In order to distract myself from a particularly stressful week full of school and work, I decided to go on a quest to figure out the best Coke flavors in the world. Luckily, I live around the corner from a Wawa (aka the greatest convenience store ever) so I was able to snag a ton of Coke flavors within minutes. I looked a little crazy trekking through the pouring rain holding trays full of soda, but hey, I suffer for my art.
Here’s how it went down: I set up a blind taste test of the eight flavors of regular Coke available on Wawa’s soda machine. I also added in other popular variations of Coke like Diet Coke, Diet Caffeine-Free Coke, and Coke Zero. I know that Coke Zero is now called “Coke Zero Sugar,” but the soda machine I used still said Coke Zero and therefore that is what I will call it in this article.
The result was a blind taste test of 11 Coke flavors, during which my three soda-loving pals and I ranked our top flavors.
This ranking is the conclusion we came to after tons of deliberation and passionate, almost friendship-ending arguments (just kidding, we were all pretty much on the same page about what the best Coke flavors were).
11. Orange Coke
Orange is Coke is straight up nasty, and no one should ever, ever try it. The artificial orange flavor is super gross and it literally sits on your tongue after just one sip. We all had to chug water after taking a sip of this bad boy.
10. Raspberry Coke
Raspberry sounded really appealing to me in theory, but the actual flavor is an overly sweet disaster. Two different people compared it to cough medicine during the tasting, which is a very bad sign.
9. Lemon Coke
If you order Coke at a restaurant, the waiter or waitress will often ask you if you want lemon. I always say yes because I love fresh lemon. This flavor however was NOT fresh lemon; it was an artificial mess that I would never order again. The lemon flavor was fake and almost metallic. I will, however, say that this flavor was controversial because one of my citrus-loving friends really liked it. The rest of us agreed that it was not great.
8. Diet Caffeine-Free Coke
This version of Coke is pretty mediocre, which is why it earned the number eight spot. Basically, we all agreed that it was relatively flavorless and didn’t have the classic zing on your tongue that Coke normally has.
7. Coke Zero
Coke Zero also ranks relatively low because compared to the other kinds of Coke we tried, it had very little flavor. It was sweeter than Caffeine-Free Coke, which is why it’s slightly higher on the list.
6. Cherry Vanilla Coke
This is a combo of two of the best Coke flavors, so it should have been absolute perfection. Sadly, it was not. It was good, but the two flavors are sweet individually so the combination was a sugar overload. Only drink this if you’re craving lots of sugar.
5. Diet Coke
We all agreed that Diet Coke was waaaay better than the Diet Caffeine-Free or Coke Zero, but it still had a slightly artificial aftertaste that isn’t present in regular Coke. Before you get confused, yes, there is a difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero.
4. Lime Coke
There’s no denying it, Coke with Lime is dope. There’s a really subtle lime flavor that brings out the flavor of the Coke in an amazing way. However, some of the tasters thought that the lime flavor was actually a little too subtle, earning it the number four spot.
3. Vanilla Coke
Say it with me now: Vanilla Coke is incredible. This is unarguably one of the best Coke flavors. The vanilla flavor isn’t too overpowering, but it tastes like a Coke float without the actual float. It also goes perfectly with popcorn at the movies.
2. Regular Coke
Ya can’t beat a classic. Regular Coke was undeniably a favorite at the tasting. It was perfectly sweet and bubbly without feeling fake like some of the other flavors we tried. Even though this was amazing, I’ve heard McDonald’s Coke is even better than Coke everywhere else.
1. Cherry Coke
Cherry is hands down the best Coke flavor. It wasn’t too sweet or too artificial tasting and it had a fun fruity aftertaste that we all loved. I could picture myself enjoying this with pizza, a burger, or honestly any meal.
After trying all of this soda, we were feeling the sugar, but I’m confident in the ranking that we came up with. Next time I get soda from one of those crazy machines with hundreds of flavor options, I’ll know exactly which Coke flavors are worth choosing.