DailyDirt: Do You Want To Sell Sugar Water For The Rest Of Your Life?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The famous Pepsi Challenge was reportedly introduced by John Sculley, but despite the conclusion that more people prefer Pepsi, Coke still seems to outsell Pepsi in most (not all!) parts of the world. The original formulas for both colas seem to be in the public domain, but copycat colas haven't exactly caught on. Here are a few other drinks that have a long way to go before getting into a cola war. By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
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Filed Under: alcohol, drinks, soda, synthale, synthehol
Companies: coca-cola, dr pepper, kickstarter, pepsi


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  • identicon
    Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 6 Jul 2011 @ 10:55pm

    Apparently, At The Opening Of The First Coca-Cola Plant In Russia ...

    ... President Boris Yeltsin is reputed to have sampled the product and proclaimed “Tastes like Pepsi!”.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Michael Ho (profile), 7 Jul 2011 @ 12:36am

      Re: Apparently, At The Opening Of The First Coca-Cola Plant In Russia ...

      Some kind of citation is needed for that quote... (preferably not from the Pepsi marketing division.)

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    darryl, 7 Jul 2011 @ 2:27am

    From the 'big issues' department

    Do You Want To Sell Sugar Water For The Rest Of Your Life?

    I dont know, but I expect it is better than selling snake oil for the rest of your life.

    Really, anyone who thinks Coke and pepsi taste even close to each other has lost their ability to taste. (give up smoking).

    More people prefer pepsi ?? funny that reality does not agree with you :)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Rekrul, 7 Jul 2011 @ 12:37pm

      Re: From the 'big issues' department

      Really, anyone who thinks Coke and pepsi taste even close to each other has lost their ability to taste.

      You have to qualify that with whether they were tasting Coke & Pepsi out of factory packaging or out of a soda fountain. I can taste the difference in cans and bottles, but out of a soda fountain, they both taste pretty much the same. Of course there's no guarantee than the place isn't just filling up both dispensers with generic cola.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    PaulT (profile), 7 Jul 2011 @ 4:45am

    Yuck

    I'll have to remember to avoid Dr. Pepper next time I'm in the US then... I can't stand the taste or the texture of anything made with HCFS and the bigger portions you guys have over there aren't worth the pain.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      ChrisB (profile), 7 Jul 2011 @ 6:46am

      Re: Yuck

      > I can't stand the taste or the texture of anything made with HCFS

      High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is chemically the same as sugar. Sugar (sucrose) is one molecule of glucose bonded to one molecule of fructose. HFCS is simply a (approximately) 50-50 mix of glucose and fructose. The only difference is HFCS is missing the extra oxygen atom that bonds the glucose to the fructose. I'm pretty sure you can't taste that.

      In summary,
      Sugar = glucose + fructose
      HFCS = glucose & fructose

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        PaulT (profile), 7 Jul 2011 @ 7:23am

        Re: Re: Yuck

        Well, maybe it's the whole recipe rather than just the use of HFCS but I can definitely taste the difference. I tried Coke, 7-up and Dr Pepper last time I was in the states and there was a distinct difference in flavour (especially regarding a strange, dry aftertaste) as well as the drinks being very sticky in comparison to what I'm used to if I spilled any while walking around.

        Other travellers with me commented on noticing similar differences, and I'm pretty sure those people weren't as aware of the differences in ingredients as I am. Meanwhile, I've never noticed any difference in taste or texture when travelling in areas that use sugar-based recipes, be that in Mexico, Europe or North Africa.

        As I say, maybe it's more than just the use of HFCS, but there's definitely a difference and I will be avoiding the HFCS recipe as I find it noticeably inferior.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        rob1138, 7 Jul 2011 @ 9:10am

        Re: Re: Yuck

        I can taste the difference. Plus a missing atom can make a difference. Look at lead its just one electron from gold.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Michael Ho (profile), 7 Jul 2011 @ 1:08pm

        Re: Re: Yuck

        All sugars are NOT created equal.. There definitely *can* be a variation in how different sugars taste!

        The summary that "Sugar" equals glucose+fructose and HFCS = G&F doesn't capture the whole story.

        Different sugars can have different "sweetness" factors:
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Relativesweetness.png

        So soda companies could be using different concentrations of different sugars to achieve a desired level of sweetness, but the different concentrations could make the sugar water more/less viscous or syrup-like and affect how people perceive the taste of the overall beverage.... It's not a simple thing to change a formulation of Coke (ahem, New Coke!).

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    AJBarnes, 7 Jul 2011 @ 7:07am

    Who's really to blame

    Archer Daniels Midland is in this knee-deep, right? Studies are finding that high-fructose corn syrup is a big part of the problems we're having with weight and health-in-general. http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

    Yet, there has been a HUGE push to keep this particular poison around to keep their sales high. So much so, they're trying to confuse things by changing the name!

    I'm dying to try this Dr. Pepper. Did anyone taste the retro-Mt. Dew when it made its limited debut last year? It was AWESOME.

    So, why do these idiots not just change from HFCS to sugar? Seems to me they'd sell a TON of it, and maybe kick Coke and Pepsi to last place!

    I guess Archer Daniels is doing whatever it can to kill off innovation and the return to more natural products that won't kill you as fast as theirs.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    trish, 7 Jul 2011 @ 7:16am

    synthehol!

    I sure hope it's as unpalatable to me as to commander riker!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Charles (profile), 7 Jul 2011 @ 11:55am

    Dublin Dr. Pepper

    My wife is a long time Pepper drinker. There is no doubt in her mind that Dublin Dr. Pepper tastes much, much better. This may make her quit drinking Dr. Pepper.

    HFCS sucks!

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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