{"id":20528,"date":"2016-08-29T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-29T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theimpulsivebuy.com\/wordpress\/?p=20528"},"modified":"2023-08-12T14:16:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T00:16:28","slug":"review-crystal-pepsi-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theimpulsivebuy.com\/wordpress\/2016\/08\/29\/review-crystal-pepsi-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Crystal Pepsi (2016)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Crystal<\/a><\/p>\n

Full disclosure: I\u2019m a Coke person. But I like Pepsi. <\/p>\n

The sweetness of a cherry Pepsi contrasts particularly well with the sodium bomb of an extra crispy two-piece KFC meal, flanked with a side of comfortingly bland mac and cheese. And on Friday nights before I knew anyone with a car, Pizza Hut would deliver a meat-lovers pizza to the house, accompanied by bulbous onyx two-liter tanks of soda\u2014always Pepsi. <\/p>\n

I just like gross, adult stuff now: Bitter, sour, spicy, stuff that tastes like medicine, Coca-Cola. I like the harsh carbonation of Coca-Cola. If we\u2019re picking teams, I\u2019m Team Coke. But Pepsi is fine. And I definitely got my mother to buy me Crystal Pepsi multiple times the twenty-or-so odd years ago it was available.<\/p>\n

Crystal Pepsi is back. It\u2019s visually striking, the label\u2019s bold blue and red logo against a foggy clear backdrop. The nostalgia factor is enough to get one buy out of me, but even on pure aesthetics, it\u2019s compelling. A 20-ounce bottle of regular Pepsi looks like a familiar product. A 20-ounce bottle of Crystal Pepsi looks like the absence of Pepsi. It looks naked, vulnerable, honest even. It looks like it\u2019s missing something. And it is.<\/p>\n

\"Crystal<\/a><\/p>\n

What Crystal Pepsi lacks is the almost-metallic taste that hits the back of the throat that regular Pepsi has. It\u2019s hard to tell if the subtraction of the caramel coloring is the reason for this, but without the light medicinal quality, it kicks the balance of the drink into being really sweet. I would say too sweet. If you took a poll of what people thought of OG Pepsi, I think a lot of the answers would be \u201csweet,\u201d especially in comparison to Coke. So this is even more than that. <\/p>\n

At first taste it has the same sugary hit of Pepsi regular. Without the complexity of the rest of Pepsi regular, though, it seems like the soda boosts into maple syrup, lip-curling sweetness territory. I would have assumed a taste test between Crystal and regular would have been at least interesting, but it\u2019s really not difficult to tell them apart. It’s an entirely different beast. It carries the lightness of a ginger ale with the sugary ceiling of an apple juice. <\/p>\n

\"Crystal<\/a><\/p>\n

Crystal Pepsi also has a smoother finish, and the carbonation is less harsh than most other sodas, so the texture in the mouth is also not compensating for the added perceived boost in sweetness. The sugar contents compare to regular Pepsi, however, and the ingredient differences are \u201cgum arabic\u201d and \u201csodium citrate.\u201d Sure. Who knows what that means. Crystal Pepsi does now contain caffeine, which it didn\u2019t have in the 90\u2019s. So for people looking for a weird ass coffee replacement, that\u2019s good information. \u201cNothing better in the morning than a cheese Danish and a mug of hot Crystal Pepsi.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 90\u2019s nostalgia in full swing, Pepsi is surfing the trend wave. I mean, look at that label. I can\u2019t remember if this is how Crystal Pepsi tasted like this in the 90\u2019s but if it did, it was too sweet then. I probably just didn\u2019t care. I was too busy playing pogs at Taco Bell while listening to Dookie<\/i>. Now I sit in my breakfast nook and do my taxes and listen to a self-made Train\u2019s Greatest Hits. And I drink Coke. Diet Coke. You got me to buy one, Crystal Pepsi. But I think that\u2019s all you\u2019re gonna get.<\/p>\n

(Nutrition Facts – 20 oz – 250 calories, 0 grams of fat, 90 milligrams of sodium, 69 grams of carbohydrates, 69 grams of sugar, 0 grams of protein.)<\/small><\/p>\n

Purchased Price:<\/b> $1.89
\nSize:<\/b> 20 fl oz
\nPurchased at:<\/b> Walgreens
\nRating:<\/b> 3 out of 10
\nPros:<\/b> Nostalgia factor. Nice looking label.
\nCons:<\/b> Too sweet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Full disclosure: I\u2019m a Coke person. But I like Pepsi. The sweetness of a cherry Pepsi contrasts particularly well with the sodium bomb of an extra crispy two-piece KFC meal, flanked with a side of comfortingly bland mac and cheese. And on Friday nights before I knew anyone with a car, Pizza Hut would deliver […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1440],"tags":[1500,1488],"class_list":["post-20528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-pepsi","tag-soda"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19,"url":"https:\/\/www.theimpulsivebuy.com\/wordpress\/2004\/08\/26\/beverage-pepsi-edge-coke-c2\/","url_meta":{"origin":20528,"position":0},"title":"Pepsi Edge \/ Coke C2","author":"Marvo","date":"August 26, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Here at The Impulsive Buy we like to push the envelope and do things no other quasi-review website has ever done. 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