17th August 2016, 11:35 AM
I was confused at first when I saw comments about it, but then I saw the old commercial and it all came flooding back to me. Most people didn't like Crystal Pepsi (seeing it either as inferior to normal Pepsi or a cheap gimmick, and frankly I was in the latter category even as a kid), but apparently the minority that liked it (which I was a part of) was vocal enough to start an actual movement. Kids who clearly are too young to have ever had the stuff were demanding it's return, and I do feel sorry for whatever ridiculously high expectations of soda nirvana they were operating under. Anyway, I found some when I went shopping this week and had to try it. I then remembered that I pointed out that this was the drink that'd make me start drinking sodas again in that political thread only 3 of us post in, so here's my review of some fizzy sugar water.
My first impression was that I nearly choked on it due to the fizziness. Turns out that when you haven't had any soda in nearly 5 years, you forget how to handle carbonation. My second impression, once I recovered, was that it was as delicious as I remember. Some say it's basically just clear Pepsi, and others say it tastes like Pepsi but a bit blander. Both are right because it turns out some people are born with more varied tastebuds than others. I'm one of those so called "super tasters". Yeah, I'm the one, the one that can taste the vanilla in a nilla wafer and the honey in a graham cracker (I have a friend who swears both of those taste like flavorless cardboard, this friend also loves spicy foods).
For me, it comes down to one thing. I hate caramel, and Pepsi uses a bit of caramel to get that dark color. With that removed, a product I normally don't really like the taste of becomes delicious. To me, Crystal Pepsi is Pepsi done right. But, it can and will be very different to different people. I didn't know that as a kid mind you. All I knew was it tasted good but I still didn't like regular Pepsi. I also think I detect a hint of a citrus drink in there. There's apparently a bit of citric acid according to the ingredients, so that's probably what's making me think of something more sprite-like in it.
Near as I can tell, this is the same formula from back then. Sodas had already switched over from sugar to corn syrup by the time Crystal came along, so there's really nothing missing here. Now, I've yet to try Sprite Tropical, but this stuff is, as of right now, the best sodapop on the market. (I checked a map on what people in different regions of the US call fizzy lifting drinks. Tulsa is in the middle of "pop" country, just north of a massive region of the US that calls all such drinks "coke". There's a smattering of "soda" and "other" right in the middle of Tulsa, so that's probably where my own local group's portmanteau of "sodapop" came from (which would have fit comfortably in the "other" category on that map).
I need to quit while I'm ahead with this drink. It's a nice return, but I'm already addicted to this stuff. I should cut myself off cold turkey once I run out of the bunch I bought at the store. Maybe I'll cut myself off one earlier and leave it in the fridge for... ever.
My first impression was that I nearly choked on it due to the fizziness. Turns out that when you haven't had any soda in nearly 5 years, you forget how to handle carbonation. My second impression, once I recovered, was that it was as delicious as I remember. Some say it's basically just clear Pepsi, and others say it tastes like Pepsi but a bit blander. Both are right because it turns out some people are born with more varied tastebuds than others. I'm one of those so called "super tasters". Yeah, I'm the one, the one that can taste the vanilla in a nilla wafer and the honey in a graham cracker (I have a friend who swears both of those taste like flavorless cardboard, this friend also loves spicy foods).
For me, it comes down to one thing. I hate caramel, and Pepsi uses a bit of caramel to get that dark color. With that removed, a product I normally don't really like the taste of becomes delicious. To me, Crystal Pepsi is Pepsi done right. But, it can and will be very different to different people. I didn't know that as a kid mind you. All I knew was it tasted good but I still didn't like regular Pepsi. I also think I detect a hint of a citrus drink in there. There's apparently a bit of citric acid according to the ingredients, so that's probably what's making me think of something more sprite-like in it.
Near as I can tell, this is the same formula from back then. Sodas had already switched over from sugar to corn syrup by the time Crystal came along, so there's really nothing missing here. Now, I've yet to try Sprite Tropical, but this stuff is, as of right now, the best sodapop on the market. (I checked a map on what people in different regions of the US call fizzy lifting drinks. Tulsa is in the middle of "pop" country, just north of a massive region of the US that calls all such drinks "coke". There's a smattering of "soda" and "other" right in the middle of Tulsa, so that's probably where my own local group's portmanteau of "sodapop" came from (which would have fit comfortably in the "other" category on that map).
I need to quit while I'm ahead with this drink. It's a nice return, but I'm already addicted to this stuff. I should cut myself off cold turkey once I run out of the bunch I bought at the store. Maybe I'll cut myself off one earlier and leave it in the fridge for... ever.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)