Trick or Treat? Testing the new Pepsi flavors
Cream Soda, Gingerbread, Strawberries & Cream – you can now find these Pepsi varieties at Galaxus. For someone with a sweet tooth, that sounds tempting. How good are the new flavors? I drank my way through them.
Pepsi or Coca-Cola? This supposedly harmless question holds a fair amount of conflict potential. My neighbor Jochen from across the street, for instance, is clearly pro-Cola. Or as he put it to me: «I have an aversion to Pepsi that is as deep as it is groundless. Or an almost exclusive preference for Coca-Cola. When we go out to eat and the menu only lists Cola, I ask about it.»
I am more open-minded about it. But even though I enjoy drinking both from time to time, I have always been on Team Pepsi. That, in turn, likely has to do with my upbringing as a Migros child – because Coca-Cola has only been on the shelves there since 2010; before that, there was only Pepsi. Which was never a problem for me because I like it. So much so, in fact, that I still mourn the 1990s sales flop Crystal Pepsi to this day. At least a little bit.
Source: Wikimedia Commons / Mike Mozart
What I like even more than this one fun drink is variety. And all of that without sugar, if possible. Thank you very much. That is why my colleagues don't have to ask me twice to test the new sugar-free varieties in the shop. The choices are Gingerbread, Cream Soda, and Strawberries & Cream. Although: choices? I'll just take all three. Let's go!
Pepsi Gingerbread: Christmas in a can
I have reservations before this tasting. As soon as it starts to feel like autumn and the shops start offering Christmas treats again, the high season for gingerbread in all varieties, shapes, and sizes begins. I am anything but a picky eater when it comes to gingerbread. But in a Pepsi, that can't be good, can it?!
I open the can and smell it first. Yes, it smells like gingerbread and Christmas. This impression is reinforced with the first sip. Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg – my taste buds are singing «Silent Night»! But as intense as the taste is in the mouth, it remains discreet when swallowing and doesn't let me forget that I am drinking a Pepsi. In the finish, after the typical gingerbread spices, I notice a hint of sweetener. Too much not to taste it, but too little for me to find it unpleasant.
My doubts were unfounded: Pepsi Gingerbread is actually not bad – provided you like classic gingerbread and Christmas spices. In any case, I will treat myself to a can or two in the near future. It is clear that this fun drink belongs exclusively to autumn and winter. That is why this variety is only available as a «Limited Edition».
Pepsi Cream Soda: the best sugar-free Cream Soda
Mmh, I like Cream Soda. I even remember my very first one, sometime in the early 1990s: It was called Sparletta, came more or less fresh from South Africa (shoutout to the Honegger family) – and was green. Why green? Well, because... Oh, I have no idea. And anyway, why is there straw lying here?!
Source: Wikimedia Commons / BiltongBox
In any case, more have been added since my first Cream Soda, including from Dr Pepper, A&W, or Barr. They are all fine – as long as they contain sugar. I haven't come across a really good sugar-free Cream Soda yet. Either the taste was too flat or the sweetener aftertaste was too unpleasant – usually both. Pepsi Cream Soda is now setting out to change that.
Pleasant vanilla and caramel notes rise from the can to my nose. The full Cream Soda taste that I like so much also unfolds in the mouth – and all without sugar. I can taste the sweetener here too – if at all – only minimally. Well done, Pepsi!
Pepsi Strawberries & Cream: Cola drink kisses strawberry kisses cream
Various soft drink producers have already worked on this flavor. Pepsi itself has repeatedly tried to bring the combination of strawberries and cream to the people as a soda. From 2006, for example, there was Jazz in the USA, a sugar-free and low-calorie Diet Pepsi line with special flavors: Black Cherry & French Vanilla, Caramel Cream, and, of course, Strawberries & Cream. In 2009, Pepsi scrapped the Jazz line due to poor sales figures – without it ever having made it to us. In any case, I was never able to try a Pepsi Jazz.
Source: Industrial Industries World Radio
Instead, I am now holding the new Pepsi Strawberries & Cream in my hands. The pleasant scent of strawberries and vanilla is confirmed with the first sip and the ones that follow. Of course, this is not a liquid Coupe Romanoff. Nevertheless, I can clearly taste the flavors. But they are also not so dominant that they drown out the classic Pepsi taste – a balanced mixture, in fact. At the risk of repeating myself: Pepsi Strawberries & Cream is also delicious and easy to drink.
Conclusion
My red-white-and-blue heart is beating faster. Pepsi has done everything right with its new flavors. Gingerbread, Cream Soda, Strawberries & Cream – these are truly treats, as Pepsi calls them itself: sweet fun drinks for in-between times that provide variety and don't burden my sugar-related guilty conscience. So, now bring Crystal Pepsi out of the poison cabinet again – even if it's just for me. Please!
I'm a full-blooded dad and husband, part-time nerd and chicken farmer, cat tamer and animal lover. I would like to know everything and yet I know nothing. I know even less, but I learn something new every day. What I am good at is dealing with words, spoken and written. And I get to prove that here.
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