I’d seriously like to see some double-blind tests on how effectively people can tell the difference between artificial sweeteners and sugar.
Like, there have been some pretty damning studies on wine with double-blind tests that have shown that while people may well have a different experience with different wines, the desirability becomes pretty disconnected from price once the labels are out of the picture.
I can tell the difference between straight stevia and sugar, because that’s got a bit of a flavor. But for other sweeteners?
I don’t notice the difference between Diet Coke and regular Coke, and that’s one that people tend to say that they can, much less Coke Zero.
But, okay. Say some people legitimately can taste the difference between sugar and a specific sweetener.
I kind of wonder how practical it’d be for those mix-at-drink-time machines to let you choose not just the drink you’re using, but also the sweetener. Want aspartame, use aspartame. Want Splenda, use Splenda. Want cane sugar concentrate or corn syrup concentrate, use those.
I mean, it’s pretty common in the US to have several types of powdered sweetener for coffee, let the customer choose. I’d think that we could do it with liquid sweeteners in soda too. Hell, let people adjust how sweet they want the drink.
That would be interesting to see whether people can tell a difference, and more importantly if they care.
I can tell stevia, it tastes like metal. Like Brussels sprouts, a bit different though.
Sugar vs aspartame, has a different mouth feel. Aspartame is also metallic, but not as much as stevia.
Diet Coke leaves a nasty metallic taste in my mouth, can’t stand the stuff. Coke Zero on the other hand mostly tastes ok to me, unless I’m eating chocolate & then it gets a similar nasty aftertaste to it as well. Nearly all other soft drinks are now sugar free & I’ve not found one I like anymore, some I’ve even spat out on initial sip as they taste so rank to me.
Thankfully I’ve grown to like sparkling water the past few years, used to hate it, & often have that instead if I fancy something fizzy.
Classic lemonade also still seems to be available with sugar, which is nice as an occasional treat…
The old Coke Zero was amazing! It tasted closer to regular Coke without the extra sweetness that sugared colas have (regular colas taste like pancake syrup to me.) I was disappointed a few years ago when they tweaked the flavor. I think they sweetened it a little more to bring it closer to Pepsi’s level of sweetness, which I don’t particularly care for. After a year of not tasting the old formula of Coke Zero, the new one is ok. So really it’s probably for the best since I drink less of it now lol (good goin Coke lol.)
I personally find it quite easy to differentiate between different artificial sweeteners.
I also used to be on a medication with a mild interaction with phenylalanine, which is in aspartame, so I could tell if I drank something with that.
I can absolutely taste aspartame (Which just so happens to be in just about EVERYTHING marketed as Zero Sugar/Diet)
It’s disgusting to me, leaves a nasty chemically metal taste I can pick up on instantly. And yes, others have tried giving it to me blind i.e. Somebody getting me a drink I expect to be regular mt dew or something and they give me the “Zero sugar”/diet version and I can tell immediately.
Soda is soda, it’s bad for you regardless of if it’s “Zero sugar”/diet so if you’re going to drink it you might as well just drink the real stuff (Unless you can’t for health reasons like diabetes)
I was so excited for the Hard Mt Dew, but then they ruined it by only having the ENTIRE line as “Zero sugar” ugh.
Teknikal@lemm.ee 5 months ago
Are you actually saying some people don’t get that horrible aftertaste because It’s very obvious to me and there’s no way to mistake it.
I was close to vomiting when I noticed it in “supposedly Normal” Pepsi recently that leaves coca cola as the sole one I think think hasn’t done it yet. When that’s gone I guess I’m stuck with water.
smeg@feddit.uk 5 months ago
I don’t drink many fizzy drinks anymore but I don’t recall ever getting a horrible aftertaste, maybe it’s one of those things like asparagus that only affects some people