Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Savor the Flavor for Later

 The latest round of the soda wars kicked off again last month with Pepsi's release of the first of its limited edition "Soda Shop" offerings, flavored with real sugar.  Now, I'm the type of person who will try any new flavor of soda, even the occasion trial of Coke.  I waited until individual bottles were available, since I didn't want to buy an entire carton of something that I might not like.  Fortunately, I only had to wait a week or so before I could try the new flavors.  First off, there is Black Cherry Pepsi.  Now, Pepsi has a wild cherry flavor already.  (They also had a cherry-vanilla flavor for awhile.  I haven't seen it anywhere for awhile.  Maybe not even on its website.  A shame really, since a slightly liked it.) The soda has a slight dark red coloration to it.  It doesn't smell much like cherries though.  The first sip was strong.  A bitter/sour cherry flavor similar to medicinal flavorings.  The sweetness is undercut, barely registering after the first taste.  Further sips just strengthened the medicine comparison.  Even after the ice diluted the drink, the connection to medicine remains.  While the flavor isn't that bad, it is very strong and some people will suffer from negative associations.  Definitely an acquired taste.  Second, there is the Cream Soda Pepsi flavor.  For all of those readers not familiar with cream soda, it is a strong vanilla flavor.  Pepsi also had a vanilla variety already, although I haven't seen it around too often.  Dr. Pepper made headlines last year when it introduced its cream soda variant, so it seems that Pepsi was following suit with this flavor.  My first impression was with the strong vanilla aroma.  It was hard to miss.  The first sip had a very pronounced vanilla flavor, as did the next few sips.  However, the sweetness began to overtake the vanilla, leaving just a sugary taste.  Even diluted with melting ice, the sugar was the dominant flavoring.  The initial vanilla quickly fades.  While there is some vanilla aftertaste, one has to fight to find it once you drink some.  For comparison's sake, Dr. Pepper's cream soda has a steady vanilla flavor mixed with the soda's usual flavor.  In fact, the same goes for Dr. Pepper's cherry version as well.  The cherry flavor is nowhere near Pepsi's medicinal black cherry.  I will admit, I am a huge Dr. Pepper fan, so it can be hard to impress me with other brands.  Overall, I find Pepsi a little too sweet in most of its versions; the cream soda of these two new flavors more so than average.  I'm just glad I didn't buy a carton of either version. While this experiment was a great one-off, I don't think I will try another bottle of either flavor.

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