• baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    2·
    6 hours ago

    i feel stupid because I can’t really tell a difference. i don’t or can’t pay attention to the specific taste of the sweetness. i don’t mind sweetener anyhow.

    • YeahIgotskills2@lemmy.world
      7·
      5 hours ago

      Don’t feel stupid - you’re in the majority.

      Here in the UK they’ve reformulated almost all soda to include Aspartame or Acuflame K.

      The vast majority don’t give a fuck, as they taste the same as before.

      It’s only people like me who, through a hilarious quirk of genetics, actually taste some sweetners as bitter and unpleasant, that are effected.

      For a small (but significant when you scale it up) percentage of the population, these drinks have been entirely ruined and rendered basically undrinkable.

      Even my ‘national drink’ Irn-Bru has been wrecked.

      It’s kinda funny as most people I meet don’t taste it at all and probably think I’m being weird about it or that I’m making some sort of moral stance against sweetners. But it’s genuinely not that. It’s just that all the soda I liked has been replaced with weird tasting garbage.

      • baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        1·
        5 hours ago

        i see. I’m sorry. good luck with your search for good sodas. i mostly just drink water and occasionally a glass of diluted juice. i really like juice due to it not being carbonated, but i still run into the issue of it being too strong and overwhelming, hence the dilution.

  • Vespair@lemmy.zipEnglish
    12·
    9 hours ago

    I’ve yet to find a fake sugar that doesn’t taste like bile and sadness. Stevia is the best of them, but it’s still basically like choosing to eat the most appealing-look turd when there’s a literal banquet available at the very next table (real sugar)

    • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
      1·
      3 hours ago

      I think it’s a taste that I just forced myself to acquire lol

      I almost never have sugary drinks now

    • Chrobin@discuss.tchncs.de
      2·
      6 hours ago

      I have to admit, a lot of R&D goes into designing a good sugarfree alternative to sugary drinks. Case in point, especially for my fellow Germans: Spezi Zero (obviously Paulaner) tastes really good, but Almdudler Zero tastes pretty bad compared to normal Almdudler.

    • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      6·
      8 hours ago

      Have you tried monkfruit yet? It’s the closest thing I have found to real sweetness that doesn’t taste like total aids. You just have to use very little of it as it’s super strong

      • Vespair@lemmy.zipEnglish
        3·
        8 hours ago

        I have. It’s definitely one of the least egregious and doesn’t have that painful disgust bile taste of the others, but I found it have a… I dunno, “musty” flavor to it? So I also don’t like it, but in a different kind of way than the rest.

    • Holytimes@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      7 hours ago

      The only drinks using sucralose is energy drinks basically. Sodas almost exclusively use aspertane.

      My understanding is that it’s cheaper and because of diet coke people expect the after taste of aspertane in a diet or low calorie soda.

    • spicy pancake@lemmy.zipEnglish
      8·
      12 hours ago

      In the US the current ingredients list for Coke Zero is:

      CARBONATED WATER, CARAMEL COLOR, PHOSPHORIC ACID, ASPARTAME, POTASSIUM BENZOATE (TO PROTECT TASTE), NATURAL FLAVORS, POTASSIUM CITRATE, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, CAFFEINE, STEVIA EXTRACT.

      whereas for Diet Coke it’s:

      CARBONATED WATER, CARAMEL COLOR, ASPARTAME, PHOSPHORIC ACID, POTASSIUM BENZOATE (TO PROTECT TASTE), NATURAL FLAVORS, CITRIC ACID, CAFFEINE.

    • Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      5·
      13 hours ago

      Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is the case. I think diet coke is aspartame sweetened.

      Source: diet coke tastes like shit, coke zero is actually kind of okay.

      • ggtdbz@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        1·
        5 hours ago

        I’ve been paying more attention to my health lately and honestly going from occasional sugar free soft drinks to even more occasional full sugar drinks has been a great “perk”. The sugary version tastes better, and 300-400 extra calories per month isn’t a big deal when I’m paying attention to my actual day to day consumption.

        Besides, yeah yeah natural fallacy etc, but those non-sweetener ingredients probably aren’t stellar for your health either, and less overall volume of this stuff is probably better.

      • FlexibleToast@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        9 hours ago

        The difference in taste is from what their formulas are based on. Diet Coke basically came from Tab, where Coke Zero was a modern attempt at making Coca-Cola with zero calories.

      • potoooooooo 🥔@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        10 hours ago

        I thought the same, but the internet says that not only does it contain aspartame, but it always has. I feel like I’ve discovered a new Mandela Effect.