Coca-Cola Life Review

Coca-Cola Life brings the fabulousness of true sugar with the grossness of Stevia, an all-natural diet sweetener more infamous for its bitterness than famous for its sugariness. But let us keep an unbiased mind and treat our eyes to the Pakistan green label, branded with uninteresting font chosen for elegance. Too many words are packed onto the tiny real-estate of the moss colored packaging.

A potent effervescence wakes up your palate, an unanticipated punch that is too sparkling for the drink's delicate insubstantialness. Life itself is considerably more intricate than this suggests, a tenuous body with insignificant innuendos of spices, only the dubious debuts of some canceled cinnamon and nullified nutmeg. The feisty carbonation demands more byzantine piquancy than the unsatisfying seltzer we sit sipping, instead left for dead with the deadened flavors of orange and vanilla. It is an unenthusiastic braiding, tastes holding hands but without motivation. With Coke using organic sweeteners, neither the citrus nor the vanilla are as complex as they should be. The bottle reads "natural flavors," but my tongue is not tasting them. All trepidation from Stevia's usual iniquity should be abated: every sip is painless and almost like its full-calorie cousin. It is not the obvious ersatz elixir expected when the argentate cap cracked open, but lacks the weight of a true sugared soda. It does not disappoint, but fails to ever wow.

Each bottle contains: water, forty grams of sugar, color, flavors, phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate, forty seven milligrams of caffeine, and Stevia. It hits almost a sweet spot between full and zero calories with its 160 per twenty ounces, but other than the natural sweetener its ingredient cocktail is pedestrian. As is everything else about.

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Pepsi Next Review

Pepsi Next was released earlier this year to little fanfare, debuting disappointing numbers and birthing flashbacks to Pepsi Edge and Coca-Cola C2. Its boring bottle could be to blame, at least partially, with only a white swoosh against a blue gradient. It is not cluttered like the company's myriad of Mtn Dews tend to be, but it can only confuse customers while chilling next to Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Pepsi Throwback and Pepsi One; not to mention the dozen flavored aberrations of the aforementioned.

Fifteen grams of sugar for every twelve ounces, Pepsi Next tastes surprisingly similar to any other diet drink, with a bit more depth to its sweetness and more satisfying body. Vanilla and vague citruses play with impressively little medicinal influence and interruption, a soda spiced liberally with cloves and cinnamon, a bite that benefits both from a pinch of nutmeg and its potent phosphoric and citric acid acidity. But its Frankenstein's Monster syndrome of a sweetener system, with HFCS, aspartame, sucralose, and ace-K at work in any given sip, but the latter three of the tetralogy provides an unflattering artificial aftertaste comparable to any diet cola available. But while the black sap treads your palate, the sweetness is authentic and akin to your fatty's full calorie cola. Overall, Pepsi Next is an unflattering hybrid who tastes confused and will likely just confuse its audience.

Aside from the aforesaid hokey honeys, there is also: water, color, flavoring, acids, caffeine, and preservatives. Nothing special here, aside from its four-part saccharinity. On the whole, Pepsi Next is not bad for what it is, but it is just another two liters of water in an already flooded market.

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Sam's Cola Zero Calorie Review

Probably different from their Diet Cola offering, Sam's Cola Zero Calorie is blatantly lifts its name and colour scheme from Coke Zero; more of a copy than an innocent homage. But it does not look all that bad, though it does scream generic, and this "Sam" does not own any other of their available sodas, making his identity a mystery to those bored enough.

Sam's Cola Zero Calorie is generally an insipid mocking of a rather pleasant if misunderstood drink. There is a sharp acidity that burns the mouth, giving each sip an impressive bite as it washes away what it follows. The taste unimpressive, though, denoting nothing that any self respecting cola should: diminutively spiced with pedestrian vanillin flavouring. There is only minor mention of any citruses, an apathetic amalgam that does little to stimulate either the experience or the drinker. There is thankfully an effective sweetness, obviously artificial but never overt, and the carbonation is equally efficacious, emboldening the aforementioned piquancy that is particularly potent as things die down. It is not a bad experience, however, and is adequate as a generic soda, and actually better than some name brands.

There is nothing in each two liter than has not ever been bottled before, with flavourings, acids, caffeine, fake sugars, and preservatives diluting the purity of the carbonated water. Overall, Sam's Cola Zero Calorie is a generic variety of Coke Zero, and it will suffice with those expectations.

TaB Cola Review

There's no reason to discuss the history to the surprisingly still produced TaB cola, but with its ghost availability and general redundancy makes one really question the decision to keep this beverage available. Back in 1963, the colour pink certainly would stereotypically attract women, with the sexist thinking that this demographic would be the only to worry about wasting their waist, but presently it looks far too retro and barren to warrant even a passing glace outside one of curiosity. The background resembles the most basic of vintage wallpaper, or something of the such, and in all honesty it just doesn't look good. And the lack of any indication as to it being a cola is quite detrimental, as although it must have a fan base for it to be still brewed, it limits the growth of new consumers by avoiding clarification as to what genre of soda it belongs to.

Orange peel that's bitten by a sharp metallic tasting bitterness is what the first sip is described as. There's a stern of vanilla that's obstructed profoundly by the latter, however this alleviates one from really noticing its severe blandness and insipidity. There's a pleasantly present acidity and a surprisingly balanced sweetness, though it will never be mistaken for the real stuff. What is uncommon is that the experience doesn't taste as chemically hollowed as most, though the flavour is obviously fictitiously erected. Unfortunately though, the taste is all muffled prosaically together, and never does it become the least bit engaging, and it certainly grows more difficult to come closer to depleting the can in entirety. There aren't any moments when the profile depict any anticipated spices, such as cinnamon or nutmeg, though it is possible their presence is incapacitated. But by simply being more palatably delightful, TaB gets a recommendation over the drink that ultimately replaced it from Coca-Cola's prolific line up, but morosely it's wholly impossible for to once again be the little pink cola that could.

The sweetener that generated the slight aforementioned praise is of course saccharin, though it is bred with aspartame. Initially it used sodium cyclamate, but once banned the former was exploited, and it's use of the such is one of the few sodas that continue to do so, with the personal favourite braid of acesulfame potassium and sucralose becoming the desired synthetic sugars. In the end, TaB's obscurity, in both its scarce availability and public knowledge, censors the slight superiority it has over its popular younger brother Diet Coke.

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Diet Bubba Cola Review

Diet Bubba Cola strangely comes in two colours and to my eye there was otherwise no difference between them, but because baby blue is assuredly prettier than boring white, I chose the bottle to the right. The name, however, is the first of what is sure to be many problems, as it honestly doesn't sound like something one wants to drink nor does it even feel appropriate to the flavour genre. The squiggly pattern and the spinning decal behind the logo are about the only visuals the label offers, and they don't really exist for any reason other than to keep the design from resembling the long gone no frill generic sodas from Jewels-Osco and such.

The flavour is initially basic but not necessarily bland, as it depicts soft notes of vanilla, spice, and citrus. The triptych of flavourings are congruently tasted but appear in the order stated, but unfortunately they're rather empty on the tongue. Cinnamon seems to be the lone seasoning, and this particularly gives the experience a cheap, if not puerile, feel. The citrus is of both orange and lime, but like the rest they're depthless and avoid presenting the drinker with examples that they understand their inspirations. There is a synthetic jejuneness that follows the troika coarsely, and it tastes hollow and further censors pleasure from the preceding flavours. Aspartame is the false sugar of choice, and it does its job adequately, however one can't ignore that if feels indirectly involved with the just aforementioned. The saccharinity reliefs thin shavings of artificiality, and the sweetness itself doesn't disembogue a firm robustness. It does, however, expectorate a slight mentioning of the familiar aftertaste that's widely and continuously tasted. Overall, Diet Bubba Cola's flavour would benefit grandly from an additional imitation sugar.

The bottle reads that there is six point eight grams of caffeine per standard serving, which seems to be oddly low, especially since it's such an exact number. Remaining ingredients include: water, colour, sweetener, acids, preservatives, and flavourings. Overall, Diet Bubba Cola doesn't give store brand sodas any better of a name than already have.

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Pepsi One Soda Review

Pepsi One's origins do at least make some sense, but it's now rendered completely pointless with the addition of Diet Pepsi Max. Normally though, one should criticize the latter and hail it as redundant, but since the company advertises the newborn far more than the former, it gives the impression that its predecessor is forgotten. And to strengthen my argument, it seems Pepsi One is so disremembered that it wasn't even given the latest redesign. The packaging it does sport is okay though nothing particularly special, with its surprisingly clean and almost formal look. The naming makes sense, at least initially, but they can legally claim that this is calorie free, as anything containing less than five can, so it actually ends up being more confusing than it should or than it's worth.

Neither Coke or Pepsi ever really excited me, but when ever there is a gun to my head and I am forced to pick between the two I always opt for the latter, and the same goes for their respected diet brethren. Pepsi One though, despite using my favourite sweetener paring of sucralose and ace-k, fails to honestly improve upon the general failure of either the sugared or the traditional aspartame containing beverage. The fault is found in the actual cola taste, which here is just as boring as one sadly expects, but it does at least taste better than Diet Coke, as if that's a compliment. Everything is ferally influenced by a chemical characteristic, as for instance while cinnamon is present, it isn't properly functioning in the sense that you only get the vague taste of the spice rather than the kick of the spice. Vanilla also makes an anticipated appearance, and though it doesn't exactly scream loudly with authenticity, it does advertises some appreciated though faint creaminess towards its stern. An orange peel flavour with an edge of lime is noticed and the rearmost certainly adds pleasant depth to the initial, but the two citruses were not designed with the typical sour or tartness and instead are involved solely for increased intricacy. Regrettably though, nothing tastes as pronounced it should, as the previously mentioned idiosyncrasy censors much of the believability and creditability of everything. The sugariness is false and glaringly so, but it doesn't taste as shallow as one may expect, and it doesn't yield an unpleasant aftertaste and your palate is actually fairly clean afterward, which is faint and sadly its only praise.

Fifty four milligrams of caffeine and the usual suspects can be found in each can, though this is one of the few diet sodas that does explicitly contain calories, albeit an obvious one. In the end, Pepsi One is a stupefyingly inessential extension of the line, though that isn't to say that the quality of the trademark product is much better.

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Polar Diet Double Fudge Soda Review

Polar produces many unusual flavours of soda at the fairly cheap price of generally a buck a bottle, however Diet Double Fudge just may be their most unique offering. It's unashamedly artificially flavoured, and the packaging sports an ice cream sundae of sorts dripping with the oft cloying sauce. But one must wonder what is "double" about it, as the former frozen dairy dessert is visually flavoured of vanilla, making the only appearance of fudge being what thickly coats it. It really makes you wonder, but perhaps this is digging too deep into something that doesn't demand such thinking.

The fudge flavour is richly of chocolate and sweetened appropriately but so that consuming an entire liter isn't ever overly saccharine. There's a distinct milkiness that's entirely complementing to the former, although this butteriness is vociferously separate from that of cream soda, as it acts here as an embellishment rather than a flavour focus. There is a synthetic characteristic that's organically seamed to the Western confectionery taste, and its noticeably is diminished partially by the creaminess and sugariness, but it undeniably renders the taste as very similar to the popular Tootsie Roll candy. And if this whole experience sounds too strange or just down right unpleasant, you're belief is understood but wholly incorrect, as it not only tastes good, but it challenges your palate to detect something that is so familiar yet is presented creatively.

There's no caffeine, and actually, there's nothing other than water, flavour, colouring, acid, and preservatives, and it's sodium free, for what ever it's worth. All in all, Polar Diet Double Fudge should be lauded for being so much more than your typical soda, even if it does have a few imperfections.

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