Which Sugary Soda is better?

By: Mark Deutsch

The best soda always wins. (Credit: cnn.com)

What do Pepsi and Coca Cola have in common? It is that they are both primarily known for the soda brands that they market. There has been an ongoing debate about which brand of soda is better. So, what’s the better type of soda: Pepsi or Cola?

First off, let’s determine the actual similarities that these two types of sodas share. There is more to it than just that dark amber liquid and ingredients that make up the drinks as a whole.

Both drinks have the usual components to making a soda, namely caffeine, sugar, and carbonated water. These are the three essential parts that have to be included, otherwise soda wouldn’t be that different from flavored seltzer water.

These are the ingredients that most people are unaware of, unless they decided to read the label when they were bored. These factors are responsible for the taste and some of the sweetness when it hits the taste buds.

One component would be the high fructose corn syrup that is responsible for part of that sweetness that a person tastes. Caramel coloring is also responsible for the color of the soda, and probably affects the taste of the sweetness as well.

Both drinks contain a small amount of sodium that fluctuates among the different sizes of the bottles, from ounces to liters, which is not counting beverage dispensing machines.

To clarify, no ounces or liters of sodium is being mixed into the drinks, and its is probably just a small amount of sodium that is being added. Then again, at least about thirty to forty milligrams of the stuff is in each bottle, so drinking too much soda is probably not a good thing.

Both drinks have phosphoric acid listed as being part of their contents, while only Pepsi has citric acid in its mix. These are basically the elements that make up both sodas, from the sugar to the acids, that everyone loves.

Full disclosure—I think that Coke is better than Pepsi, but there is room for a constructive argument about what is really better.

First off, there have been many contests about what drink is better, although there seems to be no consensus that is just about the ordinary brands. Otherwise, while both sodas may look the same outside of their respective bottles, and even sharing nearly almost the same sweet ingredients, there is of course a taste difference.

What is problematic about said citric acid is that ingesting some of it will cause tooth decay if not taken care of by brushing teeth. While citric acid helps preserve drinks and prolong shelf-life, it causes a difference in flavor.

By not using the citric acid in Cola, it makes it better to some people, although there are probably preservatives in the soda that aren’t listed.

Then there’s the fact that Pepsi has slightly more sugar than Coke, which is probably why people found Pepsi to be better than Coke.

Yet, there is enough of a difference that people will favor Coke, though it all depends on the taste and the person’s preference.

In short, despite the fact that the basic ingredients of both the regular sodas are similar, a difference can be tasted to form an opinion about it.

The facts have been laid out that enough detail has been provided to backup any basic facts about the differences in the contents.