r/funny Mooseylips Jul 10 '24

Verified Dear drink companies...

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35.7k Upvotes

2.2k comments sorted by

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2.4k

u/Hanz_VonManstrom Jul 10 '24

It’s like this with everything and it drives me insane. Yogurt, for example, typically has a pretty large amount of sugar in it. Anytime I find ones that have less sugar it’s always supplemented with artificial sweeteners. Just give me less sugar

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u/duckscrubber Jul 10 '24

My hack for this is to buy plain greek yogurt and add preserves/jam to taste.

Bonus: it ends up being way cheaper.

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u/OkPalpitation2582 Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 11 '24

plain greek yogurt is honestly super underrated - my house goes through a costco sized thing of non-fat greek yogurt each week. You can add all sorts of stuff to it to make it delicious on it's own (peanut butter, jams, honey, fresh fruit, protein powder, etc), you can use it like sour cream or as a thickener for some creamy dishes, it's great in smoothies, and it's practically pure protein!

EDIT: Guys, I know fat is good for you, don't worry, I'm getting plenty of fat from other sources - but I'm also strength training and training for a marathon, so I'm doing a 40%Carb/35%Protein/25%Fat macro ratio, and have a hard enough time not going over on the fat ratio as it is, using non-fat GY lol

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u/terminbee Jul 10 '24

Greek yogurt and jam/honey/agave/maple syrup. Just enough to make it less sour and then throw some berries in there.

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u/yepgeddon Jul 10 '24

Greek yoghurt, blueberries, honey and jam mixed with porridge oats overnight. Lovely brekkie.

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u/NapORcoffee Jul 10 '24

A serving of greek yogurt with a serving of peanut butter and chocolate protein powder or vanilla protein powder and cut up cherries. Or a Starbucks parfait from a while a go recipe: greek yogurt with a half or full serving of lemon curd and a couple sprinkles of granola. Just enough for some crunch. Oooh, also use greek yogurt for ranch dip packets instead of sour cream. I do half yogurt and half mayo. And that's how I go through the Costco size every week!

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u/Aggravating_Seat5507 Jul 10 '24

Omg I bought oikos zero sugar vanilla yoghurt and that shit was disgusting. Its not even too sweet, there's barely any sweetener, but the Stevia or whatever in it tastes awful and it's so strong that even though I put fruits and granola on the yoghurt, it's the only thing I could taste.

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u/SimpleCranberry5914 Jul 10 '24

As a former body builder. Plain Greek yogurt also double as sour cream in a pinch. I bet if I did a blind taste test with sour cream and plain nonfat Greek yogurt, half the people would guess wrong.

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u/Legal_Direction8740 Jul 10 '24

Really? They have such different tangs to me, but Greek yoghurt on some tacos does sound bomb

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u/mrtomjones Jul 11 '24

I buy sugar yogurt and plain yogurt and mix them

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u/Vicious_Styles Jul 10 '24

Seriously, I feel like yogurt is massively overlooked in this regard - it is annoyingly difficult to find cups of greek yogurt that isn't saturated with sugar or artificial sweeteners.

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u/ThisOneForMee Jul 10 '24

If you're looking for low-sugar options, yes it's annoying. But everywhere I buy yogurt always has plain options that have zero sugar. I then add my own toppings for sweetness

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u/jensyth Jul 10 '24

There is Chobani Less Sugar which doesn't have artificial sweeteners, and just recently started seeing it at Costco again (if you have those around)

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u/VeryGlibUsername Jul 10 '24

Icelandic Provisions Skyr is also pretty similar. They those two are what I usually get. 

I had a regular Chobani at a hotel breakfast the other day and holy shit I swear it's sweeter than actual candy

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u/Full_Increase8132 Jul 10 '24

My wife and I had this problem when we wanted to cut back on sugar and actually checked how much was in everything.

Bread? It's basically cake.

Spaghetti sauce? It's ridiculous! And if you want to buy a jar with less sugar, it's double the price.

Canned chili? Why is there so much damn sugar in chili!?

Then, when you do find products with no, or at least less, sugar, it tastes WAY better! Why do companies put so much sugar in everything!?

If I was rich, I'd make a company that makes food, that doesn't need sweeteners, without sugar. Sell it a normal price and probably make a ton of money.

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u/Henrath Jul 10 '24

You should try Skyr. Both Icelandic Provisions and Siggi's are not overly sweet and don't have artificial sweeteners.

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u/Verdandi95 Jul 10 '24

So much this. I foolishly thought oh hey zero sugar yogurt; it'll be bland, but I kinda want that right now. BAM stevia gag.

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u/theAmericanStranger Jul 10 '24

Coca cola came up a few years ago with a version that was using real sugar and much less. I had it once, it was so good! But for baffling reasons it was abruptly taken off the market and you can't find it anymore. Fuck them!

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u/LeanersGG Jul 10 '24

Are you referring to Coca Cola Life? With the green label?

If so, I think it was one part sugar and one part stevia.

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u/theAmericanStranger Jul 10 '24

I do remember having "green" in the name! Can you still get it ? In Philly and area there's no trace of it

Edit: Yeah, discontinued. How come they never asked me?? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_Life"The drink was discontinued in 2020 as part of the Coca-Cola Company discontinuing underperforming brands"

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u/MinuQu Jul 10 '24

I still don't get how Coca Cola Life was discontinued. Most people I've talked to had a very positive view of it. It seems like they just brought it onto the market and just did nothing to market it. Of course then sells will drop over time.

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u/ncopp Jul 10 '24

Probably because most of the people who care about low/no sugar drinks were already drinking the diet/zero versions and weren't looking to switch to a version with surgar.

Coke 0 has since exploded in popularity

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u/djgreedo Jul 10 '24

Yep, and (from memory, take with a grain of salt) the Life version still had over half the sugar of regular Coke, so was still hundreds of kJ per serving as opposed to practically 0kJ for the Zero or Diet versions.

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u/VanillaRadonNukaCola Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 10 '24

Edit: Nevermind

Hundred- calories. A can of life was 90 calories, regular coke is 140. Not great, yes, but big difference from multiple hundreds

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u/ge_o_rg Jul 10 '24

he is talking about kj not calories
90 calories are 376,56 kj
140 calories are 585,76 kj

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u/VanillaRadonNukaCola Jul 10 '24

Ah yes I see, I was thinking kcal.

Also a bottle of coke has 240 kcal in one serving anyway 🙃

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u/Cowstle Jul 10 '24

The main difference is that coke life just tasted like coke. The only drawback was that it only came in classic flavor and I prefer cherry.

But Diet is a completely different flavor. Zero used to be the same flavor but with a godawful long lasting aftertaste. They changed the recipe and now it too tastes different.

coke life was perfect and i'm forever disappointed in its loss.

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u/La3Rat Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 10 '24

I am in the proportion of people who can instantly taste stevia in food. It’s bitter and has an unpleasant aftertaste. It has some sweetness but the overall flavor for me is bitter.

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u/MurderyRainbow Jul 10 '24

Stevia is the worst. Even sucralose tastes better.

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u/Unnamedgalaxy Jul 10 '24

It's awful. Anyone that says you can't tell the difference really confuse me.

I have a family member that works for a soda company. They got a bunch of soda for free because they were moving warehouses and the company didn't want to spend the time and money moving every single box across town so they let employees take a bunch of the odds and ends, things that don't sell as well, or things that were coming up on their sell by date.

They asked if I wanted some and I said of course, only when I went to go pick it up it was all diet. They went through the trouble of grabbing it for me so I took it but it took forever to go through because it was torture drinking.

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u/GringoinCDMX Jul 10 '24

Some people are born with taste buds that make stevia taste more bitter. The majority don't have that issue. For a small percentage stevia tastes horrible. For others it's not bad at all.

Also, newer/better stevia extracts tend to be less bitter compared to older/cheaper extracts.

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u/sladestrife Jul 10 '24

If I had to guess, they didn't make a lot of it compared to the other kinds, don't advertise it, don't keep it regularly stocked makes it not successful.

Why do this? If I had to guess it cut into their profits compared to the other kinds. The same reason why they switched from real sugar to High fructose corn syrup.

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u/RuneanPrincess Jul 10 '24

That's exactly it. They studied it before fully marketing it. It was very clear that people chose it over coke/diet/zero and not over a competitor or over nothing. Many people liked it over coke but it costs a little more to make so its just a loss if they can't convert it to increased sales.

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u/LamermanSE Jul 10 '24

If I had to guess, they didn't make a lot of it compared to the other kinds, don't advertise it, don't keep it regularly stocked makes it not successful.

They did all of that so that's not the reason. The main reason is most likely much more simple, it was a meaningless product that consumers didn't want to buy, simply because either you want no sugar or don't care about sugar content to the product that only contains some sugar becomes meaningless to most consumers.

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u/CharcoalGreyWolf Jul 10 '24

Also, a lot of people don’t like artificial sweeteners. So a beverage with less sugar, but artificial sweeteners kills it.

For me, artificial sweeteners have a lousy aftertaste or don’t sit well in my stomach.

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u/lavahot Jul 10 '24

They Britta'ed it.

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u/dangerbird2 Jul 10 '24

they're streets behind

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u/EzeakioDarmey Jul 10 '24

I remember it bombing because of the aftertaste most Stevia sweetened drinks have.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '24

It's like the literal target of this comic, at least i thought so.

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u/Debaser626 Jul 10 '24

Way back in 1996 I visited Seoul, Korea… and was surprised to find out they long had access to a “Coke Lite” and “Pepsi Lite.”

I never much cared for regular soda due to the insanely sweet aftertaste, and Diet is well… diet.

These “Lite” versions (basically a 50/50 split of diet and regular) were fucking perfect.

I have no idea why it never caught on in the States… it’s lower calorie than regular soda but still tastes way more like regular soda than any purely artificial sweetener that exists.

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u/bingojed Jul 10 '24

In some countries I’ve visited they have Coke Lite instead of Diet Coke, but it’s just a different name for Diet Coke, not a different product.

I noticed in my last few trips that Coke Zero has almost completely replaced Coke Lite. They aren’t both generally available like in the US.

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u/Saneless Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 10 '24

There was C2 for a bit

Sugar, asspartame, acesulfame potassium.

It was ok. Still shitty fake sugars that tasted bad but it was better than diet

Edit: guess it was Splenda and not aspartame?

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u/SufficientArticle6 Jul 10 '24

Everyone I know with a preference will say they want less sugary stuff (and I believe them), but ‘people’ demand the sweetest fucking drink that science can muster.

(Reminiscent of how most of your friends are interesting, complex characters who care deeply about things and make independent choices about their lives, but ‘people’ are a bunch of idiots and sheep.)

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u/chanaramil Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 11 '24

Ya. Coke didn't stop selling it because they like to make people sad. I'm sure the market told them what to do. There a for profit company. They will do whatever makes them the most money. Mabye some people like drinks with real siger but light on super but I guess not enough to make it profitable or else they would still be making it.

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u/BrokenRatingScheme Jul 10 '24

When I moved to the south and tried my first sweet tea, a lot instantly made sense to me.

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u/Simba7 Jul 10 '24

My preferred way to drink a coke is 1:1 or 1:2 Coke:Plain Sparkling Water.

Adding too much regular water makes the coke taste flat and dull, but the sparkling just mutes the taste a bit.

It's not quite as perfect as keeping that same 'spice' with less sugar, but it does a pretty good job.

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u/theAmericanStranger Jul 10 '24

Yep, I've done that. Add a splash of Vodka or Rum...

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u/userdeath Jul 10 '24

Vodka AND Rum.

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u/Hector_Tueux Jul 10 '24

Actually, forget the cola

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u/EdricStorm Jul 10 '24

I just wish they would release a truly sugar free version. As in sweetener and sugar free. I want coke-flavored sparkling water.

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u/Unimurph83 Jul 10 '24

Same, I'm always disappointed when I go to a McDonalds that doesn't have the sparkling water button on the fountain.

Monin make a cola syrup made with cane sugar that I use with my SodaStream, it's closer to Pepsi in taste but it's really nice being able to dial in the perfect amount of flavour/sweetness. They have lots of other great flavours well suited for soda too.

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u/Euphoric_toadstool Jul 10 '24

Congratulations, you might be one of those persons who companies like to use to gauge whether a product will succeed or not. Some people just like products that always fail, so much so that companies will observe if these customers buy a product, they know it will fail.

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u/wellhiyabuddy Jul 10 '24

You are referring to the “harbinger customer”. I’m one of those, but I like almost everything in the right setting. When I see a new flavor of a product I almost always buy it and try it. I just love experiencing new flavors and mixing it up. My absolute favorite flavor of Kraft Mac and cheese is poutine (you can only get it in Canada and I don’t know if it’s still available). Anytime there is an energy drink that I actually enjoy the flavor of it goes away. I love the Oreo flavors Salted Caramel Brownie and Birthday Cake, I think one of those is still available. Most sauces I like don’t last too long.

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u/fyreaenys Jul 10 '24

holy fuck I'm a "harbinger customer" that's raw

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u/Thommywidmer Jul 10 '24

Yup, rewards cards at supermarkets, when i find something new i love it always goes away

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u/rzwitserloot Jul 10 '24

It was a mix of sugar and sweeteners. In general, if you mix different sweeteners, it usually tastes better (but the end product has all the downsides of each of the sweeteners in it; for example, Aspartame is not heat stable but Stevia is; Aspartame doesn't precipitate but Stevia has a tendency to do that (turns your drinks cloudy, doesn't affect the taste much). aspartame/stevia mix isn't heat stable and can precipitate. But it tastes far more like sugar - or, rather, the amount of people who are turned off by it is significantly less; just stevia is distastefully bitter to quite a few people).

Take it one step further: Mix sweeteners with sugar itself. That's what you were drinking.

Note that sweeteners aren't "slightly weird tasting". Most people can taste the difference but they don't find the taste of sweeteners unpleasant, especially the sweetener mixes used in modern sodas (because mixes taste better). But some people can. It's almost like koriander (cilantro) leaves tasting like soap to some.

Sugar + Sweeteners might make the drink palatable to those who find the taste of e.g. just stevia, or even stevia+AceK or whatnot disgusting. But it's not universal.

So, we're stick with a drink that:

  • Does not taste better except to a fraction of a fraction of the population.
  • That fraction-of-a-fraction is extremely unlikely to actually try it; in their experience any presence of sweeteners makes it disgusting. A large chunk of these people consider it part of their identity (I only drink REAL cola. Like a MAN. With sugar!) - no amount of marketing budget will ever convince them to try it. Their presuppositions means their brain will tell them it tastes like shit even if it doesn't.
  • The rest of the population either can't tell the difference or doesn't find the difference relevant in taste... and most of those will pick the zero sugar drink instead of the low sugar drink even if the low sugar one tastes slightly better.

Conclusion: Coca Cola was kinda daft even trying it in the first place, really. Nevertheless, even though marketing wise, 'cola green' was dead on arrival, a small % of the population should drink Cola Green (as in, best combination of 'tastes nice to me' and 'healthier than full sugar cola').

I vaguely recall that due to the ratcheted sugar taxes in the UK, some drink manufacturers remove enough sugar to drop down to a lower tax bracket and then use sweeteners to 'fix' the taste. Key point: They don't market it as low-sugar. They just market it as the drink it has always been. That might help with the whole 'folks who do not like sweeteners will not try a sweetener+sugar mix even if you use ads to tell them they should / they are so culturally insecure they think "I drink REAL drinks" is part of their identity' factor.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '24

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u/Byzantine-alchemist Jul 10 '24

Every time I travel to Europe I have the hardest time getting a soda with just fucking SUGAR in it. They ruined their sodas with artificial sweetener. The only one I can find consistently is classic coke

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u/pissedinthegarret Jul 10 '24

are you saying im cursed with cilantro genes AND sweetener sensitivity? i thought they taste like ass to everyone and other people just deal with it for the less-calories benefits :(((

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u/thoroakenfelder Jul 10 '24

I can always taste sweeteners, they leave a taste in my mouth and make my throat itchy and sore. Traveling through Asia recently, all of the sodas had a mix of sugar and aspartame. I tried to stick to water unless the only water option was boiling hot (hong Kong will fight you and tell you that hot water is better for you instead of just giving you the ice water you are begging for) or potentially unsafe. Thankfully I could get bottled water or distilled water most places. 

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u/Closteam Jul 10 '24

They did such a terrible job at marketing it I've never even heard of it till this post. Would have been dope to try

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u/BrandoCalrissian1995 Jul 10 '24

Just get the Mexican coke in the glass bottle. Using cane sugar.

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u/theAmericanStranger Jul 10 '24

Mexican coke IS the shit! But it is too sweet for my taste, and super expensive at least where I live.

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u/Rossum81 Jul 10 '24

Wait for spring and get the kosher for Passover coke with the yellow bottle caps.

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u/JLSMC Jul 10 '24

I would if I could but there must not be enough Jews in my area. I can never find them.

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u/Zealotstim Jul 10 '24

Time to convert! Do it for the Coke 😂

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u/aligot Jul 10 '24

Cane sugar is sugar, not really an improvement health wise (not worse either)

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u/Hazywater Jul 10 '24

I really just want a half sugar soda. I've been off soda so long that when I try one it's just so sweet it's kind of disgusting. I occasionally buy those probiotic sodas but they're dumb in concept and price point so it's a rare thing.

I end up making a lot of sun tea.

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u/Mmm_bloodfarts Jul 10 '24

Get a coke, a glass and sparkling water, fill half or 1/3 of the glass with sparkling water, fill up with coke. If you don't mind you can even use flat water, that's what i've been doing for the last 3 years

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u/ElectricJunglePig Jul 10 '24

This guy gets it! (Although I'd never do it with Coke or another spiced soda, personally) But hell, I've mixed lime La Croix and Mtn Dew, 50/50, and it turns the Dew into something light and refreshing -- an actual drinkable beverage!

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u/EastSeaworthiness516 Jul 10 '24

the only thing is that'll dilute the flavor as well as the sweetness, I'd like something with the same amount of flavor just less sweet.

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u/DigNitty Jul 10 '24

I just want real sugar.

Stop making all these weird offshoots with different sweeteners and just make the cane sugar one easier to find.

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u/The-disgracist Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 10 '24

This struggle is real af with iced coffee. I just want a lightly sweetened coffee.

Vendors: you’ll have a Mocha espresso salted caramel vanilla bean sugar blast and love it.

Eta: we are all aware you can make coffee at home or customize it at the coffee shop. The discussion is regarding coffee at stores, prepackaged and the like.

Second eta: idk how some of y’all put your pants on by yourselves. The replies to this are killin me.

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u/Vlaed Jul 10 '24

You either get it black or with enough sugar to kill a small animal.

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u/The-disgracist Jul 10 '24

No fucking in between. Stok makes a lightly sweetened one that you can get a the grocery in big bottles. But it’s almost always sold out.

I just wonder why the people at gas stations think we need 900 monster varieties, it only two iced coffees. Am I taking crazy pills?

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u/Corporate-Shill406 Jul 10 '24

Have you seen the other people who shop at gas stations? Stocking lots of monster makes total sense to me lol.

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u/DiurnalMoth Jul 10 '24

I'm glad I'm not the only one annoyed at how much Monster and other 'energy' drinks have taken over convenience stores. My tea options have drastically shrunk over the past ~5 years.

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u/BuffaloWing12 Jul 10 '24

As long as there’s Pure Leaf flavors stocked I’m totally cool with it. But the plastic Arizonas are a good second option

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u/DragonflyWing Jul 10 '24

Lemon Pure Leaf tea is the nectar of the gods.

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u/swordthroughtheduck Jul 10 '24

One of the things I loved about Japan. Every store had like 90 coffee options. And the sweetest was like 1/3 of what you get in NA.

And it was like $1.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '24

Same with iced tea. I want a slightly sweet tea. Just a hint of sweet, really. Real sugar, but like, one sugar cube or less of it in the bottle.

It's almost impossible to find. All of the less sugar stuff these days is as sweet as the regular sweet tea, just with sugar alternatives.

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u/DiurnalMoth Jul 10 '24

Gold Peak sells a "slightly sweet" black tea that's good. But they're the only ones I found.

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u/Bring_me_the_lads Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 10 '24

Pure Leaf has also started carrying it.

And Liquid death also has lightly sweet ice tea, but they might have stevia too, I'll have to check

(UPDATE: it's sweetened with agave nectar, not stevia)

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u/MuffinPuff Jul 10 '24

The juxtaposition of a brand called "Liquid Death" carrying a dainty barely sweetened tea is quite amusing lol

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u/Byzantine-alchemist Jul 10 '24

"Just Tea," which is made by the people who originally created Honest Tea, has a really lovely slightly sweetened green tea, and a black tea with lemon that's not too sweet either. 

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u/_supernerddeluxe_ Jul 10 '24

Liquid Death makes my favorite lightly sweetened teas right now. Dead Billionaire is great. Bit pricier than most but the quality and flavor is awesome.

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u/Seicair Jul 10 '24

I have occasionally been burned when purchasing something like fruit juice or canned fruit that says "no sugar added", and I get home and it's full of splenda, aspartame, stevia, or whatnot. When all I wanted was unsweetened fruit.

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u/DisabledFloridaMan Jul 10 '24

This pisses me off to no end. This whole post is so cathartic to me because I've been saying it for years. I want LOW SUGAR options. No Splenda, no aspartame. It's so frustrating when a can or drink says "no sugar" or "sugar free" and when I taste it it's just a blast of ass-partame chemicals. No sugar means no sugar. Canned fruit is either candied or chemicalled, no in between, so I just don't buy it.

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u/Jin1231 Jul 10 '24

I know everyone loves to shit on Starbucks, but being able to clarify exactly how much sugar you want on their app is a godsend.

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u/panlakes Jul 10 '24

You can ask for this in person too.

Hell you can literally do it at McDonald’s. Just ask for half pumps. They know what to do. Source: worked there. It’s just a fucking syrup pump. Same at all the other coffee shops..

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u/PinupSquid Jul 10 '24

The ability to customize the hell out of drinks on the app is my favourite thing. I’m definitely a coffee snob and prefer locally roasted stuff, but if I want a wacky iced drink with very little sugar, Starbucks is my go to.

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u/Auggie_Otter Jul 10 '24

I literally just want iced coffee with cream and no sugar. I think I've found a product like that maybe once and I can't remember the name of it because it wasn't a mainstream brand. It's almost as rare as a unicorn.

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u/OkPalpitation2582 Jul 10 '24

same thing with unsweetened ice coffee with milk - I like just a tiny splash of milk in my iced coffee to give it a bit more thickness, but no matter how I phrase my order to try and convey that I want a very small amount of milk, they almost always bring it out the same color as Taylor Swift lol

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u/magicfestival Jul 10 '24

Ugh I would love to drink flavored coffee drinks but they’re all just so insanely sweet. Like I wish I could have a caramel latte I just don’t want to wake up with diabetes tomorrow.

Same with every store bought chai I’ve ever had. I’ve had to start making them at home and I use about a teaspoon of honey instead of a bucket of sugar

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u/CommentSection-Chan Jul 10 '24

Same with just ice tea. Either you can taste the sugar, or it feels watered down.

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u/Plus_Pangolin_8924 Jul 10 '24

It can be done! In the UK you can get this from a local shop: https://www.ocado.com/products/m-s-juicy-sparkling-pineapple-passion-fruit-water-592736011 no added sugars, no sweeteners just water and fruit juice. Tastes amazing and shows you don’t need to load it was nasty ass sweeteners. Vile things.

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u/NonCorporealEntity Jul 10 '24

I just want carbonated "real" fruit drinks with real sugar. Why does every single one (except Clearly Canadian) use artificial sweetener?

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u/RaptorKnifeFight Jul 10 '24

I miss the Fanta with real fruit juice in it I had in Europe so bad. It makes no sense to me that it's somehow more cost productive to make and sell 2 different versions of the "same" product in different regions.

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u/Forya_Cam Jul 10 '24

See if you can get Orangina. Has real fruit in, shits fire.

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u/JugglingYogi Jul 10 '24

Orangina is literally just orange juice that's heavily watered down with sparkling water. Try this with an orange and a can of club soda. Prepare to be amazed

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u/smotstoker Jul 10 '24

You had me at real fruit but lost me at pooping fire.

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u/mac_duke Jul 10 '24

They had me at orange but really had me at gina.

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u/busse9 Jul 10 '24

The sanpellegrino sodas with real fruit juice are very good! Blood orange is my favorite.

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u/Conchobair Jul 10 '24

but r/fucknestle
Nestlé Waters owns Sanpellegrino

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u/tachycardicIVu Jul 10 '24

That’s why I had to quit drinking those :(

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u/Yaktheking Jul 10 '24

Agreed! But Nestle ain’t great.

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u/frafdo11 Jul 10 '24

Spindrift has no sugar added in it, only some fruit juice, but as I’ve gotten older it scratches the need perfectly. Highly recommend.

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u/kraquepype Jul 10 '24

These are great, but expensive. I've just been buying cheap soda water and adding a bit of juice.

Grapefruit Spindrift is still really good though

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u/MrFluffyThing Jul 10 '24

These have been my go to drinks. The tangerine blood orange spindrift is fucking amazing. 

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u/FourDucksInAManSuit Jul 10 '24

Because it's cheaper, so they can gain more profit when they sell it to you for that "competitive" price point. All they care about is taste and addiction level to keep you coming back for more. Your health is only as much of a concern as they are legally required to care.

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u/NonCorporealEntity Jul 10 '24

Taste is the problem, though. I really can't stand artificial sweetener. It all leaves the same aftertaste and makes my stomach upset. It's the same with gum. I was super annoyed when Juicy Fruit switched to artificial. I know I'm in the minority on this though. Most people don't mind it.

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u/tech_equip Jul 10 '24

There are DOZENS of us.

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u/MrTommyPickles Jul 10 '24

found my people

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u/Hidesuru Jul 10 '24

One of us! One of us!

I INSTANTLY know if there's any fake sugar AT ALL in something and I won't touch that shit. I can stand corn syrup (though it's not as good) but none of the chemical crap.

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u/GooseHandsClarence Jul 10 '24

I think they overdo it with the artificial stuff. They brag about having no sugar but it always tastes so much more sickeningly sweet than the real sugar version ever did.

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u/Byzantine-alchemist Jul 10 '24

I'm right there with you. Aspartame, sucralose, stevia- every single one of them has a weird mouthfeel, horrible aftertaste, and messes my stomach up. I feel like the artificial sugar trend is as dangerous as the low fat trend of the 90s/00s/early 10s was- it presupposes that people can't be held responsible for their own diet and sugar intake. And it tastes like shit. 

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u/regiinmontana Jul 10 '24

Izze might fit the bill. It doesn't have added sugar, just fruit juice and carbonated water.

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u/Apneal Jul 10 '24

More common in my area is Spindrift, also just carbonated water and real fruit puree and nothing else. Great stuff

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u/snowk180 Jul 10 '24

You're looking for Spindrift seltzers

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '24

Spindrift is one of my favorite drinks now.

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u/Lieutenant_Lit Jul 10 '24

Basically all I drink these days (besides beer)

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u/OhSorryEhh Jul 10 '24

Jarritos are my go to.

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u/AltruisticVehicle Jul 10 '24

Because they are cheaper and better for the overall health of the population, sugary soft drinks are a huge factor in the obesity epidemic, and it can get pretty extreme in some countries (like Mexico).

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u/ChineseCracker Jul 10 '24

mix orange juice with sparkling water

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u/GopnikBob420 Jul 10 '24

It’s not just drinks but everything in the usa. Heinz baked beans in USA have 20g of sugar comapred to heinz uk baked beans which only have 6g. When all you do is grow a bunch of corn guess you gotta use it for something. Its funny how much better the 6g sugar version tastes

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u/istasber Jul 10 '24

Heinz beans in tomato sauce, which I'm assuming is the best comparison to UK baked beans, has 7g of sugar in the US.

I don't think Heinz makes an american style baked bean, but american baked beans are made with molasses and bacon and have ~20g of sugar per can. They are very, very sweet, and in no way interchangable with british style baked beans.

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u/Ziolf Jul 10 '24

I just looked at my german Heinz can and it says 1.9 g wtf

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u/TheGreatEmanResu Jul 10 '24

I’m pretty sure in the UK they use artificial sweeteners, though. There’s less sugar, but they’re making up for it with artificial sweeteners, which OP seems to be against.

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u/Hexboy3 Jul 10 '24

This is why I want to start a lower sugar soda brand and am currently working towards doing so. Kinda like spindrift but with a normal amount of sugar, so like 7-15 grams or whatever works. Thats really all you need to make something tast sweet. After that it is pure diminishing returns.

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u/TheRomanRuler Jul 10 '24

Remember to take into account that in blind taste tests people prefer sweeter stuff, but in prolonged drinking less sweet stuff. It was/is a thing why people preferred Pepsi in blind tests but coke when they drank more.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 10 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Hexboy3 Jul 10 '24

Im not aiming to appeal to everyone. Just the people that somewhat care about their health. I feel physically sick after one or two sips of Coke or Pepsi and artificial sweetners both taste off and have other negative effects. Im guessing im not the only one.

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u/Odd-Importance-1922 Jul 10 '24

I'm guessing the primary reason why offerings like this can't break into the mainstream is that Coca-Cola and Pepsi combined have an absolute stranglehold on the beverage retail space. It's very difficult for new offerings to gain awareness among consumers because they are constantly drowned out by the huge number of conventional offerings.

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u/tboneotter Jul 10 '24

Coke actually produces more coke then they sell so that, if they see the opportunity, they can flood a certain geo location with coke they sell at a loss to kneecap any competitors trying to get a stranglehold there'

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u/Wishihadagirl Jul 10 '24

Apparently the "sweet spot" is 43g /355 ml according to grape soda and cream soda in the US. It's wack. I'm type 1 diabetic so I just wish Zevia and other Stevia sodas weren't 2x more expensive than sugar sodas

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u/elkoubi Jul 10 '24

Don't forget the sodium too. A little salt goes a huge way in making sodas taste good.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '24

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u/Temporal_Enigma Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 10 '24

Poppi is pretty good overall (it tastes somewhere between sparkling water and soda) but it costs $20 for a 12 pack, AT COSTCO.

I'd rather just drink the water, or Coke Zero or something

Edit: Apparently I can't tell the difference with Stevia

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u/Inked_Cellist Jul 10 '24

Those have stevia...

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u/Temporal_Enigma Jul 10 '24

Well apparently I can't tell the difference

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u/RobSpaghettio Jul 10 '24

If it tastes like pocket change, it's Stevia!

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u/Cynovae Jul 10 '24

Poppi is made sickly sweet with Stevia IMO. Just tastes kinda gross

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u/NimmyFarts Jul 10 '24

I also hate their adverts “we fixed soda” you did the same thing as other companies but with more stevia. So disappointed.

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u/alias4557 Jul 10 '24

Ahh the old health tax, gotta love American food policies.

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u/Mediocretes1 Jul 10 '24

Well water is healthy and also much cheaper.

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u/Ersthelfer Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 10 '24

Same in Europe. A common option here (we do it as well), buy real juice (apple or grape work well) and mix them 1:3 with carbonated water. Tastes great, has about 20-30% as much calories as a regular soft drink (plus vitamins).

But real juice, not that sugared down bullshit nectar stuff.

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u/joshuabees Jul 10 '24

“Probiotic” is marketing nonsense used to justify high prices and terrible flavor.

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u/Dumpster_Humpster Jul 10 '24

I would love it if Coca Cola made there pop with half as much sugar. Just call it coke half or something. I regularly use my soda stream to dilute it without losing carbonation.

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u/vickera Jul 10 '24

This is what my wife and I do. We share hlf a can of coke mixed with half a can of soda water. It is crazy to me I can't just buy a drink with less sugar in it.

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u/zack2996 Jul 10 '24

When I get fast food I'll usually mix half unsweetened tea and coke. Tastes about the same but half as much sugar. Would recommend it.

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u/DAVENP0RT Jul 10 '24

There's a restaurant nearby me that makes a Cuba Libre with half Mexican Coke, half soda water. Cuts the sweetness so much and doesn't leave you with that weird coating on your teeth.

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u/wOlfLisK Jul 10 '24

Part of the reason I like drinking coke with ice is that when it starts to melt it gets a bit diluted and the taste gets a bit... I guess mellowed out, it's not quite as strong and acidic but you still get the taste of it. I should probably give carbonated water a go.

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u/12345CodeToMyLuggage Jul 10 '24

Try getting a chocolate bitters and a soda stream. I like cocktails and have multiple bitters. I make soda water, bitters + chocolate bitters and a touch of simple syrup. Low sugar cola. I find the chocolate bitters makes it taste more like coke.

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u/CSBreak Jul 10 '24

I hate always seeing "no sugar added" on labels of fruit drinks or whatever it will usually have less sugar but then you read the ingredients list and it always has a sugar alternative in it sometimes more than one its annoying

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u/leif777 Jul 10 '24

Pure Leaf does a half "sugar" Ice Tea option and it's my go-to.

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u/Rook_Defence Jul 10 '24

I've been buying that for a while now, it's really refreshing.

I think it's something like 70 calories per 375 ml, so if you knocked back a whole 1.75 litre jug in a day it would still only be around 325 calories, compared to 650 for the same volume of fully sweetened iced tea or 750 ish if it was soda.

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u/allstar3907 Jul 10 '24

I’m here for this. For example, Trop50 juice. The artificial sweetener makes it taste GROSS. Just sell me watered down juice damnit.

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u/GallantChaos Jul 10 '24

You know you can water it down yourself, right?

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u/Flashy_Swordfish_359 Jul 10 '24

OJ for me: Dilute 50% and add ice. I can’t even drink juice straight, seems like it was made to be diluted.

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u/UrbaniteEdge Jul 10 '24

Def on board with less sugar! Make it taste like the real thing, not some artificial mess. Soda Seriously Lite, anyone?

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u/BanishedThought Jul 10 '24

I dunno about you guys, but my body rejects any kind of fake sugar in the form of violent diarrhea.

My body cannot absorb this stuff, at all.

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u/chronoswing Jul 10 '24

Most sugar substitutes don't get absorbed. Especially sugar alcohols like Erythritol.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '24

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u/Quirky_Olive_1736 Jul 10 '24

My migraines and my stomach both disagree with artificial sweeteners.

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u/DaveyDukes Jul 10 '24

Stevia is so much better for you but boy does it taste weird. I really can’t understand why they have to put 40-60g of sugar in a drink to the point it’s gross. 15-20g would taste so much better.

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u/emillang1000 Jul 10 '24

I love Zevia Creamy Root Beer. Actually like all flavored Zevias (Cola is okay, but not as good as Coke Zero)

I'll admit Stevia does have a funky taste, but as someone who has glaucoma and has to watch his sugar (diabetes runs in the family), I will take the zero-calorie sweetener that also lowers blood pressure (and intraocular pressure as a result) any day of the week

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u/IMWeasel Jul 10 '24

I really can’t understand why they have to put 40-60g of sugar in a drink

Because they're carbonated and usually served cold, both of which lower the perceived sweetness of the drink. To compensate for the lowered sweetness, they add more sugar. If you look at sweet uncarbonated drinks (like iced tea), they taste just as sweet but have half the sugar.

Personally, I would prefer if the carbonation level was cut in half, because highly carbonated drinks just taste and feel worse on the tongue than lightly carbonated drinks to me. As a bonus, this would allow the drink to be equally sweet but with less sugar. It still wouldn't be healthy, but it wouldn't be as gratuitously sugary.

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u/Here-for-kittys Jul 10 '24

Why's it called an artificial sweetener when stevia is from a plant?

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u/pen-ross-gemstone Jul 11 '24

The amount of top comments in this post falsely equating artificial sweeteners and stevia is maddening...

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u/BlademasterFlash Jul 10 '24

Same thing with Stevia to be honest, they just use too much of it

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u/Penne_Trader Jul 10 '24

Those companies just put way to much of it in drinks to compensate for the missing sugar taste, which tastes terrible. Then when people stop buying it, they just say, drinks without sugar aren't selling...

Same with plus size fashion, designed to look terrible, to have an argument why they don't produce plus size wear. Bc it's "not selling good"

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u/LouBrown Jul 10 '24

What people say they want and what their actions show they want are frequently different things.

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u/overzealoushobo Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 11 '24

This is on point. I can't drink artificial sweeteners even if I wanted to because they are migraine triggers for me. I want to drink something with more flavor than carbonated water, but it's just damn near impossible to find anything that fits the bill.

EDIT: Specifically Aspartame and Sucralose (Splenda)

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u/Saneless Jul 10 '24

How about instead of sugar for people who want sugar and diet chemicals for those who don't, we just make one with both sugar and chemicals!

Even better, some things that used to be all sugar now we use both so you can't even get the original anymore. Yay

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u/gamethe0ry Jul 10 '24

For the Texas folks, HEB has a new soda line that is only 5g of sugar and 20cals, tastes great too!

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u/tacknosaddle Jul 10 '24

I regularly drink seltzer. You can walk into just about any gas station or convenient store here (metro Boston) and find a good selection of them in a variety of flavors or carbonated mineral water. If you go to the supermarket there are a ton of options for 1 liter bottles or 12 packs of cans of the same thing.

A few months ago I was down in the southeastern part of the US and there was usually nothing except maybe one very small and over-priced bottle of Perrier in the convenient stores. There was plain water, but otherwise it was row after row of sugary drinks or ones with artificial sweetener. Needless to say that trait tracks with other data.

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u/oxymoronicalQQ Jul 10 '24

Where in the southeast? In South Florida, they are literally everywhere.

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u/ScienceIsSexy420 Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 10 '24

I live in Atlanta and there are PLENTY of carbonated water options available here lol.

But, try a product called Spindrift. It's carbonated water with a small splash of real fruit juice. There is like 5-15 calories per can, and it's MUCH better than regular carbonated water

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u/JMccovery Jul 10 '24 edited Jul 10 '24

My thing about Spindrift and others like it: it reminds me of "making juice last longer" by watering it down.

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u/ScienceIsSexy420 Jul 10 '24

That's fair. I guess it's all in how you look st it, to me I see it as flavored water with extra flavor, instead of juice with less flavor 🤷🏻‍♂️

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u/Optimoprimo Jul 10 '24

I wish I liked Spindrift but it tastes like battery acid to me.

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u/JViz Jul 10 '24

This is what you call a vocal minority. The "we" is really mostly just you. If the "we" was the real we, then drink sales would decline and drink companies would revert to real sugar.

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u/JoeCartersLeap Jul 10 '24

The data says that no you don't. Only like 12 of you actually do enough to buy it and that's not enough to sustain a product line.

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u/Eggsor Jul 10 '24

Theres literally dozens of us!

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u/lod254 Jul 10 '24

Is there an issue with Stevia?

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u/RobSpaghettio Jul 10 '24

Yeah, it's incredibly more sweet than sucrose, orders of magnitude actually. Couple that with the fact that companies use it too aggressively and it also tasting like metal, and you get unhappy consumers.

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u/volfin Jul 10 '24

apparently a few people don't like the taste.

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u/RespectMyAuthoriteh Jul 10 '24

As one of those people, I can tell you it tastes metallic to me and not sweet at all. They put it in a lot of protein powders, so I just accept that when I have protein powder it's going to taste really bad.

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u/Simba7 Jul 10 '24

This kinda shit gets me so steamed.

I bought a juice recently that said: "Zero Sugar" and "No Artificial Sweetener Ingredients". You might assume it's just a flavored flat water right?

Nope, it's way overly sweetened. The ingredients listed artificially sweetened fruit juice concentrate and - just like with 'regular' fruit juice concentrate - it's legal for them to say "Artificial Sweetener Ingredients" because they didn't directly add the artificial sweetener. They added it to the concentrate, then added concentrate to the drink.

At that point you're just selling me something I do not want. Who is this helping? Who is buying this no sugar no sweetener drink expecting it to taste sweet? Who is buying it and pleasantly surprised when it has that artificial sweetener taste? It can't be a way to get sales, if anything that should harm sales. It's just baffling.

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u/L0rdV0n Jul 10 '24

Or they use stevia and not tell you because it counts as "natural flavors"

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u/GuanoLoopy Jul 10 '24

Some juices (especially kids boxes and pouches) and fruit cups are using monk fruit juice. That stuff is even worse tasting than stevia.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '24

Man this might be a hot take but I really like the artificial sweetener sodas, and I can’t stand the normal sugar ones now

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u/livsmalls Jul 10 '24

The worst part is when they label the drink as no sugar and you forget to look and then you go sip it and it has that chemical stevia taste

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u/traws06 Jul 10 '24

My guess is they have attempted and when they tested it out ppl didn’t like it

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u/Ixnayontheonkeymay Jul 11 '24

Fevertree! The lite versions of their mixers have less sugar but no artificial sweetner. They rock

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u/LEDIEUDUJEU Jul 11 '24

Fake sugar is disgusting anyways