Diet Coke is the secret ingredient to my life….
Except it's really not a secret. (Sorry, not sorry!) Anyway, I decided to go ahead and compare the different varieties of my favorite beverage, especially since I've noticed the whole "share a Coke with.." campaign is making a comeback for the summer! Anyway, I decided this blog could be a sounding board for my random observations on life, and if anyone has some expertise on which Diet Coke is best, I'm probably that person! I have some pretty random opinions on this subject, but I'm not an isolated subject. Ask anyone who's a serious Diet Coke drinker, and they too will have some pretty strong opinions on which way is the best. I'm pretty sure we can rival the precocious coffee drinkers at Starbucks. So here it is, my definitive ranking of which way is best!
7.
Diet Pepsi
I had to include this because it serves as a replacement for my favorite beverage, but not really! Sometimes you just have to go to places that serve Pepsi products.
6.
Bottles
Generally this is what you will encounter any time you buy from a machine or food vendor if they don't have fountain drinks. Gone are the days of cans from soda machines! Bottles are great in a pinch, or on the go. They really hit the spot after a long day walking around Disneyland, or Comic Con. Pretty much the only time I go for these is when I'm traveling, and have no access to other forms of my favorite beverage.
This is my least favorite type, right next to flat, watery, or hot, and let me tell you why. After you drink about half the bottle, pretty much all the carbonation is gone. Not to mention, due to the very nature of the places I normally purchase them, these are usually ridiculously overpriced. It's like three bucks from a vending machine.
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| Now that these are back, if I find a ridiculous name, I will be buying. Because they're funny! |
5.
12 oz cans
This is my go-to. At any point in time you can count on me having a good supply of these in my fridge, and on a shelf somewhere in my house! This comes from the fact that I live close to Costco, and it's pretty easy/cheap to stock up on their 36-pack. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) this habit has spilled over into my work environment. In my defense, I'm not the only person at my office who likes this stuff! Anyway, these taste different than the plastic bottle kind. That probably means something in the metal can is leaching into it, and I'm now conditioned to love that flavor! Haha. (If you can't tell, I'm referencing all the nay-sayers who keep saying this stuff gives you cancer. Who knows, it probably does… sad.)
Anyway, I really only like the regular kind. Don't go messing up my flavor with additives like lemon or lime! Basically it tastes like a little bit of lysol in my Coke. No thanks. Vanilla and cherry, however, are both acceptable additives in the cans.
4.
Freestyle Machine
You know, these guys.
They are fancy, allow for total user control, and contain literally almost any beverage combination you can think of (even some you really don't want). My major beef with them is that everything comes out the same spout. That means that everything kinda gets mixed together, meaning you might get a hint of the last guy's orange raspberry Hawaiian punch mixed in with your Dr. Pepper, or whatever. That's just gross. Same goes for fountain dispensers that combine four sodas into one spout. Those are a little less offensive to me because usually they combine similar things into one, like all Coke products, or all Mountain Dews.
3.
Movie Theaters
Arguably one of the most expensive places to buy, well, anything. However, getting a fountain drink goes hand-in-hand with my movie-going experience, and really is more essential to me than movie theater popcorn. Thanks to my cinaphile-ness, I have a refill cup for Megaplex, so drinks are only a dollar. Sweet!
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| Don't worry, I have a matching Avenger's cup! |
2.
Fountain Drinks
Without much argument, this is the best form! This includes restaurants, as well as gas stations. I will go one step further and say that the plastic refill cups are great, but for some reason the foam cups you get from Sonic (and now Maverick) just taste better!
1.
Dirty Fountain Drinks
This is the holy grail of diet coke! Basically you take the awesomeness of a fountain drink, and you add different things to them. My favorite combination is coconut and lime, but sometimes this is a little bit difficult to find at gas stations. I do, however, have my own set of flavor shots at home to make up for the deficiency. Thanks to Utah's general addiction to the beverage, a whole line of convenience stores have sprung up to cater to our needs which provide any number of flavor shots to a variety of drinks. Because of its proximity to my new office, Swig has become my go-to stop for coconut lime drinks.
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| Rainy Friday afternoon? Better get a Big Al and a sugar cookie! |
In addition to all of this, I also recently discovered that Diet Coke is the best beverage for generating soda and mento explosions! Thanks to Myth Busters, I now really want to test this out in my yard.
Anyway, thanks for allowing me to impart my wisdom on you poor unsuspecting readers!
