So recently I saw a post about someone who thinks Coke Zero tastes terrible compared to wherever they come from.
I can’t really remember what Coke Zero tastes like in the UK, I left in 2014 so it may not have been very big back then.
But I really don’t like normal coke anymore and I think Zero is great. (When I was a kid, I would drink bottles of Londis Cola, which back the. I assume was pure sugar).
Anyway, I’m pretty sure I’ve had Pepsi in some fast food place and it tasted fine…
But recently I bought a 1.5l bottle of Pepsi from Cosmos because it was a whopping 40 yen cheaper than Coke.
The problem is, it tastes like the cheap cola flavour sweets you can get. Like fake cola candy or something.
Is this my older taste buds? Japanese bottled Pepsi? All Pepsi ?
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I would say it’s your taste buds, we all grow out of drinking Coke.
Having touched it in years, bought a Sodastream and choose my own flavors depending on the weather. Or stick to tea!
EDIT: Suntory manufacture and bottle Pepsi in Japan, in 2020 they released a [renewed Pepsi recipe](https://www.suntory.co.jp/softdrink/news/pr/article/SBF0987.html) which they claim is more suited to Japanese consumers.
> Product Features
The “umami” that cola lovers seek was thoroughly researched in order to achieve both a “mouth-watering” sensation the moment it enters the mouth and an “aftertaste” that quickly disappears after it goes down the throat. In order to achieve both, salt and Japanese citrus flavors were used. The “Japan original taste” has been created.
Was it a Pepsi Zero? Do you still have the bottle? It tastes terrible, it seems it has lemon, I don’t know… The Regular Pepsi tastes normal like everywhere. I tried both.
A lot of it is due to habit. If you keep buying 1.5L bottles of Pepsi soon enough that will be your new normal and everything else will taste off. Soda machines at restaurants have all sorts of flaws where you could get too much of the syrup in your water, not enough of it, the water is from a different well, the machine is broken, etc. They know you’ll add ice as well so they might set the concentration higher on purpose. The zeros taste horrible to me but I would surely do myself a favor if I switched and let that become the new normal.
Pepsi is allegedly a sweeter recipe than coke, saw a flavor scientist say. That tracks with me.
At home I’ve started watering down my Coke Zero with soda water from a soda stream since it’s too sweet straight-up. This is all due to my aging taste/buds, not due to the formula changing.
Back when “the coke challenge” was a thing, it was often claimed that Pepsi won in the test because at a first taste, the sweeter cola wins. But after drinking a whole glass, people would prefer Coke as the Pepsi would be too sweet.
The taste is different between countries though, usually how sweet it is and how strong the carbonation is different – as a kid living in Northern Europe it was always stark how German coke was more bitter and had stronger carbonation.
We can argue all day about Coke vs. Pepsi or… we can just skip directly to the winner. Mets Cola zero cal.
no joke but the pepsi zeros in my home country(malaysia) have a better taste. Went back a few months ago and i could easily tell the diff, must be the ingredients.
You FOOOL! YOU HAVE DARED TO TASTE THE DEVILS DRINK AND SULLY YOUR SOUL FROM.THE TRUE PATH OF COKE. NOW YOUR SOUL IS FORFEIT AND FOREVER YOUR TASTE BUDS SEARED BY THE FLAVOR OF PERDITION.
It’s the sashimi version of Pepsi here in Japan.
We have Pepsi Max back in the UK, which is god tier. Nothing close to that here.
I don’t get what people are talking about. To me all this shit is so normalized and globalized, it all tastes completely unifom. Same thing with McDonald’s, and they try hard to make it consistent worldwide. I don’t get the hoopla at all.
I definitely thought the same thing, and I drank pepsi as soon as I got here 5 years ago. I’d drink pepsi all the time and hated coke in the UK, but pepsi here tastes like cheap Asda cola.
Pepsi tastes like burn
I think the Coke Zero here tastes the same as in the UK. As for pepsi its a very strong cola taste but it’s not bad
I think fountain pepsi is horrible.. and pepsi 0 is even worse can’t stand it… so I never buy it at the store.. coke has a different taste here than in the US , prefer the US flavor … Costco sells Singapore Coke which also has a different flavor
I thought it was just me. I just had a Coke Zero for the first time since moving to Japan and I thought it didn’t taste right. The other day, I had Pepsi and I actually thought the same as you. It tastes like cheap off-brand cola. But, just like another person commented, it could be due to the source. I don’t think I ever had Pepsi in a bottle in the US, only from a fountain in a restaurant. But the Coke Zero I had today was from a fountain and it wasn’t good…
Can’t believe you sold your soul for 40 yen.
It tastes different per region. Ingredients are slightly different based on where it’s bottled iirc. Even within Europe it’s different between countries. I usually find coke zero differences to be very pronounced compare to normal coke. Not too sure about Pepsi as Japan has their own J-Cola thing going on
I can’t drink Coca Cola at all anymore. I started to drink Pepsi cola with Pepsi Nex because it was advertised in my favorite TV program, then I totally switched to Pepsi that to me, tastes way better than any Coca cola product, whatever they produce nowadays.
The old, sweet Coca Cola with the red label is especially disgusting to me now.
A little off topic, but Costco diet Dr. Pepper is GOAT soft drink for me (considering calories; otherwise it’s lassi all day).
Mexican coke is the best.
I had the same thought as you for Pepsi (or “J-Cola” lol). Funny they don’t really play on the Pepsi branding that much aside from it being blue. Reminds me of how Samsung Galaxy never actually has any mention of “Samsung”.
Honestly not sure if it tastes weird or if it’s just been so long since I drank pepsi that I can’t remember and it always tasted weird/different.
Then again I don’t recall ever thinking Coke tasted different in Japan so maybe Japan’s pepsi is different..