Carter signed it. Made it illegal to import sugar. Turned most Caribbean economies into drug cartels and turned US soda into drain cleaner.

JC didn't write it and probably didn't even know what it would do. Lobbyists for Monsanto, Corn Growers Assn, and corn processors like ArcherDanielsMidland did. HFCS became cheaper by volume than sucrose, and it's sweeter by volume so they can use less. What corporation could resist that double seduction?

Well Pepsi did, and they're grabbing market share in doing so. For flavor and health reasons, more and more people are rejecting HFCS. Seems the 'sweetness index' is not all that sweeteners do for soda. You can even SMELL the difference between Mexican (or Euro) Coke and US Coke. One smells like a sugary treat. The other smells like...... drain cleaner.

BTW, Pepsi sugar products are priced identically with their HFCS and chemical sweetener lines. Whereas Mexican Coke and sugar DrPepper (where available) cost between 8.3 and 16 cents per ounce, sugar Pepsi costs 2.1 cents per ounce.

 

[washman]

Cracker Barrel

has Big Red, made with sugar, in a glass bottle no less.

I actively seek out soft drinks made with sugar because as you said, they taste like a real beverage and takes me back to my childhood.

 

[whirlcool]

HCFS shows up in a lot of places. This morning I looked at the content of the English Muffins I had with breakfast, sure enough it contains HFCS.

Usually when shopping we avoid HFCS the best we can. I don't know how those muffins slipped by us. I think it was because we didn't expect to find HFCS in them.

As we know Coke is sold around the world. But only the U.S. version has HFCS. By now you would have thought that Coke would have sat up and taken notice of all the Mexican Coke being sold in the U.S. and moved on that. But they haven't.

BTW, the "New Coke" fiasco was one of the biggest cover ups in the history of marketing. They knew the public wouldn't like the New Coke but they put it out there anyway and withdrew original Coke from the market for a month or two. When the "old coke" came back as Coke Classic it was not the same as the original. It now had HFCS instead of sugar. Pretty sneaky, eh?

 

[toploader55]

I remember...

When I was about 4-5 years old, (and maybe it was because I was so young) it seemed like the carbonation of the Coke or something used to almost "burn" your nostrils.

And yes, you can smell the difference. I have not drank a Coke, Pepsi, or any other kind of soda in 32 years. The last Diet Coke I drank was in July of 1982. I read the ingredients on the can and never had another soda again.

 

[washer111]

Carbonation burning nostrils:

 

Yes - I've noticed this with Coke and several other soft-drinks. 

 

Pepsi is far better in this regard* - although isn't much better for you!

*I enjoy the taste of Regular Pepsi better than a Coke. It just "goes down" far better. Any Diet drinks are alright for the first 2-3 sips, then rubbish after that. 

 

[NYCWriter]

Actually, yes ...

"'Thank you for your interest in CocaCola products. All our products are flavored the same....' Oh yeah?"

Actually, yeah.

FLAVORED the same.

SWEETENED -- not so much.

 

[frigilux]

I have been a Coke-only guy since Lyndon Johnson was in office; ditto my sister. A couple of summers ago, for no apparent reason, I switched to Pepsi for a few months. It has a simpler, cleaner taste with milder carbonation.

When I went back to Coke, I was stunned by all the flavors in the mix---cloves, pepper, lime, etc. It was like tasting Coke for the first time all over again.

Since I live in an area surrounded by corn fields, I will not speak out against high fructose corn syrup or ethanol, as I don't want to wake up with a horse head (undoubtedly wearing a John Deere cap) in my bed.

The Corn Mafia: It's real and it's deep.

 

[washman]

No frig, not quite

the pod mafia, now that is real and deep.

 

[whirlcool]

When I went back to Coke, I was stunned by all the flavors in the mix---cloves, pepper, lime, etc. It was like tasting Coke for the first time all over again.

When I am really thirsty for a Coke and finally get one I can taste all the different flavors too in there. I get some vanilla and even some licorice flavors as well as the citrus-ey lime.

One time I was in the San Francisco airport and ordered a coke. The waitress said "You must be from the south, Coke is very southern you know." So California must be Pepsi country.

 

[d-jones]

Coke dominates here just as it does everywhere else, though I prefer Dr. Pepper. I used to be able to get Dublin Dr. Pepper sweetened with sugar from several local outfits that went out of their way to bring it in, but it seems that other Dr. Pepper bottlers all around the country felt that Dublin was stepping on their toes. They complained and Dublin lost the right to produce the product. It seems that each bottler has a given area that they are allowed to sell product in and they aren't allowed to stray outside of it. Yet due to the North American free trade agreement Mexican Coke and Pepsi products(along with many others)can be sold anywhere in the U.S. If this is actually true it strikes me as incredibly foolish, as it puts all of the domestic bottlers at a clear disadvantage. Let's face it, the Mexican products sweetened with sugar just taste better.

 

[arbilab]

The fly in the ointment ("that's about par for ointment", Bullwinkle) is that Mexican coke manages to cost 8.5~12.5 cents per ounce. Sugar DrPepper, sold in 8oz bottles, even more. I have both Mex coke and S-DP in the fridge but let's face it, on socalled security I can't afford to drink them except on alternate national holidays. Meanwhile sugar Pepsi in 12-ct cartons cost a quarter each or not quite 2.1 c/oz.

Anybody know what Mexican coke costs in Mexico? Surely not P19.48. No, I looked it up. Roughly half that. Shipping and handling, right?

 

[d-jones]

When I buy Coke in Ecuador I pay twenty cents for a what I think is a ten ounce bottle.

 

[washman]

Some others

Are RC, made in Dominican Republic, that I bought in FL. Made with sugar also and tasted darn good.

At my local Giant Eagle, we also have Mexican Sprite that does indeed taste a helluva lot better than HFCS crap sold in 20 oz bottles.

 

[whirlaway]

Mexican Coca Cola

We have it by the case at Costco here.Im a coffee drinker myself.I bought a case though,it was delicious! I think it was 16 dollars.I hate drinks though,in cans!Taste so much better in a bottle!

 

[norgeway]

The bEST Coke,,

Is what you get at the King Drugstore in King NC,The lady squirts some Coke syrup from a dispenser, then sprays in soda water, and adds crushed ice...its like the old days all over again!!

 

[whirlcool]

What did they do to Dr. Pepper? A few years ago they started putting the number 25 on bottles and cans and they also changed the flavor at the same time. I think the new stuff tastes crappy compared to the old stuff. Anyone know the story?

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Ever since A&W started saying: 'MADE w/ REAL VANILLA&#39

I don<strong><strong>'t</strong></strong><strong><strong> think</strong></strong><strong><strong><strong> even</strong></strong></strong><strong><strong> A&W</strong></strong><strong><strong> Root Beer</strong></strong><strong><strong> tastes</strong></strong><strong><strong> the</strong></strong><strong><strong> same</strong></strong> <strong><strong>(or</strong></strong><strong><strong> as</strong></strong><strong><strong> GOOD!)</strong></strong><strong><strong> as</strong></strong><strong><strong> it</strong></strong><strong><strong> used</strong></strong><strong><strong><strong> t</strong></strong></strong><strong><strong>o!!!!</strong></strong>

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[washer111]

Hmmm...

A co-worker of mine and I were discussing this today while we had a moment. 

 

It seems she actually prefers HFCS sweetened products (An American visiting), and says the soft-drink here sweetened with real sugar just doesn't compare. The bonus was the different taste had reduced her consumption - so its actually better really! (i.e. Sugar Mountain Dew is apparently horrible compared to HFCS). 

I was also informed a small video-store nearby stocks drinks imported from America... So I'll have to drop by and see if there is any HFCS-flavoured products, and compare them to whatever else I can get my hands on. 

 

Given the responses here, I can't honestly believe that someone might like HFCS, but everyone's got different tastes. It also depends on what you are used to. For people that were used to sugar, maybe the taste is off compared to those who grew up with HFCS (Whats this, Microevolution to dangerous man-made products?)

 

[arbilab]

Yes I grew up with sugar and hate HFCS and yes flavors to which most are accustomed are what they want unless they have an objective palate. I mean like, if most never had a kitchen enchilada, only TV dinner enchiladas, most would want it to taste like they're accustomed rather than what is clearly superior.

"People" mostly are nowhere near as sophisticated as they like to think they are. Among other things, this explains how advertising works.

"Most" will report they are unaffected by advertising. Oh really? That's why advertising is a $170 BILLION/year business. Because 'most' think they are immune to it whilst they most certainly are not. That arrangement is all carefully calculated.

What's really scary is that 'advertising' doesn't just choose what toilet paper we favor, but what socalled 'national leaders' we favor. Exactly how we got into the escalating mess we've been in since the 80s.

Advertising is insidious. Marketing awareness should be mandatory in middle/high school, so it couldn't control us to the extent it does. Guess why it isn't.

Might think I'm a mile off topic of soda flavor. Unfortunately, government and marketing are precisely why the subject arises. Permission to broaden. Long as it's not too specifically vehement v-a-v government, I think it can stay in the public area.