i thought i read before that pepsi has changed its flavor a few times over the years... or am i mistaken.

i know that diet pepsi has been "reformulated" several times, but i'm not sure about regular pepsi.

does anyone know?

Like most sodas, they switched from sugar to HFCS.

_Rich

Pepsi claimed a lot here in Mexico that now it has a new flavor with phrases like "discover it"... but IMO, Mexican Pepsi still tastes the same as always...

[ 05-28-2006, 04:51 PM: Message edited by: Ramón Cokeaholic ]

Pepsi has changed its formula a few times, but except for sugar to corn sludge, the last change was such a long time ago that not many people here would probably remember it.

Originally Pepsi actually did not have any kola in it, but it tasted like a cola. It also did not have caffeine in it. The formula was altered after the economy during and after WWI ruined Pepsi's finances. Pepsi eventually went bankrupt, and was in and out of bankruptcy until Loft Candies bought it out to use instead of Coke at their candy store fountains. The president of Loft had the formula reworked by the candy company chemists at that time. This was in the mid 30's and that formula stayed the same until 1951 when Pepsi reduced the overall sugar content - made it "lighter". That forumla stayed around until the mid 80s when Pepsi phased out sucrose and went to fructose instead.

-Andy

[ 05-28-2006, 07:14 PM: Message edited by: Android ]

thanks for the info, android.

so, the pepsi around today was really invented in the 1930's. interesting.

does pepsi have kola in it now?

i remember reading an article about TaB, and how it didn't have any real kola in it, and coke wasn't sure whether they could call it "cola" or not... but eventually did.

Yes, Pepsi does now contain kola.

This is pretty vague, but I seem to recall an interview with one of the sons or maybe grandsons of Caleb Bradham, who invented the first Pepsi formula. In the interview he was asked if he thought Pepsi still tasted the same in modern times as it did "way back", and he said to him it did. So I don't know how radical of a departure any of the reformulations were.

-Andy

if anything, it probably tastes better now than it ever did. back in the day, weren't coke and pepsi supposed to be "medicines?"

it also makes sense that pepsi is a little sweeter than coke, since it was fine tuned by a candy store owner... who probably had a sweet tooth.

It was Coke that was intended as medicine originally. It was a pick-me-up tonic combining caffiene (Kola plus more added) and the cocaine found in the coca leaf, neither of which tasted very good, so the flavoring in Coke was developed to mask/complement those bitter tastes. And of course, it soon became known that it made a good drink when combined with tonic water. Pepsi on the other hand was one of a few different fountain drinks the Bradham had at his pharmacy's fountain. Of the ones he came up with, it was the most popular, known as "Brad's Drink" before he decided to call it Pepsi. And yes it was supposed to have something of a medicinal quality, the term Pepsi itself was supposed to be relate to better digestion - "pepsin" being a name for a digestive enzyme and "dispepsia" a common term back then for indigestion. But I think that was mostly a marketing thing, as the original formula doesn't really have any "active" ingredients other than carbonated water and acid. In fact, it passed the 1906 Pure Food and Drug act without any modifications, whereas Coke had to remove the cocaine from its product at that time to comply.

-Andy

thanks again android. [img]smile.gif[/img]

i read before that during the "world wars" and rationing, coke got an exclussive deal with the US gov't to use sugar, because coke promised to send cokes to the soldiers overseas.

[ 05-30-2006, 07:27 AM: Message edited by: popologist ]

i heard that crystal pepsi when they took it away sieraa mist took its spot but i dont get how?