I’m trying to avoid diet soda as much as possible - mind you, I despise seltzer, and every “flavoured carbonated water” I’ve tried tasted like an angry can of bubbles smelt a fruit once, so I’m willing to embrace aspartame for the time being, at least until my tastebuds have calmed down about it.
I understand that this is a question of personal preference, but I believe I can assert semi-objectively that certain diet sodas taste almost identical to the normal drink, with perhaps an off aftertaste, while others simply taste. Bad. I’d like to receive some feedback so that I don’t have to personally taste test every soda in existence to decide what to buy.
For what it’s worth, I enjoy Diet Starry a lot. The aftertaste is a little strange, but overall it’s excellent. I had diet Sprite from a drive-through and it was terrible, but it’s difficult to say whether it would apply to bottled diet Sprite.
I personally prefer diet coke, but it does not taste like coke; it tastes like its own thing. I’ve also discovered that adding ice and having a cute tiny cup that I enjoy has some type of placebo effect that makes it taste better.
Coca-Cola Zero is my own vice. To transition from regular to diet soda, I gradually mixed the two over the course of a few weeks. Starting with primarily regular and a little diet, gradually adjusting the proportions until it was fully diet. Once you’re acclimated to drinking diet/zero sodas, they taste fine. We just need to get used to it.
+1 for the Fresca people in this topic. Otherwise, I’ve been experimenting with Zevia recently because I’m concerned that Aspartame isn’t working for me and the Stevia taste isn’t unpleasant. So far, so good.
I wish I knew why some ‘carbonated water’ drinks taste nice and others are like licking a rusty spark.
Sparkling ice is my favourite artificially sweetened beverage. I try not to drink them too often because they are still unhealthy for you and disrupt your eating hormones, but they are a fantastic treat. Also, if you can find it, jelly belly sparkling water is the best non-sweetened flavoured soda water.