Bring out the boxing gloves because Coca-Cola is fighting to take back it's rightful throne as soda king.
It's no secret that drinking soda on the regular is detrimental to one's health. However, we're seeing more and more Americans ditching the sugary drink and turning to alternatives to satisfy their carbonated sweet tooth. Cue: La Croix.
In the 1990s, La Croix was mostly only known to Midwestern moms. Yet somewhere along the way, the sparkling water became the beverage of choice for Hollywood fitness-gurus and hipsters alike. With La Croix dominating the soda market, Coca-Cola has taken notice and is inserting itself into the sparkling water craze.
Cocoa-Cola introduced four new fruit-flavored versions of Diet Coke to entice soda drinkers back to the brand. Feisty Cherry, Twisted Mango, Ginger Lime, and Zesty Blood Orange were recently launched as part of the company's new push to offset slumping Diet Coke sales.
I went out and fetched all four of the new Diet Coke flavors to see if Coca-Cola is really a worthy competitor in the flavored-water market.
Review
Feisty Cherry
I wasn't really sure why this flavor was deemed as feisty. But if feisty is another word for sweet, then yes, this is extremely feisty. It kind of tastes like what I imagine drinking straight from a bottle of grenadine would be like. I'm getting all of the sensations of cough syrup without any of the health benefits. All-in-all, it just seems like a heightened version of Cherry Coke.
Apparently, Feisty Cherry will be replacing the original Cherry Coke recipe. RIP Cherry Coke.
Twisted Mango
Right off the bat, I'm going to say this tastes a lot better than Feisty Cherry. A little less syrup tasting but still just as sweet. It pretty much smells as sweet as it tastes. Think of a piece of candy that is mango flavored—it doesn't actually taste like mango, but we've deemed it as a mango flavor.
Mango may be my favorite fruit, I had high hopes to say the least. Disappointed.
Zesty Blood Orange
This one's going to be a solid no from me. How do I even describe this? It's orange alright, yet I'm not getting any blood orange sensation at all. Actually, the more I drink it the less orange I'm tasting. It's nowhere near a typical orange soda.
Maybe an orange Skittle? Yes! If you were to drop a handful of orange Skittles into a can of Sprite, that is what this tastes like.
I'd actually kill for a Sunkist right now.
Ginger Lime
This is hands down the best one. Usually, lime flavored things have a pretty strong lime sensation, but I'd argue the ginger flavor is stronger here. That being said, if you hate ginger you are not going to like this.
It's kind of an interesting take on ginger ale. No, it actually tastes like ginger beer. Very similar to ginger beer. Or one of those ginger candies your grandma gives you.
Final Thoughts
I was excited going into this. I really thought I was going to like these. I'm a big fan of sparkling water, but I don't think these belong anywhere near the category of sparkling water. They're soda and really bad soda for that matter. I don't think even an avid Diet Coke drinker would like these.
For containing zero sugar these are mega sweet, which is really confusing to me. Finishing an entire can will definitely leave you with either a headache or a sugar rush.
If Coca-Cola's aim was to rival La Croix drinkers, they definitely missed the mark. I'll take a Pamplemousse, please.