Friendly Reminder!!...

NEW Orange Cream Coca-Cola Zero

My wife grabbed some of these to try from someone who was given most of a 12-pack away on our local "buy nothing" page because they didn't care for it:

Why is "orange cream" centered in this shot,
but then not "zero sugar" or the text at the bottom?

Brand: Orange Cream Coca-Cola Zero.

Origin: Atlanta, GA.

Purchase Place: gifted from our local "buy nothing" Facebook group.

Sweetener: Aspartame and Sucralose.

Review: Cracking this open, I was assaulted with the scent of orange cream. That smell (and flavor) was pretty spot on! The problem is that I like cola, and there's no cola flavor left because it's just orange cream.

I like Coke Zero - it's in my top 5 of normal "daily" afternoon caffeine pick-me-ups. And I also like Cherry Coke Zero - the cherry flavor works itself in nicely with the cola. But this soda is just ALL orange cream. There's no cola flavor left - this is just an orange cream SODA, and not an orange cream COLA. I wish the orange cream was a little toned down so the cola flavor could come through a bit more. I'll put this right in the middle of "average."

Score: 5 out of 10.

Excel Lucky Cherry Cola

I cracked into this at work this afternoon:

 

Brand: Lucky Cherry Cola.

Origin: Breese, IL.

Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: There was "tree fruit & spice" in the ingredients list, which I was curious about! (Along with "essential oils.") The flavor was pretty unique, but I didn't LOVE it. The cola flavor was a little weak, and the cherry flavor was a little "simple" (as in not too complex). This was fine for sipping, but I'll rank it a little lower than average:

Score: 4.5 out of 10.

Zero Sugar Faygo Orange

I was headed through Rochester today, and I grabbed this at a Kwik Trip:

Back home after being mostly drank!

Brand: Zero Sugar Faygo Orange.

Origin: Detroit, MI.

Purchase Place: Kwik Trip, Rochester, MN.

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: The first thing I noticed is that this was my first "ZERO SUGAR" Faygo as opposed to "DIET" Faygo. In the past, I've had a Diet Faygo with aspartame, but this had sucralose. So I figured they maybe had a "new line" of sodas or either changed their formula. Then I found this article from a few months ago talking about their NEW ZERO SUGAR sodas.

So how was it? It was decent. It didn't taste TOO "diet" as it had a pretty full flavor. It was very "real" orange and not "fake" orange, which was nice. It was almost an "orange creme" flavor, but not quite. So if a slightly creamy and slightly actually orange flavored diet soda sounds good to you, then try this! I'll rate it a little better than average.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.