Health-Ade SunSip Cream Soda

We were at Whole Foods this weekend, and I spotted a line of soda that had some sun sounding flavors. I grabbed this Cream Soda to drink in my office:

 

Brand: SunSip Cream Soda.

Origin: Terrance, CA.

Purchase Place: Whole Foods, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Agave Inulin, Monk Fruit Juice Extract, and Cane Sugar.

Review: So this is a "prebiotics" soda. I knew that going in. I tend to shy away from these as I don't like the "bite" of kombucha, and many lean in that direction. But we saw so many flavors of this brand that LOOKED good when we were at Whole Foods, so I wanted to give it a try. It only has 4 grams of sugar and 30 calories, as it has 2 other sweeteners before sugar. Would it be drinkable?...

... Barely.

The second ingredient is "apple juice," and that's NOT a flavor that you commonly expect to go with the smoothness of a cream soda. And guess what? It doesn't really work. It had a pungent KICK when I took my first sip. I got a little better as kept drinking, but it was still very SHARP for a cream soda (which is something I expect to be SMOOTH). The cream soda flavor was decent, but it was just really odd paired with the apple juice.

Bottom line: I didn't care for it. If you like cream soda AND kombucha, you could like this! It's not nearly as sharp as a normal kombucha, but it LEANS that way. Just not for me - too odd of a flavor combo. Apple juice and cream soda are not flavors that ever needed to be mixed. I need to stay away from these kinds of "sodas."

Score: 2.5 out of 10.

Limited Time: Diet Coke with Plant Based Sweetener

I saw a "bin" of these at Target, so I had to grab one of these funky tall cans: 

In front of my "broken camera shelf" in my office.

(And it's hard to tell in that photo, but the can is not a normal "Diet Coke gray" color.  It's got a touch of green to it, presumably because of the "plant-based" nature of it.)
 
Brand: Diet Coke with Plant Based Sweeteners.

Origin: Atlanta, GA.

Purchase Place: Target, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Stevia Extract and Monk Fruit Extract.

Review: I feel like I can taste Stevia in things, and it's not the best flavor. But I didn't know anything about Monk Fruit (turns out it's a calorie-free sweetener that also has some anti-inflammatory properties). And it turns out I feel like I can KIND OF taste the Stevia in this - it's not as blatant as some sodas. It tasted a little "softer" than regular Diet Coke, but not necessarily "weaker." It wasn't bad, but I think I preferred regular Diet Coke better - I often drink Diet Coke, but I don't have any at home right now so I could do a side-by-side comparison. Quite decent.

Score: 7 out of 10.