Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Taste Test

With apologies to Newswatch 16's Trish Hartman, I recently conducted my own taste test of Pepsi Next.

In case you haven't heard of it, Pepsi Next is half diet.  It has about half the calories of regular Pepsi.

I didn't like it.  It could be years of drinking diet sodas have killed my taste buds.  I found Pepsi Next to have a tart, chemical, acidic quality to it.  Yet, at the same time, it was too sweet.  After consuming all that diet soda, drinking something with even a little bit of sugar (or high fructose corn syrup) in it seems like chomping on a mouthful of cotton candy.

Clearly, Pepsi's test marketing shows a half died cola can make some money for them.  I don't see it.  Artificial sweeteners have evolved to the point where they're actually pretty good.  Drink regular, or drink diet.  Half diet?  Are you really saving that many calories?

This isn't Pepsi's first stab at a half diet product.  Back in the 70's, there was something called Pepsi Light.  It had half the calories of regular Pepsi, and it had a hint of lemon flavor.  I thought it was outstanding, and I'm disappointed Pepsi dropped the line.

If you're going to give us a half diet cola, you have to do something more than mixing corn syrup and artificial sweetener. 

Fail.