Back during the "cola wars," there were some "blind" taste tests that were used between Coke and Pepsi. While taste testing unmarked soft drinks does not tell everything (a really sweet drink, for example, tastes good in sips, but few would want to drink an entire can of it), I would really like to see a large-scale, blind taste test run by someone independent of the soft drink companies (a university, perhaps?). If I were running such a test, I would include lesser-known drinks along with the name brands.

Examples:

Colas:

Coca Cola
Pepsi Cola
RC Cola
Double Cola
Red Rock Cola
Store Brand Colas

Citrus:

Mountain Dew
Vault
Sun Drop
Ski
Mello Yello
Store Brands

Lemon Lime:

Sprite
7-Up
Sierra Mist
Bubble Up
Store Brands

I'm sure I left out some choices, so feel free to add other brands.

While blind taste tests have been run in the past, none (that I can find, at least) have come from outside the soda companies and included a large number of testers. I would love to find out which drinks are preferred based on taste alone (instead of brand loyalty, market availability, etc.).

Our soda-tasting group here at work (10-20 people, depending on the type of soda) did a blind test of 9 different colas:

http://www.bevnet.com/bevboard/bevbo...aste-test.html

Later we did a blind test of six Coke/Pepsi formulations that wound up ranked:

1. Mexican Coke
2. KFP Coke
3. Coke Classic

1. KFP Pepsi
2. Pepsi
3. Mexican Pepsi

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough soda to do the Mexican Coke vs. KFP Pepsi. Maybe this year when the KFP Pepsi comes out.