4 ms·

You're implying that Diet Coke is not meant to have a distinct (aspartame) taste. Coke Zero is the one meant to be an imitation, and it is much closer.

by BbzzbB 4y ago

bigpeopleareold 4y ago
I vaguely remember in the past there was suggestions in advertising that Diet Coke was like regular Coke. By naming it the same thing, it does suggest an affinity, particularly on the dimension of taste. I am probably wrong, but this can be my own "consumer" expectation, giving the naming. Coke Zero or the local variant still doesn't taste like Coke, but bitter fizzy water, to me :)
- pram 4y ago
  Diet Coke isn’t even based on Coca-Cola, it’s a derivative of a truly wretched soda called Tab afaik. It’s genuinely a completely different drink.
  - bigpeopleareold 4y ago
    In the end, I should tell that to teenage-me, who was confounded as to why Diet Coke (and Diet Pepsi for that matter) would use the same name when they were actually different. Tab was truly nasty too :) So, in the end of this - TIL :)
  - ziml77 4y ago
    I developed a taste for Diet Coke some years ago when I tried to cut back a bit on sugar. Being based on a different drink would certainly make sense given the large flavor difference! Funnily enough it was just a few weeks ago that I justified getting a Diet Coke to a friend by saying that I get Coke Zero when I'm in the mood for Coke and I get Diet Coke when I'm in the mood for Diet Coke.
  - crazygringo 4y ago
    That's not really true at all. In terms of sweeteners which has the biggest effect on taste, Tab mainly used saccharin, while Diet Coke is mainly aspartame. And then it's more accurate to reverse it and say Tab was a derivative of Coca-Cola. Tab was simply Coca-Cola's diet version back when they didn't want to "dilute" the trademark. So no, Diet Coke isn't a "completely different drink". I mean, you can taste them side-by-side -- do you genuinely think there's some crazy different flavor profile in terms of the the citrus oils, cinnamon, and vanilla used?
    - pram 4y ago
      Tab tasted nothing like Coke my dude.
      - crazygringo 4y ago
        Well you can't have it both ways my dude, because Coke and Diet Coke taste awfully similar in terms of flavorings. So you've got your history wrong somewhere then.
        pram 4y ago
        They're not the same drink: "Diet Coke is not based on the Coca-Cola formula, but instead on Tab. The controversial New Coke, introduced in 1985, used a version of the Diet Coke recipe that contained high-fructose corn syrup and had a slightly different balance of ingredients." Why would New Coke have been developed from Diet Coke if it tasted the same as Coca-Cola? Anyway you're wrong, but I admire the confidence.
        crazygringo 4y ago
        That reference is from Wikipedia but without a citation. It's as good as garbage. But the main point here is that Diet Coke is not a "completely different drink" from Coke. You can go refer to your taste buds on that one. Especially since you seem to find Tab so wretched.
- donatj 4y ago
  I’m curious if we have the same Coke Zero here in the US as where you are, they play kind of fast and loose with the branding on their sugar free drinks. I question it because the Coke Zero we have here, very much unlike Diet Coke, is VERY sweet. It’s genuinely pretty close to the real thing here, it’s sweetened with Sucralose which in my firm opinion does by far the best job at tasting like real sugar of the fake sweaters. I personally find it a very close approximation of regular Coke. It was actually closer and better though before the reformulation a couple years ago.
  - ThunderSizzle 4y ago
    I'm very confident I could easily call out normal coke, coke zero, and diet coke on a blind taste test, including whether is was from a bottle, can or fountain. I might just do that, because I've seen too many people just repeat the Coca Cola marketing that they taste the same.
    - donatj 4y ago
      I make no claims that they taste the same, you can absolutely tell them apart. Honestly, I think you could tell them apart texturally if not from flavor. Sugar-free sodas are just thinner. You can definitely tell them apart. Diet Coke though tastes nothing like Coke. Coke Zero tastes like a close approximation of Coke.
  - bigpeopleareold 4y ago
    The last time that I tried, (a few years ago) I thought that Coke Zero as well tastes like ... just a a better Diet Coke :) The same type of bitter under-taste, just a bit less of it.
- BbzzbB 4y ago
  Well yes they leveraged the enormous brand recognition of Coca-Cola, tho it took them 20 years to figure out they were not diluting it as the product line was previously branded as Tab [1]. The first ever ad, AFAICT, for Diet Coke introduces it as "you're gonna drink it just for the taste of it", implying it's different than Coca-Cola [2]. Also, notice how it's branded as "Diet Coke" (initially "diet Coke"), not "Diet Coca-Cola", and has a distinct packaging. Whereas the zero variant is branded as "Coca-Cola Zero", with the same packaging but inverted colors or black font. But they all taste like delicious over-sweetened fizzy drinks to me :) 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(drink) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(drink) 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BRfcbkBmxo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BRfcbkBmxo

You're implying that Diet Coke is not meant to have a distinct (aspartame) taste. Coke Zero is the one meant to be an imitation, and it is much closer.

by BbzzbB 4y ago

You're implying that Diet Coke is not meant to have a distinct (aspartame) taste. Coke Zero is the one meant to be an imitation, and it is much closer.

bigpeopleareold 4y ago

I vaguely remember in the past there was suggestions in advertising that Diet Coke was like regular Coke. By naming it the same thing, it does suggest an affinity, particularly on the dimension of taste. I am probably wrong, but this can be my own "consumer" expectation, giving the naming. Coke Zero or the local variant still doesn't taste like Coke, but bitter fizzy water, to me :)

pram 4y ago
Diet Coke isn’t even based on Coca-Cola, it’s a derivative of a truly wretched soda called Tab afaik. It’s genuinely a completely different drink.
- bigpeopleareold 4y ago
  In the end, I should tell that to teenage-me, who was confounded as to why Diet Coke (and Diet Pepsi for that matter) would use the same name when they were actually different. Tab was truly nasty too :) So, in the end of this - TIL :)
- ziml77 4y ago
  I developed a taste for Diet Coke some years ago when I tried to cut back a bit on sugar. Being based on a different drink would certainly make sense given the large flavor difference! Funnily enough it was just a few weeks ago that I justified getting a Diet Coke to a friend by saying that I get Coke Zero when I'm in the mood for Coke and I get Diet Coke when I'm in the mood for Diet Coke.
- crazygringo 4y ago
  That's not really true at all. In terms of sweeteners which has the biggest effect on taste, Tab mainly used saccharin, while Diet Coke is mainly aspartame. And then it's more accurate to reverse it and say Tab was a derivative of Coca-Cola. Tab was simply Coca-Cola's diet version back when they didn't want to "dilute" the trademark. So no, Diet Coke isn't a "completely different drink". I mean, you can taste them side-by-side -- do you genuinely think there's some crazy different flavor profile in terms of the the citrus oils, cinnamon, and vanilla used?
  - pram 4y ago
    Tab tasted nothing like Coke my dude.
    - crazygringo 4y ago
      Well you can't have it both ways my dude, because Coke and Diet Coke taste awfully similar in terms of flavorings. So you've got your history wrong somewhere then.
      - pram 4y ago
        They're not the same drink: "Diet Coke is not based on the Coca-Cola formula, but instead on Tab. The controversial New Coke, introduced in 1985, used a version of the Diet Coke recipe that contained high-fructose corn syrup and had a slightly different balance of ingredients." Why would New Coke have been developed from Diet Coke if it tasted the same as Coca-Cola? Anyway you're wrong, but I admire the confidence.
        crazygringo 4y ago
        That reference is from Wikipedia but without a citation. It's as good as garbage. But the main point here is that Diet Coke is not a "completely different drink" from Coke. You can go refer to your taste buds on that one. Especially since you seem to find Tab so wretched.
donatj 4y ago
I’m curious if we have the same Coke Zero here in the US as where you are, they play kind of fast and loose with the branding on their sugar free drinks. I question it because the Coke Zero we have here, very much unlike Diet Coke, is VERY sweet. It’s genuinely pretty close to the real thing here, it’s sweetened with Sucralose which in my firm opinion does by far the best job at tasting like real sugar of the fake sweaters. I personally find it a very close approximation of regular Coke. It was actually closer and better though before the reformulation a couple years ago.
- ThunderSizzle 4y ago
  I'm very confident I could easily call out normal coke, coke zero, and diet coke on a blind taste test, including whether is was from a bottle, can or fountain. I might just do that, because I've seen too many people just repeat the Coca Cola marketing that they taste the same.
  - donatj 4y ago
    I make no claims that they taste the same, you can absolutely tell them apart. Honestly, I think you could tell them apart texturally if not from flavor. Sugar-free sodas are just thinner. You can definitely tell them apart. Diet Coke though tastes nothing like Coke. Coke Zero tastes like a close approximation of Coke.
- bigpeopleareold 4y ago
  The last time that I tried, (a few years ago) I thought that Coke Zero as well tastes like ... just a a better Diet Coke :) The same type of bitter under-taste, just a bit less of it.
BbzzbB 4y ago
Well yes they leveraged the enormous brand recognition of Coca-Cola, tho it took them 20 years to figure out they were not diluting it as the product line was previously branded as Tab [1]. The first ever ad, AFAICT, for Diet Coke introduces it as "you're gonna drink it just for the taste of it", implying it's different than Coca-Cola [2]. Also, notice how it's branded as "Diet Coke" (initially "diet Coke"), not "Diet Coca-Cola", and has a distinct packaging. Whereas the zero variant is branded as "Coca-Cola Zero", with the same packaging but inverted colors or black font. But they all taste like delicious over-sweetened fizzy drinks to me :) 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(drink) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(drink) 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BRfcbkBmxo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BRfcbkBmxo