In our house growing up, we didn't have much soda. Dad liked Pepsi, so there was almost always a bottle or two of it in the fridge. But we weren't allowed to pop one open and pour ourselves a glass. We knew we had to ask Dad, and the answer was usually "No" because it was too close to dinner, we were going somewhere, and so forth. Occasionally, though, Dad relented and said we could have a sip or two. Back in those days, there were no diet sodas—not that we knew of, anyway—so what we drank was straight up water, sugar, coloring and carbonation. But, boy, was that good!
As we got older, we'd occasionally get out to McDonald's or someplace where we could order a soda to drink with our meal. I never knew nor cared whether it was Coke or Pepsi—it was soda and it was goood!
Sometime in my teens, I had gone with some friends to McDonald's for lunch. I don't know whether it was because it was hot or what, but that Coke had so much fizz and provided so much refreshment. I decided that Coke was the best and Pepsi could go and [insert bad scenario] itself.
However, during a visit to Knott's Berry Farm one time, I'd gotten a meal with a large Pepsi, which they served at the time (they've since switched to Coke). That Pepsi was sooo good and really hit the spot. No issues with Pepsi. It was good stuff.
At some point, though, I decided I liked Coke better. However, in 1985, Coca-Cola changed the formula, creating what they called "New Coke." It was sweeter and didn't seem to have the bite that "old" Coke did. Coke fans cried out and the company brought back "Coke Classic," supposedly the original formula. What had actually happened was that Coca-Cola had switched to sweetening its namesake beverage from cane sugar to high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a less expensive sweetener. The so-called "Coke Classic" claimed to be made from the original Coca-Cola formula, but it remained being sweetened with HFCS. I'm sure they just tweaked a few things. But I drank it anyway.
Once I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, I had to drink diet soda. At first, I liked Diet Pepsi better than Diet Coke. To me, it tasted closer to regular Pepsi than Diet Coke did to regular Coke. Over time, though, I developed a taste for Diet Coke and have stuck to it ever since.
I mentioned above that the Coke I had at McDonald's seemed to have more fizz and taste better than at other places. As it turns out, that really is the case. Read here to see why.
Today, there are the infamous Coke Freestyle machines popping up all over. You've probably seen one of these in a restaurant and probably used it. They're the standard drink dispenser in a few fast food chains.
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| Coca-Cola Freestyle machine |
If you're a soda fan, these may be the greatest machines ever built! More than a hundred different beverages are dispensed by these machines, ranging from flavored water, soda, sports drinks and so forth. Even Pepsi has jumped on the bandwagon and created a similar machine of their own.
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| Pepsi Spire machine |
As of this writing, fewer of the Pepsi Spire machines are available in my area, but more will likely make their way into use over time. The option of creating your own custom drinks has become quite popular. But there are a few drawbacks. Both of these machines require quite a bit of maintenance, which can be costly and cumbersome. The inconvenience of being out of certain flavors can upset guests.
I've seen the inside of a Coke Freestyle machine, and it reminds me of the inside of a color laser printer. There are cartridges for each flavor and they're replaced simply by pulling out the old one and inserting a new one. Here are a couple of photos that I found online that show what the inner workings of a Freestyle machine look like. I'm going to guess that the Spire machine is similar.
Looks kinda complicated, huh?
At one time, I figured that when I became rich and famous (well, rich, anyway), I'd get myself a Freestyle machine and put it in my family room. But one day I came across a Coke representative who was servicing a machine and had a very interesting conversation with him. It seems that the machines run about $20,000 to buy, and at least $300 per month for soda and syrup. Nope, not gonna happen at my house. I'll stick to bottles and cans for now. At least I can recycle those.
When all is said and done, I should probably stop drinking soda. More and more, we're learning about what actually goes into it—and it's not good. I do know that my own consumption is much less than it used to be, but ideally, I should give it up. Perhaps in time, but I do enjoy it. Most likely, I'll wean myself off of it slowly.
But like I've pointed out many times with most things in my life, you never know...
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