Sprite + Tea

A few weeks ago on my usual trip to the grocery store I encountered a stack of 12-packs with this bizarre new flavor from Sprite. Of course I'm not fond of buying an entire 12-pack to try a new flavor I may not like, particularly at today's prices. However, I knew if I waited a bit I'd probably see it in single bottles. Sure enough, on a recent pop into a convenience store I found it. My assumption is that this may be an attempt at something akin to an Arnold Palmer, a drink which is half iced tea and half lemonade. The difference here being that this is carbonated lemon-lime soda. I haven't heard good things about this new drink but I'm going to keep an open mind going into it, especially since I enjoy an Arnold Palmer from time to time.

The ingredients still list high fructose corn syrup and less than 2% natural flavors. Nothing specific about tea in the list of ingredients on the label, but just like regular Sprite it is caffeine free. A slight carbonation release comes from uncapping it and it has a faint hint of an iced tea aroma mixed with a little lemon. The taste is quite strong. I'm not really a tea drinker to discern the subtleties of the range of tea flavors but this seems very heavy handed in a green tea sense. When holding on the front of the tongue I get little to no flavor but the intense tea flavor come on suddenly at the back of the tongue when drinking. The miniscule lemon flavor means this is more like carbonated iced tea than anything else. I'm not a fan of this, but perhaps if you're really into sweetened iced tea you could enjoy it.

Slice Grapefruit Spritz

Slice was originally launched back in 1984 by PepsiCo as a lemon-lime soda. This was meant to replace the aging Teem label discontinued the same year as well as to try to gain market share against competitor's lemon-lime offerings. In time Slice offered a range of fruit flavored sodas, including orange and strawberry. Slice had a narrow share of the soda market in the U.S. and by the 1990's the boast of containing 10% fruit juice was moot since they removed most of the fruit juice from the recipe. The brand would undergo continued evolution in package design, various flavors and even a diet version, but Pepsi would discontinue Slice in the 2000's, most likely in an effort to consolidate some of their labels since Sierra Mist, another Pepsi-owned lemon-lime soda has been released in 1999 and was widely sold by the mid-2000's. New Slice Ventures LLC apparently bought the rights to the Slice brand sometime around 2018 for a relaunch in the U.S. and Canada with fruit-juice sweetened, lower calorie versions of grapefruit, raspberry, cranberry, blackberry, mango, and pineapple. They would launch more traditional Slice flavors in 2022 in orange, cherry, and lemon-lime. Suja Life then enters the picture and buys the rights to Slice and overhauls the recipes to jump on the "gut healthy" soda trend. Unlike the other "gut healthy" sodas I've encountered, these are listed as including "pre-, pro-, and post-biotic" ingredients. 

This can has a citrusy scent, not unlike a mainstream grapefruit soda or Fresca. It also has a very light pink color. I find the flavor a bit funny. While still somewhat citrus, it also has a sort of dull staleness about it. I'm sure the stevia, salt, and fibrous bacteria play into this. Fortunately, its still far from being the worst tasting healthy soda flavors I've tried. I could finish this can but I think the flavor would make it slow going, just taking a nip every 5-10 minutes. Not exactly my kind of taste.

Canada Dry Blackberry Ginger Ale

Canada Dry is a lifelong favorite of mine. In the past several years they've joined the bandwagon of releasing various flavor varieties, both permanent and seasonal. I couldn't find this flavor in anything other than a 2 liter bottle so I grabbed this bottle while I could. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't quite do the color justice. The soda is a transparent, light lilac color which doesn't come through in this image. I think its a good flavor. You'll still get a mostly classic Canada Dry ginger ale flavor, but it comes with a tinge of berry flavor that gives it a nice highlight. The berry taste is strongest in the aftertaste that lingers in the mouth. I think they should have made this flavor more highly available in individual sizes though.