It is funny how we start to think a natural food has a 'chemical' taste when we compare it to the food we are accustomed to.

I try to buy real sugar products as much as I can. Here in Texas we can get the glass-bottled Coke they sell in Mexico and it has real sugar. The cost is a little bit more but you can really tell the difference. I also try to buy Jones soda when it's available.

I bought one of the Pepsi bottles the other day. It was so good, took me back to my childhood.

Yes, this consumer does. Nothing tasted better than that mixed fountain Pepsi I drank as a youth in the 1970's.

When New Coke was announced in the 1980's I purchased a six pack of "old" Coke right before it was discontinued- even have the original receipt for it with date. I got a six of cans with gold tops similar to what they were using on Diet or Caffinee Free Coke. I figured they were using out the old print cans with what ever tops they had around. I had the six all these years though it lost three cans that corroded through the sides (and ticked off my mother in regards to Coke slime down a closet wall once!). Funny that I never looked at the contents until moving recently. Sugar. So I call bunk that they changed to HFCS before changing to New Coke.

I tried one of the throwbacks for Pepsi. 67g of sugar. Wow! I don't need another. Water seems like a better option to me.

Just got the 'new' Pepsi at my Publix last week...that shit is delicious!

The Dew Throwback is fantastic. I was moved enough by it to revew/recommend it on my website...takes a lot to motivate me to post about something non-sports. ;)

Fine, I'll say it - maybe they're making the real sugar sodas not as good tasting so people will realize that sugared sodas aren't as good a HFCS sodas and so they'll only buy the HFCS sodas.

Yeah it might be a stretch, but I'm all about stretching....

The Pepsi Throwback is all right, but the kosher Coke was better. (And best of all is Coca-Cola made and bottled in places like the Caribbean.)

I'm not going to jump around shouting, "HFCS is evil!" because I'm not a scientist and I can't make intelligent claims stick one way or the other. But I can say that I'm sick and tired of it showing up in 90% of all products in the grocery store, and that if I'm going to make the decision to have a high-calorie, nutritionally empty treat like a soda, I'd rather it be made out of actual sugar and halfway-identifiable ingredients than industrial sludge.

I'm patiently awaiting Throwback Pepsi and Mtn Dew to hit Central jersey...

We bought up all of our local supermarket's stock of Passover Pepsi (only 5 bottles; it's not a very Jewish area). Unfortunately i had to relinquish a bottle to my future in-laws because their part of Jersey didn't have any.

I've had Coke and Dr. Pepper with sugar and I just can't tell the difference. Everyone else I know says the sugar versions are much better. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

I can't really speak for any consumer other than myself, but I've been diligently avoiding things (especially drinks/juices) that contain HFCS for the past 2 or so years. Because of this, I think my palate is a bit "cleaner" (this may not be the word I'm searching for) and I can definitely taste when something is sweetened with HFCS (like Coke), natural sugar (like most Jones sodas), Splenda (like my tea/coffee), or some other weird sweetener like Truvia (like Vitamin Water 10...awful taste IMO).

I try to limit my intake of sweet stuff (in whatever form because it is my weakness) but I would at least try a soda or two sweetened with real sugar.

And did I mention I dropped about 10lbs within about 2 months after I gave up HFCS?

Drinking a Pepsi Throwback right now. ironically, it's less sweet than the HFCS sweetened product. Also less syrupy, which is the main difference to me. If a carbonated drink can be considered light in texture, this certainly is.

Anyone know what the difference between Pepsi Throwback and Pepsi Natural is?

I saw Pepsi Natural in the Healthy/Organic food section of the local Giant Eagle.

Or is it just that Pepsi Natural is no HFCS and in glass bottles.

Yes, Pepsi with sugar does taste better than HFCS, no question.

@rdm: I was a little surprised to be walking through a local Target and found the same Mexican coke they sell off of the roach coaches. It was conveniently labeled "Mexican Coke". Not a huge surprise in Southern California

I bought some Pepsi Natural from Costco thinking it was the new Pepsi with real sugar... nope. It's not bad but it's not Pepsi with sugar either!

I stopped liking soda and couldn't figure it out until recently that i learned the use HFCS. Like other artificial sweeteners, they make my tummy hurt and leave a weird thick taste in my mouth. I remember a local company that made iced tea did that and had the same effect on me, so i stopped buying the tea. Shortly after they went back to sugar. And again i didn't know why it tasted bad to me.

@Etoiles: Ditto on stuff bottled in the Caribbean. First three Red Stripe beers I had were brought from Jamacia before they legally imported. The bottles were actually returnable style and probably had 2x the alcohol content that the US allows. I loved them because they wolluped me about midway through drinking the third. Then when it was sold here I drank a six and felt so hohum...except for the high price.

I tried Mountain Dew throwback and the most striking difference is the much smoother mouthfeel and aftertaste. I liked it a lot. I don't drink calorie containing carbonated beverages much at all anymore but if I did, I'd choose the sugar version over a HFCS one anyday.

i had both the Pepsi and Mtn Dew throwbacks. Good stuff. But Mexican Coke still rules the day.

Refined sugars are not natural!
Think of how much of the world does not have ANY locally-grown source of sugar besides seasonal fruits.

Our natural foods lobbies have perverted our sense of "natural" foods. We have accepted refined sugars as being "natural" when they have no origin in nature. Sugar cane juice cannot be chugged. Sugar from beets comes as a whole fruit.

Sorry, refined sugars seriously have no business being in a diet that is based upon substances found in nature.

Of you can believe the mega health food lobbies and get fat by eating refined starches and sugars. Remember, if no one's great grandparents could recognize it as food, it isn't natural!

@RecordStoreToughGuy: Thanks for that. I was wondering whether or not it had the syrupy taste.

I'd always though that most HFCS drinks tasted "thick".

Tried the Pepsi Throwback last week. Im normally not a Pepsi drinker, but what the heck. It was VERY enjoyable. Reminded me of the sodas I drank as a child in Colombia. It definitely didn't have that syrupy taste I dislike in Pepsi. Same for the Mt Dew Throwback. That tasted just like the Sundrops you find in glass bottles (usually sweetened with sugar instead of HCFS). Here is to hoping someone makes 7Up or Sprite with sugar now :o)

@bogartbrown: Here's the kicker: those who drink diet sodas aren't any less overweight than those who drink regular soda.

I'm betting it has something to do with the body releasing stuff to absorb calories when you eat something that tastes sweet (even with fake sugar). So if you have a diet soda with your meal, your body is still going to try to absorb the same amount of nutrients as if you were drinking regular. It's just that more of it has to come from the food than the drink with artificially sweetened beverages.

So the fuss is, if I'm going to drink something that will make me fat, it might as well not have a nasty aftertaste. I tried some kosher Coke with the family over Easter. My mother-in-law was skeptical, until she tried it. She said it tasted just like Coke used to when she was growing up. Which implies regular Coke tastes different (and inferior, judging by her response) now.

I have avoided HFCS products since I read about how many of them tested positive for goddamn mercury: [www.washingtonpost.com]
I have felt less Mad Hattery ever since.

In all seriousness, I've been trying not to ingest that stuff for a long time. I tend to avoid too much sugar as well, as diabeetus runs in the family. HFCS cannot be avoided, though, and the couple of times it has slipped by, I've noticed an "off" taste, checked the food label, and had my suspicions confirmed. That they use it in things like loaves of whole-grain bread is frigging disgusting.

@ngoandy: A friend of mine once said that fresh whole grain bread tasted "weird" compared to the processed white bread he was used to.

@rdm: Some of the gas stations/convenience stores in Michigan sells Mexican soda. Unfortunately, I've been drinking diet soda for so long that that regular soda tastes weird to me.

I pretty much gave up soda when they switched to HFCS, except for occasional visits to the taco truck for coke "en la botella"

In some ways I am thankful for HFCS, because it made kicking a soda habit really easy.

I am so searching my supermarkets tonight for Pepsi throwback. It has to be in Maryland by now, right?

@chipslave: "Water seems like a better option to me."

I bet you're a heck of a party host. Water with a side of organic lettuce. I never understood people who are so busy trying to extend their life that they forget to live it.

@theblackdog: I don't know where in MD you are, but in the immediate VA suburbs to DC, we found it in Target but not in Safeway, Giant, or Wegman's. So if you're between DC and Baltimore, try Target first. ;)

@GMFish: I have that problem. I grew up drinking Diet Coke because that's what my mom drinks all the time. Now my reaction is opposite the norm: when I drink normal Coke it tastes gross.

@ngoandy: Or really how we associate "chemical" with "manufactured" and "dangerous," and "natural" with "organic," "unadulterated," or even just "something I enjoy." Both of those words, chemical and natural, have lost and gained quite a lot of meaning over the years.

@ngoandy:

Serious, I'm in pakistan where I've been drinking the sugar made coke for a few months, and i found a 12 pack of American coke at the consulate and after drinking the American HFCS coke, i gotta say its alot better then the sugar stuff. The pepsi with sugar isnt bad though.

@GMFish:

Hmmm... some mighty bold assumptions there. Just because I don't want/need the 67g of sugar in a 20 oz bottle hardly means I serve water with organic lettuce.

I can't find the throwbacks anywhere. It's rather upsetting

I care! I avoid HFCS like the plague if at all possible.

@GMFish: who says they're not drinking tap water?

@GMFish:
Most likely I think she's busy trying to not let her teeth rot out of her head.

@neilb: I can assure you that all my great-grandparents recognized refined sugar, which comes from both sugarcane and beets, as food item.

@bogartbrown: You should read the slate article. It's got quite a bit of info.

I've never been convinced that HFCS is necessarily the worst thing in the world for you, but typical dietary habits in America are pretty definitely contributing to issues like diabetes. People don't seem to understand that drinking a 2 liter of coke is going to pump you full of sugar.

Anyway, there is a difference in sweetness profiles between cane sugar and Corn Syrup, and I generally prefer the cane sugar. Whole Foods sells those 365 brand sodas made with cane sugar (6 pack for like $2.70) and their store brand lemonade is also cane sugar sweetened. I pour 1/3 of a glass of that lemonade into chilled unsweetened black tea, and that stuff is DELICIOUS.

@TheTick: Really? I was very excited to try it and when I did it was so disappointing. Its like drinking regular Mt. Dew followed by a spoonful of sugar being shoved down your throat the after taste is so strong

I don't like drinking most sodas available in America because I grew up with sugar-sweetened sodas and HFCS has an odd taste and unpleasant mouthfeel to me. We haven't seen the Throwback sodas here yet and despite all our efforts, none of us were able to find any Kosher-for-Passover big-brand sodas, so I guess we'll be sticking with Jones.

I do. I don't like the taste of things sweetened with it (particularly the funky aftertaste), I don't like that it's a main ingredient in so many things, and I prefer sugar drinks, which taste much more smooth to me. With Dr Pepper, it seriously makes all the difference in the world (I thought I outgrew the drink in my early teen years, but it turns out that's when they switched over to HFCS - still can't stand the taste, at all, of the corn syrup version, but the sugar on tastes like childhood).

Then again, avoiding any highly processed, heavily concentrated sweetener is always going to be better for you in the long run. Regular corn syrup, not as bad... "high fructose" = super duper sweetened. Ugh.

@mrm514: I hear brushing helps.

@GMFish: Or maybe if you're going to consume 67g of sugar they'd rather eat it instead of just drinking it.

Hmmm...would my guests rather have chocolate truffles or caramel-colored water with fizzies? Decisions, decisions, decisions...

I have been buying up all the Dew Throwback in Sweetbay because I am the only one who appreciates the subtle goodness :)

Pepsi needs to make these permanent (and the other sodas as well...Mountain Dew Voltage w/sugar FTW) and I will drop Coke like a bad habit (which soda is...)