Fizzy favourites Pepsi and Coca Cola have not lost their sparkle in the cost of living crisis, with an independent panel ranking them first and second in the cola taste test.
Both the market leaders have their fans, but consumer group Which? found that Pepsi pipped Coca Cola to the post in the blind taste test, which even made panellists sit in private booths to make sure they did not influence their colleagues.
The big two were also pitted against six supermarket own-brand colas, with one coming out just under Coca Cola and costing less than a quarter of the price - potentially saving £91.52 a year if you get through one big bottle each week. It's also a good choice if you're looking to cut sugar consumption, as it has less than half the sugar content of the big brands.
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The drinks were taste tested last month by 67 consumers who regularly buy and drink cola. The drinks were rated on taste, mouthfeel, aroma and appearance to come up with an overall mark out of 100. The taste test was blind, so the panellists didn’t know which brand they were trying and the order in which they sampled the colas was fully rotated to avoid any bias. Each panellist even had a private booth so they couldn’t discuss what they were tasting or be influenced by others.
Here's the results of the three Which? rated to be the best buys:
1. Pepsi (£2.15 for 2L, 11p per 100ml)
Pepsi just edged it to the top of the pops, scoring 70% . The highest proportion of tasters rated it as having just the right amount of fizziness, and it was spot-on for most in terms of flavour and sweetness.
2. Coca Cola Original (£2.25 for 1.75L, 13p per 100ml)
Coke fans scored their drink of choice at 68%, only marginally behind Pepsi. Most of the panel thought it had the right amount of carbonation and cola flavour, and found it sweet enough without being sickly. It comes at a premium though – it's the priciest on test.
3. Aldi Vive Cola (49p for 2L, 3p per 100ml)
Coming in at only 1% behind Coke at 67% Aldi's bargain cola was described by Which? as 'a savvy pick'. Most tasters found it had the right strength of flavour, but one in four found it overpowering. It's a good choice if you love a punchy cola taste.
The best of the rest were:
4. Morrisons Cola (79p for 2L, 4p per 100ml)
While not judged to be a best buy, eight in 10 of the tasters loved the colour of this Morrisons cola, though the panel were split on whether it had the right level of cola flavour, sweetness and carbonation. At 67% it's not far off the top scorers, and less than half the price of branded options, so it's worth a try if you're nearer to a Morrisons than an Aldi.
5. Asda Cola (70p for 2L, 4p per 100ml)
Most of the panel thought this had the ideal level of sweetness, though half of them said it wasn't quite fizzy enough or had a strong enough cola flavour. It scored 66%.
6. Lidl Freeway Cola (47p for 2L, 2p per 100ml)
Nearly half the tasters thought this drink could be sweeter and taste more strongly of cola, but the fizziness and colour were just about right. It scored 65%
7. Sainsbury's Cola (65p for 2L, 3p per 100ml)
This drink could be fizzier and a little stronger, according to the panel, though they did rate its level of sweetness and the appealing dark brown colour. It scored 65%
8. Tesco Cola (70p for 2L, 4p per 100ml)
At the bottom of the table, Tesco cola fell down on colour – it was deemed too pale by most of the panel – and two-thirds of tasters found the flavour too weak. It scored 58%.
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But the survey found that if you're looking to cut your sugar intake, own brands are the best choice. While Coca-Cola and Pepsi both contain more than 27g of sugar per 250ml serving – nearly the whole daily maximum recommended limit for adults (30g) – supermarket colas typically come in at less than half the sugar content. After carbonated water, sugar is the second-highest listed ingredient on all the colas; some also contain additional sugars, such as glucose-fructose syrup.
Here's how they stack up per 100ml:
- Pepsi 11g sugar
- Coca-Cola 10.6g
- Aldi 4.9g
- Morrisons 4.8g
- Asda 4.5g
- Lidl 4.8g
- Sainsbury's 4.8g
- Tesco 4.7g
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