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Top 10 Discontinued Soda Drinks We Miss (Part 3)
Don’t you hate it when your favorite soda pop disappears from the shelf at your local supermarket? You cry rivers of tears, and nothing helps bring back the sweet fizzy drink that you couldn’t get enough of. Here are the Top 10 Discontinued Soda Drinks We Miss (Part 3).
10. Coca-Cola Lime
Coca-Cola has one of the most loyal followings of any brand. Coke is one of those things that people can’t live without. The addition of lime to Coca-Cola seems to make sense when you think about it. Who doesn’t love the flavor of lime added to almost anything? A few squirts of lime can turn a boring piece of seafood into something edible. That’s saying quite a bit since everyone knows that fish tastes so bad that you need to use something to cover up its flavor. A little bit of lime goes a long way and that’s why just a quick spritz is all it takes to transform any dish into pure excitement. How in the world did Coca-Cola Lime fail? Could it be that people preferred to go through all of the hard work of cutting lime and squeezing a few precious drops of juice into their Coke? No way, come on, man, we live in a world where the people are so lazy, ordering a pizza using your voice over the phone is too much work. Anyone who considered themselves a fan of Coca-Cola Lime knows how life-shattering it was to no longer be able to find it on the shelf. If you’re a fan of Coca-Cola Lime, the closest thing you’ll get to it is to squeeze a few drops of fresh juice into your soda pop. It’s a lot of work, but your taste buds will thank you for the effort.
9. Mountain Dew Citrus Cherry
Are you the type who loves a sugary, caffeinated kick in the face? If so, then you were probably a huge fan of Mountain Dew Citrus Cherry. Mountain Dew already has a strong following of people who like to be wired as much as the law allows. Mountain Dew Citrus Cherry took it one step further by providing a flavor that is even more exciting. How can Mountain Dew get any more exciting than what it already is? That isn’t a trick question as many lovers of Dew already know. Somehow, people can’t seem to get enough of the dew that flows from the mountain tops. No, Mountain Dew isn’t collected by fairies who drench us with its delicious nectar. It would be pretty awesome if that were true. Wouldn’t it? Mountain Dew flavors seem to come and go quite often. Much like summer romances, you never forget the first time the sweet taste of a new Dew crosses your lips. Will we ever see Mountain Dew Citrus Cherry on the shelves again? Who really did shoot JR? Those are two questions that we’ll never know the answer to. It seems that Mountain Dew brings back flavors or modifies them slightly and changes their name a little now and then. So, maybe Mountain Dew Citrus Cherry will come back in a somewhat different form. Who knows.
8. Pepsi Vanilla
Just like with Coke, some can’t live without their Pepsi. Sometimes the same old standby gets a little boring. No one understands this better than the good folks at Pepsi. They want to make sure that your palate doesn’t become bored with the same old flavors. It also doesn’t hurt that they have a large company like Coca-Cola continually doing their best to get as many customers as possible. Pepsi doesn’t operate in a vacuum, and that’s why they have to keep churning out new and exciting flavors to keep the thirst of the public quenched. Pepsi Vanilla was one of those drinks that you either loved or hated. The purists hated the idea of anything messing with the flavor of Pepsi they love most. Those who consider themselves to live life on the wild side enjoyed the Vanilla hint that this new Pepsi offered. It looks like the purists won and Pepsi Vanilla is no more. You can’t mess with the perfect flavor of Pepsi and expect that people hop on the bandwagon for the long haul. Coca-Cola also has on and off success with adding Vanilla flavors to their beverages, so it comes as no surprise that Pepsi would as well. So while sure, a Pepsi fanatic may have given this vanilla flavored variant flavor a try, they did, and will always go back to the original product they know and love.
7. LifeSavers Soda
Everyone has their favorite flavor of LifeSavers. Are you a pineapple person, or maybe you like fruit punch. No matter what, you can guarantee that everyone has a flavor. There are no oddballs who like all the flavors equally. If you don’t find yourself happy when a particular flavor comes out of the pack of LifeSavers, then you need to get yourself to a shrink since there’s something wrong with you. LifeSavers Soda seemed like a good idea back in the 80s. What a strange time that was. Wearing one glove seemed like a good idea back then too. The idea of drinking your LifeSavers is a bit weird and the public saw it as such as well. LifeSavers Soda came in a variety of flavors, just like the rolls of hard candy do. LifeSavers Soda wasn’t a big hit, and it eventually went the way of the dodo bird. Parents don’t want their children to drink liquid candy. It would seem that LifeSavers Soda could’ve been a bartender’s delight. Try to imagine for a second all of the delicious drinks a savvy bartender could’ve come up with while using LifeSavers Soda. Luckily our livers will never have to go through the sacrifice of LifeSavers Soda mixed drinks. If they are as delicious as the candy, livers around the world would’ve been forced to tap out way too early.
6. Josta Soda
Listen up all you whippersnappers; there was once a time when there were no energy drinks. If you wanted an energy drink, then you guzzled down pot after pot of coffee. The coffee made your teeth orange, and it made you shake like a bad dime store back massager. The geniuses over at Pepsi realized that Americans needed more energy. How do you deliver energy when you’re a soda pop company? Well, you add a bunch of whatever makes people speedy into a bottle of soda pop. That’s the short story of the birth of Josta Soda. Josta Soda was a one of a kind drink in a market that lacked anything energy-related. Was Josta Soda ahead of its time? You better believe it was. Josta Soda was delivering energy to those who were in desperate need of some get-up and go. Why did Josta Soda fall so hard? It was partly due to the public not being ready for such a product. Also, by the time Josta Soda began to fail, there were other energy drinks on the market. Who wants to down a calorie-laden soda while you can take a little shot? Those little shots and the other energy drinks ran Josta Soda out of town without ever looking back.
5. Bubble Up
You’ve got to be an old-timer to remember Bubble Up. If you can remember a time when horses were still a popular mode of transportation, then you might be a fan of Bubble Up. We’re not saying that you’ve got to be over the hill to enjoy Bubble Up, but anyone under 80 probably has no fond memories of this stuff. There was once a time when people walked through up snow-covered hills both to and from school and then enjoyed themselves a bottle of Bubble Up afterward. We all know that soda pop has been around for a long time, but this one is no doubt for the old-timers. Some of you who aren’t looking to push triple digits in your age soon may be surprised to find that Bubble Up is still on the market. You’re going to have quite a difficult time finding Bubble Up. It’s not like back in the day when your great grandfather went down to the general store and got himself a cold bottle of this lemon-lime soda pop. If you want to get your paws on a few bottles of Bubble Up then you’ll have to purchase them online unless you’re planning on a trip near the factory. It seems that Bubble Up might still be on the shelves, but almost everyone reading or listening to this won’t be able to find it. Does that mean this soda pop isn’t discontinued? Quit asking questions and go back to rotting your teeth out drinking pop.
4. Cactus Cooler
Cactus Cooler sounds like something Fred Flintstone would’ve chugged on a hot summer day. Some of you already are feeling a bit of sadness reading about this soda pop. Don’t worry; it’s still available in limited quantities. It’s like not Coke that’s sold on every store shelf across the planet. If you’re a fan of Cactus Cooler, then you’ve got to ask yourself a few important questions. The first question that you’ve got to ask yourself is, how did you get here? Really, how did you get to the place where you’re so fixated on Cactus Cooler? Could it be because of the cool name? Maybe you’re the type who really loves cacti. Yes, cacti is the plural form of cactus. Cactus Cooler is still found in tiny pockets in the southwestern part of the United States. You won’t find it in all of California, but there are a few select areas that have it. Why do companies do that to us? All we want is some orange-pineapple soda pop to help wash down slice after slice of pizza. We have to scour the entire planet for the one thing that we can’t seem to get enough of. Cactus Cooler knows how to get people to crave their product and it seems the trick is making it so almost no one can get it. No matter where you are, it seems the best option is to have Cactus Cooler delivered to you through the mail. It’s a lot of work, but every fruity belch will be worth it.
3. Tab Clear
Were you alive during the Crystal Pepsi craze? If so, you had to feel like the world was being turned upside down. How can they sell cola that isn’t brown? It’s like someone jumped in the rabbit hole and never came out the same again. It’s hard to imagine what consumers had to think when they downed a bottle of clear cola. If you drink it out of the can, then there’s nothing really to see. How often do you look inside a can of soda pop unless you’re outside and making sure there are no bugs in it? Anyway, some big wigs thought it was a good idea to turn cola clear. Why? No one to this day fully understands why that is. Coca-Cola wasn’t going to be left out in the cold during the clear cola craze. They introduced Tab Clear to compete head-on with Crystal Pepsi. What Coca-Cola didn’t realize was, no one wanted a clear cola. It appears that people don’t like the idea of a clear cola at all. Does the color of the cola impact its flavor? Surely these soda pop titans can whip up almost anything without fear of how the color will affect flavor. Customers were so accustomed to dark cola that Tab Clear never took off. Coca-Cola spent an untold amount of money promoting the product in all parts of the world, but it quickly fizzled out. Now Tab Clear is nothing more than a faded memory in the minds of those who care what color their cola is.
2. Pepsi Ice
Mint and cola aren’t words that you typically hear together. That’s what made Pepsi Ice so special. You knew you were drinking something really out of this world spectacular when downing a can of Pepsi Ice. The world wasn’t ready then, and it still isn’t for a mint-flavored cola. It’s a shame because Pepsi Ice was some pretty awesome stuff. Pepsi Ice was the sidekick to Pepsi fire that was a cinnamon-flavored cola. It seems that the people at Pepsi were thinking outside of the box with these two flavors. Each of them will forever share a history in the hearts and minds of soda lovers everywhere. Don’t expect another cola makers to jump on the mint bandwagon. Pepsi couldn’t pull it off, and if they can’t, then no one can. Maybe Pepsi could make the cans green and promote it similar to how McDonald’s does their Shamrock shake. That might be a fun way to get this minty cola back on the shelves. Unless someone can figure out some way of getting Pepsi Ice to the masses, it looks like no one will ever enjoy the feeling of minty cola going down their throat ever again.
1. New Coke
New Coke was by far one of the biggest flops in all of history. Some believe that Coca-Cola quit selling its flagship soda on purpose to gin up customer support for it. New Coke was an instant dud, and no one was happy that their beloved cola couldn’t be found anywhere. If you weren’t alive when New Coke was released, then you have no idea the uproar it caused. Coke was trying their best to compete with Pepsi, who was stealing an ever-increasing share of the cola market. They refer to this period as the Cola Wars and calling it a war isn’t too far off from the truth. Coca-Cola felt like they were in the fight of a lifetime, and they were doing everything possible to save their brand. A recent re-issue of New Coke was because of Stranger Things. Just because you weren’t around to witness the outpouring of support for the old Coke doesn’t mean you can’t savor the new stuff. Coca-Cola brought back New Coke for the fans of Stranger Things. Actually, you don’t need to be a fan of Stranger Things to throw back a few cans of New Coke. The flavor of New Coke is surprisingly good, and hopefully, they’ll bring it back from time to type. It’s always fun to put yourself on the path of type two diabetes with products that you’ve never tasted before. The flavor of New Coke was closer to Pepsi than Coca-Cola classic and the company hoped to win over younger more savvy cola drinkers. Could there finally be a market for New Coke after all these years? We’re not going to keep our fingers crossed.