Crystal Pepsi is back, and I'm on the bandwagon everyone else on the internet is on.

[Dark Jaguar]

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.

[Dark Jaguar]

Hmm, when's Crystal Gravy coming back?

[A Black Falcon]

I have no particular memory of Crystal Pepsi, the idea of a clear cola always seemed weird...

[Dark Jaguar]

Well you can buy some, right now (hey!).

[Weltall]

It was gross in 1991 and it's still gross now. Props for keeping the look real though. Also tried Surge now that it's back and, well, I loved Surge when I was a teenager. Mid-30s me found it too sweet to enjoy.

I'm biased on two counts though; I don't really like Pepsi products very much, and I don't like any soda that has HFCS in it because it leaves the worst aftertaste in my mouth. Real sugar sodas are pretty dope, though I still have a long-ago acquired taste for diet sodas and when I do drink sodas, it's usually diet. I'm drinking a Kroger ginger ale that might be one of the best I've ever had.

[Dark Jaguar]

Fair enough. The weird thing is all these young people who somehow got brainwashed into thinking C to the P would be the greatest beverage ever to touch their tongues. I can't imagine the betrayal they're experiencing finding out it's really just another soda.

[Sacred Jellybean]

Sooooo they have this now. I guess Crystal Pepsi wasn't enough. Looks like their marketting team is capitalizing on the hipster retro look. As calculated as it is, I think it looks pretty good.

"Non-alcoholic" -- probably a smart label, since the old-timey hillbilly on the front is about to gulp down a pressurized jug of moonshine. Or maybe that's champagne. I wouldn't put it past a hillbilly to store champagne in a big ol' jug.

[Dark Jaguar]

Oooh looky here, fancy city folk, what wit their JUGS n' all. We here just use an old boot we fished up fer all our champainin', and it done us just fine.

They also brought back tropical Sprite, but I've not seen hide nor hair of it around these parts (I can't turn it off).

I just cleared out the local Target of their crystal pepsi supplies, and Walmart before it. I suspect it's about to become a dry county. Well, I suppose that's an easy way to get back off soda again, just lack the ability to actually obtain it at a reasonable price.