Which carbonated soft drink is the best?

Do yourself a favor and trick yourself into liking the Zero or Diet versions of your chosen soda. Notably, the Zero formulations have less and less aftertaste. I have found Zero versions of Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Pepsi, Coke, etc. I even found Cherry Dr.Pepper Zero, which if you know what that means is just nonsensical. I go back to the regular sugar sometimes and it doesn't taste any better. I enjoy my acidic spiced cherry lemon Dr.Pepper without the diabeetus.

Calorie rant: Why? 1.5 cans of soda is 250 kcal. That is equivalent to 30 MINUTES OF EXERCISE. PER DRINK. 3500 kcals (or calories) is equal to 1-0.5 pounds of fat gained or lost. Stop drinking or substitute soda for 2 weeks and lose a pound/0.4kg. Stop for a year and lose 25 pounds/12 kg FOR NO EXERCISE. Do you know how disheartening to know that all of my exercise is wasted by just chugging a large soda? Do the inverse and save an hour of jogging with a large DIET/ZERO soda.

Water

Carbonated water

When I was a kid, we had a drink called "suicide punch". You mix equal parts of every drink in the fountain.

It is definitely not that.

Baja blast zero by a mile

I know I'm going to be in the minority here, but I've been on a carbonated flavored water kick for a few years after I realized sugar was killing me. It was a two fold realization that I just really enjoy the fizz and not the sugar.

That said, Polar seltzer-ade with lemon or lime juice is just 🤌 if you're into carbonated waters

Water.

Dr Pepper!

But I have to say Jarrito Tamarind soda is really good

Beer. It's.. soft?

That depends on the context.

Eating pizza, nothing can ever compete with a nice glass of Trocadero, it just feels right.

At cristmas? Coca Cola? Absolutely not! Give me Zeunerts Julmust every time!

Drinking soft drink with friends and watching a movie, give me an Indian Tonic with a lemon slice, lasts long and is very tasty.

Have some dark rum (I have plenty) and want a quick drink with a good mixer, Fanta used to be great, but they have added sweeteners in addition to sugar, so they taste like crap now, so I tend to look for som itallian orange soda, it is works well.

Eating a bruger, Coca Cola is still great!

Having a quiet evening by the computer? Just stick to mineral water.

Fevertree ginger beer. Strong ginger flavor, not overly sweet like many other ginger beers I've tried.

I've been into vanilla coke zero sugar for a while now.

Sprite zero sugar if you want no caffeine.

Both work well with alcohol. Bourbon or spiced rum with the coke. Vodka with the sprite.

There's so many cliches, but despite them all, Mountain Dew. Not because it makes me feel Xtreme while I'm playing Call of Duty and eating Doritos on my skateboard, it's just a much better flavor.

The prices for coke and pepsi products has gone up an absurd amount the last few years. Unless they drop back down a bit in price (unlikely) I'm sticking to my sodastream for all my home carbonation needs.

Bundaberg ginger beer! It's the only answer

Rarely drink anything sugary but Jarritos in various flavors. Cranberry Sierra Mist is also good.

those glass bottles of coke

aside from that, flavored iced tea with sprite (or honestly any lemon lime soda, its all the same) is great

Rivella

Sprite does it for me.

Oh man I am crazy for Jones Soda. Fufu Berry (which is hard to find in my area), Cream, and Berry Lemonade are my favorites.

It is pretty expensive, but for an occasional treat it's not bad.

I used to love Coke, Mountain Dew, and Monster but I cut back and now they taste gross to me.

Moxie

Dr pepper, Portello or Pepsi Max.

Store brand cola (Rainbow) is fine for me. Also Pepsi Max out of a can, just something about it.

A special shoutout to Canada Dry Ginger Ale, I miss it. I haven't seen it in the store for over a month now.

I loke Orangina, which is like sprite and orange juice with some pulp.

Sadly, it's not sold where I live.

Or perhaps it's a good thing, I'd probably gain a lot of weight if they did.

Dr Pepper and Cherry Coke.

Ale-8-1.

Cheerwine.

(Despite the name, it's non-alcoholic.)

I kinda like tonic myself... though I usually take it with gin 😁.

I drink coke only when I got stomach problems, it goes great with mint tea, a 50/50 soltion, try it 👍.

Ale-8 for flavored sweet drink, sparkling mineral water for unsweetened.

Bitter Lemon

Is this an ad? Wtf?

Barq's root beer. It's a pretty rare find in my area. But it's a special treat when I find it.

Vanilla Coke is a close 2nd place.

regularly drunk: go-to is rimarily Coke Zero because it's the easiest to find here and no empty calories.

special occasion: probably some variety of birch beer with ginger-ale being a close follow-up. On rare occasions, a very cold regular coke on a hot summer day (though not the US ones; last time I went back, both regular and diet had this really weird taste I don't remember being there before).

If you live in the UK, Lidl sells an excellent cola called Freeway. Their Freeway Zero is better than Pepsi Max or Coke Zero, IMHO, and literally one-fifth the price.

Huge soda fan so picking just one is super hard but I'd say:

Oronamin C or Sweet Blossom's Rose soda

Oronamin C is a Japanese soft drink with a taste that is often described as "drinking (American) Smarties". It's incredibly refreshing and delicious. Sweet Blossom is I think an eastern European beverage company and they make a rose flavored soda that is to die for. It has far and away my favorite quality of carbonation (very fine, soft bubbles).

Other honorable mentions include Ocean Bomb: Sailor Mercury (i.e. pear flavor), and as a big fan of cherry colas, Bawls Guarana Cherry Cola and Fentiman's Cherry Tree Cola.

Sugar-free Canada Dry Ginger Ale.

Vernors

A rarity, but Maine Root has(had?) a drink called "Pink Drink", a carbonated Prickly Pear Lemonade. I had it at the Austin City Limits festival. It was, without a doubt the most refreshing drink I've ever consumed. I usually drink mostly water (free) at the festival, but that year we spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $60-80 just on cups of Pink Drink because we couldn't get enough of it.

I really, really, REALLY wish they sold bottles of it, but as far as I can tell, it's only occasionally available and only as a fountain drink.

Irn Bru or dandelion & burdock.

Give me a nice local root beer.

In terms of mass production, Sunkist was my favorite. I don't really drink any any more though.

Before COVID, Coca-Cola all the way. Not too sweet, and was often more consistent in cans and bottles.

Something happened after COVID, and it no longer tastes the same. I don't know if this was the effects of the illness, or a change in manufacturing.

... Right now, it's Dr. Pepper (or Cheerwine, if I can find it). Sharp bite, good flavor, doesn't really have an analog with other drinks. However, I can buy one bottle and it be perfect, and buy another bottle the next day and it be less carbonated than it needs to be, or too sweet and syrupy... And I can't ever tell why.

Fanta, regular Fanta.

Georgia makes the best soft drinks in the world in my opinion. My personal favourite is pear flavoured Natakhtari: https://natakhtari.com/lemonade

Also fun fact: Lemonade means soft drink in a lot of places in the world, I hear that's lemon flavoured water in the US.

I really enjoy olipop's imitation dr pepper

Perrier carbonated water

It's subtly bubble and has a very mild flavor

I prefer Pepsi over coke . But I really like jarritos pop other than the cola flavor . Also cream soda dr pepper is awesome.

Here in Morocco, there's a soda brand called Ice. It's pretty good, but that name is just absolutely ridiculous.

Barq's Red Creme soda

I'm from India, Thums Up is my absolute favourite. Always loved it over coke and pepsi. During the 90's we'd a drink called goldspot, that was an amazing soft drink. It's sad coca cola company instead of continuing goldspot, launched fanta here instead, which honestly is a watered down version of the classic goldspot.

Colombiana or Ambassador!

It's so good you can mix it with beer (we call it Refajo)!

Calpis Soda

Green River... unless it's the Sprecher Red Apple but that's seasonal which makes me angry lol

The discontinued Hansen's Soda Lemon Mint Green Tea soda. I near bought the whole pallet when it showed up at an outlet grocery store over the course of a summer after college.

Fuck I sound old.

Manhattan Special Espresso soda.

Made in Brooklyn. Two shots of espresso in carbonated form.

Topo chico for lyfe

Dr. Pepper unless energy drinks count, then NOS.

I used to love both Vanilla and Cherry Coke, but I can't stand cola flavors (any brand) ever since I got covid last year. So it's been mostly the cream soda flavor Dr. Pepper if I drink soda at home.

Canada Dry ginger ale I guess, good chaser for the rare whiskies I don't like neat. Honorary mention for Pommac, but I have not had it probably 10+ years

Bawls, which is sadly getting harder and harder to find. And IBC Black Cherry

Barqs Red Crème soda. IYKYK

Late to the party, but chinotto. I don't have a favorite brand yet but everything I've tried, I like. The blend of spice and bitter is fantastic.

100% Kofola best taste imo and Pepsi or Coca-Cola are just disgustingly sweet in comparison.

Zevia crew represent!

Guaraná sodas (from any brand).

Point vanilla cream soda

Natural: Ginger+orange kombucha & homemade tonic water. Cold brew nitro.

(Nitro is soft... Right?)

Store bought: Canada Dry tonic.

Tonic has to be the best soft drink ever, once used to actually treat sickness now I can just have it with my cold brew or espresso everyday without the sugar high.

Wild Cherry Pepsi all day.

Personally a "softer" root beer is generally my go-to.

I used to really like Canadian mountain dew before they were able to sell US mountain dew here and abandoned the Canadian one. It was so much better without caffeine. But that's their whole gimmick. Except it sold totally fine in Canada without it.

Black Cherry Ginger Ale by Canada Dry

I'm partial to Vanilla Coke, IBC Root Beer and Barq's in a bottle. I had a bottle of Mystic River Root Beer years ago and it still is my favorite. Finally fresh sasparilla yum. Oh an Birch Beer of any kind. I don't really drink soft drinks often, but those are my favs.

Sadly doesn't exist anymore (and hasn't in decades), but the answer is Josta.

Faygo pineapple or cotton candy flavour. Yes, that exists.

Doppelgänger by Maine Root. Real sugar, no caffeine. Similar taste to doctor pepper or pibb.

Mexicane diet. Caffeine, but no sugar or aspartame, similar taste to RC/Diet Pepsi.

Regular Baja blast or Mexican coke. Not the sniffing kind.

Fresca.

Any of them is pretty good if your goal is to develop cancer

Seltzer water 99% of the time. Ski otherwise!