Prebiotic Party - Poppi vs. Aldi vs. Olipop

I have a few days off work, so even though that Ollipop I tried before may or may not have caused me multiple days of stomach pain, I wanted to try the other flavors of Prebiotic sodas I already had in my fridge so I can toss the cans in the recycling.  

First, this festive Cranberry Fizz Poppi. 

The can design is adorable, I love the mtate white finish and simple illustrations. 

Opened, I was surprised by how clear this drink was. I really expected it to be red, like cranberry juice, but upon further inspection this only contains 4% juice, with cranberry juice being much further down the ingredient list than apple juice. Disappointing. 

I took a sip, and it was an immediate "ick," for me. It's not tart like I had hoped it would be. It's very sweet and in spite of it's name, tastes nothing like cranberry. 

I can taste lime juice, apple, agave and stevia. Maybe a slight dryness in the aftertaste from residual cranberry juice, but it's so weak and mild that I would never clock this as a cranberry flavored beverage. This is like a prebiotic low-sugar version of the Winter Spiced Cranberry Sprite, which also tastes nothing like cranberry.

Very disappointing. 1.5\5

Summit Popz Strawberry Lemon 

This is the Aldi-brand prebiotic soda, since I was told by other people that the fruity flavors are much better than soda-emulating ones, I wanted to give this a try. 

It looks a lot like the Poppi in terms of the ingredients, but this time stevia is the very last ingredient, so that gives me hope. Taking a sip, this seems more accurate to it's namesake, "strawberry lemon," but it still tastes slightly off to me. The Poppi had more carbonation, which I liked, but the fact that this has cane sugar instead of agave is more to my personal liking. 

Flavor-wise, this kind of tastes like Skittles, but a healthy kind of Skittles. I like it more than the Poppi in terms of flavor, but something about it tastes too diet and artificial for me to ever buy again. I'm guessing it's the Stevia, because everything else in the ingredients list are things I enjoy. 

Better than Poppi. 2.5/5. 

Barbie X Olipop Peaches and Cream 

We meet again, Olipop. This time it was a limited edition Barbie-themed flavor, this was inspired by the Peaches and Cream Barbie Doll and has a nifty little paragraph about it's history on the can. Branding-wise, this is the best of the three. (To be fair, I am partial to Barbie and the Barbie movie.) 

Of the three, this is the most drinkable. It's fresh, fruity, sweet and reminds me of peach ring gummy candies and Goya canned nectars. It also tastes the least artificial or faux-sweetener-y of the lot. 

That said, it's a bit too sweet for my personal tastes and sipping habits. I added a squeeze of lemon juice and a topped it off with some seltzer for extra bubbles. That was more to my liking. I mainly bought this for the packaging, not because a Peaches and Cream flavored drink sounded all that appealing. Even so, this gets a 3\5 for me. 

I envy all of you who can drink and enjoy beverages with artificial sweeteners, stevia or agave. For me, drinking too much of it will land me in the ER, so it fills me with a sense of dread on top of tasting like chemicals. These prebiotic sodas are just not for me. (Barbie x Olipop was close!)  I'll stick to kombucha and eating extra broccoli. 

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