Sugar-soda aficionados seek out Kosher for Passover and Mexican versions due to the lack of HFCS, and Pepsi has been experimenting with sugar-sweetened versions of their soft drinks overseas. (See: Pepsi Raw)
From Beverage Industry Magazine:
In the middle of April, PBV also will begin distributing Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, which features those brands formulated with sugar.
Are you excited?
Coming Soon: Pepsi Throwback, Mountain Dew Throwback [BevReview] (Thanks, Hank Scorpio!)
]]>I don't do anything with HFCS,Will stock up on Both Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback ,have missed my Cola,wished they sold Kosher Coke here!Been Drinking my Jack with water for so long now!
]]>*like anything else, moderation. yes, natural can be good for you. natural can also kill you.
]]>Heh, "experimenting overseas." All Pepsi products in Canada are sweetened with sugar, always have been... and Canada gets almost all the different version of Pepsi products, just in sugar versions.
]]>Worth noting: All beverages tapped on glass bottles will taste better provided that the beverage does not taste better with added plastic. Glass does not "leak" its molecules the way that plastic does.
]]>The difference between HFCS and cane sugar sodas is astounding. Sugar tastes better and it just leaves you with a full feeling when you finish one. I hope some of the other soda makers start to mainstream this stuff and just kill the HFCS market by demand for the Throwbacks.
]]>This is kind of exciting to me since they cut out the cane sugar before I was born in these soft drinks. Would really like to taste what it should be.
]]>Down here in New Zealand there's a brand called Royal Crown Draft Cola, and while it comes in a smaller bottle for the same price the quality of it is worth it as it actually contains Cane Sugar. Which they in fact point out in the ingrediants label. Also after recently drinking a lot of the Grapefruit and Cranberry sodas I just can't find the taste in Coke anymore and only drink it at fast food places.
]]>I'm sorry, but this is incorrect. Coke already used HFCS (it wasn't completely HFCS back then though) before New Coke was introduced.
]]>But yeah... Dublin Dr. Pepper is real sugar as well... you see that stuff sold a lot in the Metroplex, and I hear it's worth it (not a big Dr. Pepper fan myself, so I never really tried it).
Mexican coke always scared me because of the water :P
But I have heard it's really good, might have to brave it and try it.
(I am sure the water is fine, it's just the mental connection.)
I'm excited about Pepsi Throwback. Since cane sugar isn't as sweet tasting as HFCS, the taste of the syrup will come through rather than the mouth-numbing corn sugar. I don't drink a lot of soda. I like to save it as an occasional treat. That's why I can't wait for my favorite sodas with real sugar in them.
]]>@LilyCadish: You can get Coke with sugar in it where I live, but it's imported from Mexico.
]]>I'm pretty sure people are brainwashed into indifference rather than thinking good or bad about it, and that's one of the problems that the opponents of HFCS have with it.
]]>i found this one in bruges but i didn't have any reason to purchase it and find out what it tasted like.
]]>Damn. Not a Hepsi Cola Drinker (and yes the H was intentional.... wink, wink) but I might be willing to switch and take a risk if I can drink real sugar water.
]]>Cane sugar is definitely the way to go. While for the most part I'm content to put up with the HFCS, every now and then I'll pick up a half dozen Jones ([www.jonessoda.com]) which is probably the best cane-sugar sweetened cola I've ever had. As soon as Pepsi releases these, I'll be making the switch, regardless of the higher price.
]]>@Brain.wav: They have it in my local Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Safeway, Raley's... should be availavle. The mandarin (or is it tangerine?) lime is fantastic.
]]>@Socially_Inept_But_Not_Baby_Crazy: FuFu Berry is the greatest beverage ever made.
Well, at least in the Top 10
]]>@domesticdork: This is accurate. it is HFCS in Canada, they just don't have the same labeling regulation.
]]>People eat unnatural, processed food in enormous quantities compared to the amount of natural, unprocessed food consumed. If we ate organic chicken and fresh vegetables in a quantity comparable to the amount of McDonald's the average American shoves down their gullet every year, I would imagine we'd still have an obesity problem.
I'm not seeing any evidence that HFCS has a significantly different impact on human physiology than any other sugar product. Drinking 64 oz of sugar-sweetened Pepsi instead of HFCS-sweetened isn't going to magically be healthier for you on any level. You're still consuming loads of sugar and empty calories, and the end health result is going to be the same.
]]>@girlleastlikelyto: No, I'm implying that these "bodegas" are most likely fronts for some sort of drug cartel.
And yes, for the record, I was kidding.
]]>What marketing genius thought up the name "throwback"? That's awful.
They should have called it Pepsi or Mountain Dew Classic or Original, or something like that...
]]>Consumerist moderator Roz? I think this one warrants disemvoweling.
]]>What's probably happening is that the bottles are being reused. They can be returned for a redemption value. The old bottles have the old logos on them but fresh product inside.
]]>dude - you got it all wrong. while true that the US govt subsidizes CORN GROWERS, the govt does NOT subsidize the production of HFCS. (corn is used in most of the world's food supply, for goodness sakes.)the other hidden gem is that the US govt protects US cane sugar prices (and their growers) with subsidies AND price supports, hence cane sugar will always be higher in the US than world market cane sugar prices or HFCS.
]]>I know there have been a ton of people saying that Diet sodas can make you gain weight as well... I haven't seen that. I've been drinking around 6 cans a day for 9 years and have lost and kept my weight off. Of course, I will probably die of some neurological disorder associated with the sweetener but oh well.
I have no sympathy for the obese that ask me what they shouldn't be eating, then say, "Well, I have to have my Coke. I can't stand that diety aftertaste."
I've met quite a lot of people that have no problem admitting to me that they would rather be dangerously obese than stomach a diety aftertaste. (Or you know, forego soda altogether and drink regular water, like our species was intended to do.)
]]>let me educate you: what you call "real sugar" comes in liquid "syrup" form for food mfg.
]]>uh, HFCS is sugar. their parents need to buy them a toothbrush.
]]>@ckaught78:
Im in Colorado and ours carry the Mexican Coke with real sugar. Its a regularly carried item. Just a tip for the Costco shoppers unless its marked with a * mark, it will be regularly carried (tip learned from one of the employees when I was wondering if they were ever going to get rid of it)
You can have our sugar and drink it too if you're smart. Doesn't even take much effort really.
]]>This has more quality for me than a HFCS product, so I'm willing to pay more for it. Happily.
But I'm a Mt Dew junkie. I usually drink 3-4 liters per week.
]]>You know, when Coke decided to ditch Coke Classic, and bring out the "New Coke"
Oh people cried and begged for them to bring back the old coke.
So after being off the marker for a bit, they brought back Coke Classic. (Oh, well not exactly - they took away the sugar & put in high fructose corn syrup instead..... and since people lost the "taste" of it for a short bit, most never noticed the difference!
So now you know the true story of New Coke. (it was to trick the public in the switch from sugar to high fructose corn syrup)
]]>HFCS tends to add a "warm thick taste" cause it's a syrup. Real sugar doesn't do this giving the soda a more crisp, cold taste.
Much better.
]]>sugar is bad for you. hcfs might be worse, but that only makes sugar the lesser of two evils.
]]>Thank goodness there's always H.E.B. down here... and Fiesta Mart as well.
]]>I can't wait to taste Pepsi "throwback" (sorry, but I hate that name- reminds me of "backwash") and see if it affects my desire for sweets or feelings of hunger differently.
]]>Man, do I love H.E.B. for their vast amount of Mexican sodas on the soda aisle... they have MexiCoke as well as Jarritos (many flavors), Barrilitos (also many flavors), and my beloved, BELOVED Sidral Mundet. All made with sugar. All crazy delicious.
]]>"Digesting sucrose requires the production of an enzyme called sucrase, which breaks the bond between the glucose molecule and the fructose molecule. Because the body regulates its production of sucrase, it can only digest sucrose at a certain rate. Because digesting HFCS does not require sucrase, the rate at which it is digested is not similarly regulated by the body"
Also, the bit about what was it, something like 55% of commercial products that list HFCS as their first or second ingredient containing trace amounts of mercury. Good stuff, that.
]]>@Marc Melton: its sugar in canada too!
]]>@boomersix: a little thick, but the price is right
]]>I am very excited about this development. I've been hoping for it for years.
]]>"Retro", "Classic" or "Flashback" would be better names than "Throwback".
]]>Dammit. Now I am craving it. Thanks a lot.
~tracy, sneaking out of work to go get some CostCoke at the corner AM\PM
]]>NOOOO NOT NEGROES!
In Soviet Union, racial epithets use you!
]]>@Thanatos: The old Mountain Dew seemed fizzier. The new stuff is kind of flat. :/
]]>@Mark Zukowski: Yep, I sometims buy soda there. I don't drink pop often, but I like the eral sugar ones.
]]>HFCS is a terrible substitute for sugar and I'm glad the cola companies are looking at this seriously, even if it's only a niche limited time product. Niche products are how we wound up with diet soda drinks, cherry coke, and similar successes.
]]>I came from a former soviet state, where there were no local private businesses, and any private businesses were usually from overseas, such as the USA.
Here are a few example.
Europe
The first pizza hut I went to was basically a 2 floor restaurant with the smoking section in the basement and non-smoking up top. There was a full bar, with alcohol. There were waiters bussing the wrought iron tables and there were tables outside, on the street, as any such cafe. The menu obviously contained pizza. This was housed in a historic building that was about 300 years old (older than the USA).
USA
A rundown and dark brick shack, it was a real HUT, with a plastic red roof. The tables were wooden and creaky and dirty. The booths against the walls were PLASTIC. The establishment had NO windows. There were 2 beaners making pizza.
McDonalds
Europe
Granite countertops, beer. Iron tables. Salad bar. Marble tiles on the floor. They also sold pizza and hotdogs, italian ice, and italian soda. The burgers were served on bread that was made with yeast. It actually looked like the burgers in the commercials...shocking !!
USA
Semi run down joint, plastic counter top. Plastic tables, plastic booths and plastic chairs that you could not move. Slack-jawed beaners and negroes. It was recently shut down for failing health inspections. The burgers were made on the cheap with baking-soda bread...
Pepsi/Coca Cola
It contained sugar, it was always Ice cold served to you in a cold glass bottle thats also frosted. If you were at a restaurant, you got a glass. You could buy 6 packs at some stores.
USA
Plastic containers with cheap labels, HFCS...nuff said.
The only businesses that I have seed that had the same quality was subway. The only difference was that the bread was smaller.
My local supermarket was bought by the piggly wiggly and they are changing it cosmetically.
The sode is actually becoming real soda once more.
Maybe they'll clean up the fast food places...
]]>@HogwartsAlum: +1 for dentist.
]]>@johnva:
The United States generally has import restrictions in place on cane sugar to promote corn based sweeteners.
Even with corn prices up so high, it probably was still more expensive to import cane sugar.
]]>I stock up when Coke makes kosher-for-Passover soda with cane sugar, and then I pretty much don't drink soda the rest of the year.
]]>@HogwartsAlum: I had the feeling someone was gonna mention that :p
]]>Can you cite this?
]]>Lady1: Want a tall glass of this chemical sludge?
Lady2: No thanks, it has HFCS.
Lady1: What's wrong with HFCS?
Lady2: Duhhh...where am I?
GOD I HATE THAT F#@$ING COMMERCIAL!!!
]]>I had a friend who worked in a theatre, and he refused to drink soda because he said they used it to clean the popcorn machines. Apparently it cleans out all that sticky butter from the microscopic pores of the metal. Yikes! (Not sure how true that is.)
]]>@Gann: Not just Mexican Cola, but pretty much all Jarritos in general - there is nothing like a toronja (grapefruit) soda with salsa and chips.
]]>re: New can.
...7-Up drinkers offered a sample from a bottle with a distinctly more yellowish label believe the flavor to be more lemony, although it wasn't.
;^)
]]>HFCS is similar to sugar and cheaper than sugar.
BUT:
1) HFCS causes you to feel like you are hungry
2) HFCS causes you to feel like you need sweets
so: HFCS, if used in moderation may be the same as sugar, but it has an addictive element to it that makes it not at all like sugar and more like low grade nicotine with out the lung/mouth/throat cancer side effects.
I think there are a lot more side effects the HFCS lobby doesn't want you to know about but those jump to the top of my list.
]]>(It was kind of the worst day ever when we found that out.)
]]>@Kyattsuai: The logo has been bugging me also. And either their marketing team is extremely uncoordinated (new logo! throwback logo!) or very crafty. Hmmm.
]]>(forgot the link, sorry)
]]>Best way to avoid it is to a) read the labels of everything, like you said, and b) cook your own food from raw staple ingredients most of the time. The latter is a good idea for many reasons beyond just HFCS.
]]>Can you say bodega? Bo-de-ga.
]]>@Brain.wav: Have you tried Hansen's Cane Soda recently? It's about $.50 a can, but they have a really good Mandarin Lime, and their Root Beer is one of the best I've tasted. Mango Orange is pretty good, as is their Vanilla Cola, but stay away from the Pomegranite, and Key Lime Twist.
]]>@Brain.wav: I was just about to say that - I loooove Jones Soda, but it $4 for a bottled 4 pack!! I have found it in cans at WalMart, but only in a few flavors, and not FuFu Berry, which is like drinking liquid love.
]]>This will all go away very soon. Coke is putting the clamps down on the mexicoke distributors. Their contracts preclude them from importing sugar based coke to the US. Americans are only allowed tooth-rotting poison.
]]>Me, too. Diet Pepsi for the win!
]]>As a Michigander who's spent many a mile behind beet trucks, I *heart* beet sugar! I much enjoy stimulating those who are close to me.
]]>Beat me by a minute.
]]>Coca-Cola Company are you reading this? I for one may consider switching to Pepsi Throwback if you are not.
]]>@Marc Melton: The grocery store in a Hispanic part of town here has Mexican Coca-Cola that's made with cane sugar and sold in glass bottles.
]]>@ckaught78: Wow, I might get a Costco card just for that reason. If it's in LA, it's probably in Vegas too, right? Or I could just take a trip over the border and stock up on pharmaceuticals as well.
"Your credit card company called and wanted to make sure you were the one ordering cream soda in bulk."
]]>After I realized this I pretty much stopped buying Jones Soda, since I feel like their branding of "PURE CANE SODA" is a lie. I would hardly call chemically processed cane sugar "pure".
]]>@invisiblenemies: Maybe "Pepsi Backwash"?
]]>I know I'm personally looking forward to it, and hoping it's something that will outlast the shelflife of the "limited edition" products, like Kosher Pepsi. That would literally be sweet! :)
]]>@jswilson64: Because people are brainwashed into thinking it is bad?
I'll stick to my calorie-free, aspartame laden drinks.
]]>Also, there is a new study claiming that for overweight individuals, fructose increases triglyceride levels after a meal more than glucose does. I don't know enough about the area to know what the scientific consensus on that is, but it seems that it's at least possible that there may be different metabolic effects. Of course, that wouldn't be limited to HFCS, but it would call into question the idea that there is "no metabolic difference" between it and regular corn syrup, which has been the line of the Corn Refiner's Association.
]]>Now while soda companies are at it I hope Vernors can go back to the original recipe and higher carbonation level.
]]>@joeblevins: The problem with the price of sugar in the US is the government is keeping the price high so US sugar companies dont leave. Thats why candy makers have moved to Canada. It is cheaper to buy sugar in Canada because you don't pay the higher price the US government has imposed on sugar.
]]>Sweetened with cane sugar or beet sugar? CANE SUGAR 4 LYFE *gangsign*
]]>For cola goodness, I'll stick to the Red Bull Simply Cola, once drinking that, there's no going back.
]]>(Oh, and you're welcome!)
]]>i can't wait to get my pepsi and mountain dew throwback jerseys as well. of course with matching fitted and sneakers.
]]>But those commercials say HFCS isn't bad! Why would they need to do this!?!?!?
]]>@lpranal: So, you mean HFCS is a closet homosexual with no talent?
]]>@CharlieWideout: I'm pretty confident that's old product on those shelves. Best of luck.
]]>I've offered a bottle to so many guests to our house and each of them practically freaks out at how good it is and/or how much it reminds them of how sodas used to taste.
]]>But yeah, i'm psyched. when I do drink soda (which is 1 can a week, max) I'd like it to actually taste like i'm drinking something at least loosely based off of real foods. HFCS is like the Ryan Seacrest of the sweetner world- completely without personality or taste.
]]>Sugar is more expensive to bottlers than HFCS. HFCS production benifits from incredible government subsidies to artificially lower its price. If we were to open our trade borders with Cuba, we would be back in a position of having cheaper sugar in our drinks.
]]>This is great, hopefully they'll sell better than the HFCS ones. I can dream ...
Yeah you can get Mexican Coke, Pepsi, Squirt, etc., from Mexico and Central and South America in many bodegas. And it's usually in bottles with the classic old logos, though I got a 10 oz. bottle of sugary coke with the misbegotten "vomiting e" New Coke logo recently.
]]>Costco usually sells bottled Coke from Mexico made with real sugar. Tastes much better.
]]>