New Diet Coke Flavors - a Review

Ok, I know this blog is supposed to be all about diabetes. But show me a Type 1 who isn't addicted in some form to their favorite Diet Soda Of Choice, and I'll show you a liar. *

I myself prefer Diet Dr. Pepper above Diet Coke. But I will take a nice cold DC any day of the week, and if you say "Is Diet Pepsi OK?" you will get a "No, please bring me some water." Which always makes the server die a little, because, you know, tips.**

So...Diet Coke has 4 new flavors. Ginger Lime, Zesty Blood Orange, Feisty Cherry and Twisted Mango.  To be fair, my store did not have the Mango one. So I will not include that in my review. I got 2 cans of each, one for me and one for my husband, who drinks more Diet Coke than I do. His opinions are included.

First up:

Ginger Lime

Expectation: I love lime in my DC. I love ginger. I will love this.

Reality: I cannot taste the lime - like at all. There is a stronger ginger flavor, and while I do love me some ginger, it tastes a bit like someone just added ginger ale to your Diet Coke. So actually, this would be great for sick days, when you need some ginger ale to settle your stomach, and diet ginger ale can be hard to find sometimes. But oh, how it tastes so good when you are throwing up or nauseated. (Don't forget to check for ketones in that situation, folks!) But this? Really really needs more lime. Pass.

Husband: I have a theory that ginger and lime are ALREADY in the flavor of DC. They had the correct balance, and here they just screwed it up. Do I have to finish this can?

Second in line:

Zesty Blood Orange

Expectation: I was looking forward to this one since I do like an orange slice in my DC. If you want to watch your server do a double take, ask for DC with orange instead of lemon or lime. (My brother in law taught me that)

Reality:  This does NOT taste like DC with an orange slice in it. This tastes like someone went to the fountain drink dispenser at your favorite restaurant and mixed the Diet Coke and the Fanta orange.  If you like Fanta orange, or you like the taste of mixed flavors that your 10 year old makes himself at the cool soda machine, you will like this drink. Again, I will pass.

Husband: Can I just drink regular Diet Coke? This is bad.

Third up:

Feisty Cherry

Expectation: I generally hate cherry sodas, so I don't see why this would be any better. I expect to hate it.

Reality: Yep. Blech. Bad.

Husband: Tastes like someone mixed Diet Coke with grape soda. Worst of the bunch.  The "feistiness" is terrible.


I am less excited to try the Mango one now. I will still try it, you know, in the interests of science, and my friend who tried them today says she'd drink it again, so maybe it's the best one of the bunch.  I kept googling to find out when these were going to hit my area, and no dates were ever given, but I did read that these were invented to appeal to La Croix drinkers.

So I bought some La Croix to try, and well, these are not going to appeal to La Croix drinkers. La Croix drinkers are the same people who order club soda and lime on airplanes. La Croix has very little flavor, but isn't bad once you add some sweetener. I myself added Truvia, feel free to dump the real sugar in, should your pancreas oblige.

I don't know WHY the good people at Diet Coke didn't call me to test their flavors. Or anyone in the Type 1 community, really. I make much better drinks at home, just with Torani syrups. Squeeze a lime, add some coconut syrup - yum. Splash of vanilla - divine. Or again, just squeeze a little bit of an orange into it. Delicious.

Am I giving up Diet Coke?  Not even a little bit. Am I going to buy these again?  Not even once.

The new can is cool, though.



*They're like people who say they aren't Journey fans. Liars, all of them. I grudgingly admit there might be a few out there, but Type 1's do take their diet soda seriously.

**Water is better for you. I know this. But it is not that tasty.