Coke is my thirst quencher, but it’s for special occasions only right now.
Old fashioned fountain cokes - where the server dispensed and hand-mixed the soda water and coke syrup ( from a pump - and you could ask for extra syrup …) are the stuff of sweet memories. My mom was a particular fan.
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Lemon Coke, Lime Coke, Black Cherry Coke. The Elmwood Pharmacy on College Avenue in Bezerkely always had one flavor or another that was perfect for washing down an egg salad sandwich. I can’t drink anykind of cola nowadays, they hurt my teeth.
Right now I am finishing up a diluted can of no sugar Squirt.
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Squirt is pretty rarefied!
LOVE squirt. I miss it.
Right now: my nightly cup of decaf Earl Grey.
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Weekday dinners are paired with either a glass of cold milk or lemon flavoured mineral water. On the weekend I’ve been alternating between an NA beer or elderberry tonic water.
I usually order a mocktail when I dine out and a virgin mojito is my favourite. I would really like to learn how to make my own mocktails.
My after dinner drink of choice is herbal tea or hot chocolate.
It’s pretty much sodastream water all day every day. I’m content with non-flavored drinks, and always in awe at the abundance of powders and drops and syrups available for those who aren’t.
Mexicoke is a rare treat — most often had with a proper cheeseburger (just as rare), or tacos.
Back in Berlin, my groove is rhubarb spritz, available at many supermarkets. So tart, so refresh!
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For us it us either water or Spindrift
Water or tea. Black or green. No flavorings for black tea. Jasmine greens are nice. I like a glass of milk with a nice warm cookie, but lactose intolerance means that is a VERY rare occurrence.
As far as sodas, I don’t like most, but I DO have a particular love of colas. Of those easily available, glass-bottle Mexicoke is always the first choice. Of the well known brands, First Coke, then RC, and then everything else.
I will ALWAYS try weird local or smaller company colas. Fentiman’s is a particular favorite. Very spice/vanilla forward. Afri Cola is a version out of Germany that I can find fairly easily at gourmet grocers. The Italian Mole Cola is another good one.
But my absolute favorite is Royal Crown Draft Cola. Made by the same company that makes RC, it’s a ‘gourmet’, ‘real sugar’ version of their cola that was initially intended for the US Market, but the packaging of the product was built to resemble a beer. It came in opage brown bottles. the word “DRAFT” was in bigger type and “cola” much smaller. And it had less caramel coloring than most colas, so it LOOKED more like beer when poured. Naturally, parental groups got wind and pitched a fit. The packaging was adjusted, more coloring was added to make it look like regular cola, but it was too late. The stock was dumped as limited time offerings at Target and then disappeared. It’s currently available only in France, and Australia/NZ. It’s a rich taste, with very chocolatey notes. It goes particularly well with pizza.
In the spirit of trying new ones, I picked this up on a recent trip. It’s a local soda out of Bend, OR.
I’m more and more convinced that the more X-TREME the packaging, the worse the product. While it proclaims it uses only real cane sugar, it doesn’t use much. At only 90 calories (compared to Coke’s 140), it is SIGNIFICANTLY less sweet than most colas. This means the bitter edge from the carbonation is very pronounced, and strong herbal flavors give it a medicinal quality that neither I nor my partner cared for. However, if you have a taste for that sharp unsweetened seltzer vibe and you like things like Angostura or Amaro, maybe this is for you.
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I didn’t know RC Cola was still available.
I mostly drink lemonade, iced tea, and iced lattes from March until October. I drink masala chai, Earl Grey, orange pekoe, cappuccinos, cortados and flat whites October to March.
I also drink the occasional Coke, preferably from a glass bottle.
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Sure. It’s usually down with the 3rd tier and store brands like Shasta or Fanta. It’s relatively common in US grocery stores. I don’t remember if it was present while I was living in Vancouver.
RC in the US is owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, who I think is headquartered in TX. Internationally, it’s owned by RC Global Beverages, owned by some holding company in the Philippines.
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It hasn’t been available in Ontario in around 20 years. I don’t remember drinking any RC after 2000. I don’t remember seeing any RC in NYC when I lived there, but I wasn’t looking for it.
What’s funny is, Dr Pepper was not easy to find in Ontario before 2000 or so. Now we have it everywhere.
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So-- a quick google. RC in Canada was sold to Cott in 2001. Cott currently makes President’s Choice Cola, which is apparently essentially RC.
Cott used to have its own cheaper line of soft drinks in the regular grocery stores. They held onto the 2 circle opening on the top of the can longer than any other pop company up here.
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If you have the chance try Fritz-Kola from
Germany - much better than Afri (and sometimes available in some European stores in the US)
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I’ll keep an eye out. We have a gourmet grocery that gets Afri Cola on the reg. Maybe I can request some.
I also once found Q Cola at a Grocery Outlet . Q Mixers is a small company out of Brooklyn that makes cocktail mixers, obv. It wasn’t bad, but was sold only in tiny little bottles.
Have you tried MoleCola? It’s available at Eataly and some Italian bakeries in Toronto. I like it better than most non-Coke colas. It’s available in glass bottles and in cans.
I have. I quite like it, and only wish it weren’t quite so pricey. But that’s true of almost all imported stuff. Fentiman’s is always something close to US $3/bottle, so I can only justify it as a relatively rare treat.
In my youth back in the 80’s as a collegiate Comp Sci major, we bought Jolt Cola by the case. “All the sugar, twice the caffeine!” It was essential fuel for all night coding sessions.
They brought it back a while ago, but it wasn’t the same. These things never are.
I was briefly amused at another ‘all the caffeine!’ cola that you can find in those novelty soda shops called “Fukola Cola”. I’m certain it was a name in search of a product.
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I drank a can of Jolt and took some Wakeups to pull an all nighter when I was a teenager. Never again. LOL. I haven’t taken Wakeups or had a can of Jolt since.
I did not enjoy Fentiman’s cherry cola at all. I don’t mind their ginger ale. I tried to drink 2 bottles, pouring them down the drain after a few sips. I gave the remaining bottles to my friend who is less fussy than I am.
I haven’t tried their regular cola.
I don’t think I’ve tried a Fever Tree cola, if they make one. I have bought the ginger ale.
The other smaller brand cola available here is Boylans.
Jarritos are also easy to find, too. I don’t like the Jarritos I’ve tried too much. I think I tried the cola. It’s cheaper than the other available colas in glass bottles.
I’ve been trying various commercial lemonades and iced teas over the past month.
The best lemonade I’ve found is made by my local indie market, Remark Market in London, Ontario. It costs around $7.99 CAD for a 1.5 litre jug.
I’ve tried a Cabana brand mango lemonade and Cabana lemonade. I prefer the regular Lemonade.
I bought a 1.75 litre carton of Beatrice Raspberry lemonade yesterday and it’s not very good. Won’t buy that again.
With respect to commercial iced teas, I am happy with the iced teas sold in a glass bottle at Farm Boy, a grocery store in Ontario.
I have tried a couple Good Tea iced teas. I like the lemon Good Tea. I didn’t like the peach Good Tea with apple, which contains a lot of apple. It tasted more like apple juice that tea or peach. And I’ve lost my taste from apple juice over the past decade or so. LOL.
I do like an Italian lemon iced tea and an Italian peach iced tea in glass bottles that are available at Fiesta Farms in Toronto.
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Boylan’s is widely available here as well. Their root beer isn’t bad. The cola is… unremarkable.
I really like Jarritos cola, which is surprisingly hard to find, even though most every other flavor can be found in most grocery stores. Even the Mexican markets don’t have it in stock regularly.
My wholly uninformed guess as to why is that Coke and Pepsi have the cola segment locked up. Jarritos biggest sellers are their relatively unique flavors like apple, strawberry, tamarind, guava, etc.
Jarrito’s cola is a touch sweeter than Coke, but not as tooth-shattering as Pepsi, and leans heavily into the lime/citrus end of cola flavors. I end up getting multiple bottles whenever I find it. I have been tempted to try ordering a case, but I probably shouldn’t put that much effort or $$ into something that I should only be having occasionally.
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