Pepsi 'real sugar' products

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arbilab

arbilab

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Joined
May 1, 2011
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Location
Ft Worth TX (Ridglea)
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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. 
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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!
 
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!!
 
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?
 
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
 
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?)
 
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.
 
Soft drink bottlers get/were awarded an exclusive franchise for a geographical territory to sell the brands which they have...the franchises are typically counties or regions; although Tarpon Springs Florida had it's own Coca-Cola bottler for a long time (IDK if it is still in existence). All bottlers don't have to package all sizes...they can buy specific package sizes from one another to fill out their lines. If a national chain (WalMart/...) deals with "corporate", corporate has to pay a toll (in essence) to the local bottler to keep everyone happy (of course, the local bottler supplies WalMart). Same thing happens with Mexican soft drinks...generally (for the chains) those are deals done at corporate, and a small toll gets passed to the local bottler. Dublin Dr. Pepper contended that their use of a sugar formula created a differentiation which didn't cause them to infringe on the other bottlers...Dr Pepper/Snapple disagreed and they ended up settling so that Dublin Dr Pepper couldn't sell outside their area.
 
Advertising:

I have no doubt advertising affects me, and try to avoid the products I think are advertised poorly (Hydrosmart)... That doesn't stop my irritation though!
So I block them wherever I can. I've had enough of their "in your face" marketing - especially on high traffic websites. If they loose income, too bad. Learn to make a nice ad, for goodness sake.

Google, in their wisdom, manage this nicely, as does Robert, our Webmaster. If I weren't a paying member, I would set an exception for AW.org.

Right, back on topic, will try these "fangled" new drinks, and see how much better or worse they are. I'm assuming the latter...
Why? Well I made buttermilk fried chicken today. Chicken itself was amazing. Skin? Less so - guess I'm too used to the likes of KFC and Rosie's and their artificial recipe. Perhaps sugar would help. Dunno.
 
To me, there isn't just a flavor difference in the all-sugar Coke, there's also a difference in the mouth-feel.  It is somehow very luxurious on the tongue, and very rich.  I suppose that's to be expected, but it still surprised me the first time I tried it as an adult.  I guess that's what I was drinking as a child, but I can't really remember the details!!

 

I don't drink a lot of soft drinks, or really any sort of overly sweet drink, except with certain foods.  I've gotta have a Coke with a burger!  Otherwise, I just sometimes want a Coke, every once in a while, all by itself.  And I always go for the sugar.
 
Yes, 'creamy' mouth feel was a characteristic of sugar root beers, conspicuously absent in HFCS. Very astute observation. 'Creaminess' is not typically ascribed to colas but it's there.... or it isn't.

A characteristic I wouldn't have expected is different too, bouquet. Told brother about sugar vs. HFCS coke, he insisted there is no difference. He bought bottles of Mex and US coke and poured them into glasses when I wasn't looking, challenged me to tell which was which. I could tell the sugar coke by the SMELL alone. I can't explain why sweetener alters smell but smell is a larger component of flavor than "taste" which only describes sweet/sour/bitter/salt.

Pepsi throwback has been repackaged with a new identity. The old 'script' logo and "real sugar" prominent on a blue label, the name 'throwback' gone. Pepsi's website includes real sugar cherry and vanilla flavors but Kroger's inventory doesn't yet. I'll buy when it does. They're described as "limited time" but so was 'throwback' until they found out how much they were selling.

So it's not just us few retrophiles who appreciate the difference.
 
Rick--- Now I want to try a side-by-side comparison between HFCS and sugar (Mexican) Coke! I've had Mexican Coke a couple of times, but have never really been able to make direct comparisons between the two. Never considered that they would smell different as well as taste different, and as mikael3 pointed out, a different mouth-feel.

I think there's Mexican Coke in the HyVee I shop at. Will have to pick one up. I have canned Coke at home. That's another issue: I remember being convinced that Coke tasted different when we switched from bottles to cans in the mid-1970s.

Never enjoyed drinking anything from plastic glassware or those colored aluminum tumblers that were popular back in the day. Glass only, please!
 
Yes it does. We have a large Jewish community in Houston and if you go in a Jewish grocery store around Passover time you'll see the yellow topped Coke there. I'll usually buy a few liters.

What I find is that Coke with HFCS leaves a film in your mouth when you are done drinking it. Sugared Coke doesn't do that. I find sugar Coke to be light and refreshing while HFCS Coke heavy and syrupy.

And the food industry wants to change the name of HFCS to "Corn Sugar" in an attempt to mislead consumers. But the FDA won't let that fly.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...corn-syrup-cant-change-its-name-to-corn-sugar
 
Eugene, if you have questions about the 'can flavor', compare bottle to bottle for a level field. For that matter, compare US coke from can and bottle. There well may be a difference.

Hello Corn Refiner's Association and Coke's 6-figure flavor scientists: If there is "no difference" between HFCS and cane sugar, howzcome an uneducated nicotine-stained palate like mine can not only taste it but SMELL it? What IS the difference? One makes me wince and the other doesn't. As above, one is reminiscent of drain cleaner, the other of dessert.

Note that through lobbyist meddling, US sugar costs TWICE the global price and corn is heavily subsidized. Subsidy means the more corn you grow the more the g'ment pays you. Distinct from the meddling with sugar price, which is simply we pay double the world price and importing it is illegal. The way these two regulations play into each other is by no means coincidental.

Subsidy also means the g'ment pays a premium for dedicating land to corn. Which means, if you're growing-- OR EATING-- anything other than corn you're at an economic disadvantage. Like tomatoes? Pay the corn-land-equivalent price for them. IOW, this specific meddling doesn't just make softdrinks taste like horsepiss, it makes EVERY grown commodity OTHER THAN CORN cost more than it would otherwise.

But here's some good news: HFCS consumption in the US peaked in 1999 and has gradually and consistently declined since then. Once again, it's not just a bunch of fringe agro-hippies that don't like the stuff. Note the number of supermarket items labeled "no HFCS". ArcherDanielsMidland has noted. Hence the 'renaming' application and the ad campaign that says "your body can't tell the difference".

Skuze me, but isn't my mouth part of my body?

[this post was last edited: 7/11/2014-05:44]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup
 
Staycation Day 4: Coke vs. Coke!

 

I looked in the Hispanic foods aisle at the local grocery store and found Mexican Coke. There was Mexcian Pepsi as well, but I didn't purchase it. I poured two glasses of Coke; one made with high fructose corn syrup (canned; American) and one made with sugar (bottled; Mexican). They sat for a few minutes while I took a phone call. You'll notice the carbonation is still a bit more active in the Mexican Coke.

 

Smell: While Rick noticed eau de drain cleaner in Coke with high fructose corn syrup, I smelled...cleaning fluid; something like PineSol. At any rate, they do smell different. My sniffer is a bit jaded, but it was obvious even to me.

 

Taste: The Mexican Coke tasted lighter, slightly more watery in the mouth than regular Coke. The bubbles of carbonation seemed smaller and a bit fizzier. Regular Coke tasted slightly more...well, chemical.  I like to do a 'belch test' as well, by guzzling a few swallows.  The taste and scent of the belches were different, too.  Again, regular Coke tasted more chemical and burned a bit more.

 

Ingredients:  You'll notice Mexican Coke has almost twice the sodium of regular Coke and ten more calories.  Wonder if the 'natural flavors' are all the same and in the same quantities.

 

The Winner (to my taste buds):  Mexican Coke (at $1.19 per bottle, unfortunately)

 

MEXICAN COKE (12 ounces; bottled): Carbonated Water; Sugar; Caramel Color; Phosphoric Acid; Natural Flavors; Caffeine

Calories: 150

Sodium:  85 mg

Total Carbs:  39 grams (all from sugars)

 

AMERICAN COKE (12 ounces; canned):  Carbonated Water; High Fructose Corn Syrup; Caramel Color; Phosphoric Acid; Natural Flavors; Caffeine

Calories:  140

Sodium: 45 mg

Total Carbs:  39 grams (all from sugars)

[this post was last edited: 7/18/2014-18:37]

frigilux-2014071816162309908_1.jpg
 
One more thing:  I looked for real sugar Pepsi in the store and found it only in those 8-packs of 7.5-oz. cans that have popped up lately.  Didn't buy any.  Am hoping the sugar version will begin showing up in standard 12-packs.
 

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