For years, I was a dietCoke drinker. And I don’t mean a social drinker. I drank dietCoke all day, every day for years! When I worked the renovation crew over the summer during my college days, we clocked in at 6am. While every one else nursed their morning grogginess with a hot cup of joe, I sipped my can of dietCoke. I drank cans, Super and Double Gulps of diet soda.
Six years ago, I began the Schwarzbein Principle program. One of the things you did on the program was drop artificial sweeteners. I quit my beloved dietCoke and figured I would go back to it after a time.
Several months later, I tried it again. To my surprise, it just didn’t taste good and worse it left me with a burning pit in my stomach after I drank it. And with that, I was off of diet sodas. No one was more surprised than me. Granted, at this point, after learning about the health concerns associated with Nutrasweet and Splenda — I was rather glad that I didn’t feel the desire to go back to my dietCoke swilling days.
The next two years, I drank water and only water. No joke. I was fine with it until somewhere in the third year when I wanted to drink something — anything — that was flavored and not plain water.
I discovered Pure Inventions and HerbaSway teas. The peach flavor is my favorite and I keep a bottle in my purse to add to my water any time we eat out.
And then a couple of weeks ago, I ran across an advertisement for a local Seattle company, Zevia, who is making a diet soda that is sans Nutrasweet, Splenda, saccharin or any other kind of artificial sweetener. I forgot about it until yesterday when I saw it in our local Central Market. They were almost completely wiped out. Apparently I wasn’t the only one interested in trying it! The root beer was gone, but I was able to snag a can of Twist, Orange and Cola.
I tried the Twist flavor first. Lime flavored, the first thing I thought was, “This would be tasty in mixed drinks!” I thought it was very sweet, but Paul tried the other half of the can and thought the sweet was milder than what you get from Nutrasweet or Splenda. Having not had any of those in years, I’ll have to take his word for it. Next up, Orange. Right away I noticed that it wasn’t that intense orange color you get in say Orange Crush. It is almost clear at the edges of the drink. But since they don’t have any artificial coloring either, that makes sense. There isn’t that “pow- I’m-orange-pop” flavor that I remember from orange drinks. It’s milder but definitely orange. Again, it strikes me as dessert sweet. Fun for, I decide to compare ingredients between Zevia Orange and Orange Crush:
Orange Crush: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup And/Or Sugar, Tartaric Acid, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Gum Acacia, Natural Flavors, Glycerol Ester Of Wood Rosin,Yellow 6, Salt, Brominated Vegetable Oil, Red 40.
Zevia Orange: Triple Filtered Carbonated Water, Natural Erythritol, Citric Acid, Natural Flavors (Orange Oil), Stevia (Leaf) and Annato
I definitely know which one I’d rather give Amira or myself for that matter…
Last, Cola flavor. Honestly, I was the most hesitant to try this flavor. To me, it seems if a soda is going to taste strange or even awful, it’s going to be the cola flavor. I popped open the can and smelled that familiar cola smell. Also pale in color, you can definitely see through this cola. Hmm. first taste. Not instantly delicious to me. Not bad though either. It reminds me of something I’ve had in the past. Maybe RC Cola? I don’t know for sure. Not bad at all, but not amazing either.
Final Thoughts: These are mild flavors and according to my husband, mildly sweet. I liked the Twist flavor the best, followed by Orange and Cola. My stomach feels the impact (I think I’m just not used to carbonation anymore), although it’s not that burning pit of doom I felt after drinking dietCoke. Zevia isn’t going to replace my water and iced tea as my main drinks - but I might include them now and again to switch up my beverage repetoire.
Want to try it? Zevia will send you a mixed flavors 6-pack for free. You only pay shipping. Or you can check their store finder and see if you can find it near you.
Related Links:
Zevia on Amazon.com (plus customer reviews)
User reviews of Zevia on BevNet.com - Orange, Cola
Zevia review on metaVitae, the Health Weblog