Sodasteam Pepsi - Is It The Real Thing?

I saw Pepsi syrup on sale for Sodastream. Back in 1989 I dreamed of this day. So I bought some and now it's time to have a first taste and do a blind head to head taste test. Yes it's the Sodastream Pepsi Challenge!
This is the kind of rubbish I have to produce to free this channel of the KZbin adverts!
Recorded on my phone with zero effort. Because that's ChinnyVision 2!
Yes I know you can get these for about a fiver. I just grabbed a bottle when I saw it and paid far more. Because I didn't know if it was in stock anywhere else or how much it would be.
Meanwhile the usual output is more video game based. Well video games circa 1982 to 1994 anyway.
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No link where to buy this chemically sweetened much because a) I don't do affiliate links and b) I don't hate you.

[@mja65]

I was surprised too when I saw it a year or so ago - then i found out Pepsi bought Sodastream back in 2018

[@skiveman]

I remember when I lived with my dad he came in all happy and excited one day because he had gotten himself a Sodastream. Turns out at the time he could only get the syrups and the CO2 from Boots in the next town over for a pretty expensive price. Anyways, for anyone interested I used to work in a cinema at one time and we had syrups bought in for around £20/30 per box at the time and the expected profit from each box was a minimum of £800. Bearing this in mind everything needed was provided free by the drinks company (Coca-Cola in our case) which meant that the dispensers, their fittings and the CO2 were all provided gratis. Also, I should point out that they also provided 4 free big fridges for the concessions and a couple of smaller fridges for the various staff areas eg. break room, managers office and us upstairs in projection. Those syrup boxes were pure profit makers. Still are, for anyone who still goes to cinemas.

[@ZXGuesser]

This was our issue with sodastream syrup too, all utterly over-sweetened gut rot. We just use ordinary fruit cordial etc with ours, or boxed fruit juice. It's not a sugar tax thing cause they've been at it for decades. It was the same when they had a similar deal with Schweppes.

[@chinnyvision2]

I can't understand the point of selling a branded drink and then messing with the taste. Own brand, do what you like. But Pepsi full fat? I want full fat!

[@faselei7774]

Imagine getting confused and somehow drinking one of those pepsi syrup bottles at lunch with your meal deal sandwich... 'I feel energised and really sick'

[@chinnyvision2]

The lid works like a fabric conditioner bottle so it would be quite hard to confuse them.

[@dadgameruk]

Nearly bought one of these when I was last marooned with the wife in Lakeland up in Windermere. Looks appealing from a cost perspective but I was still very dubious and glad I decided not to bother even though they were very heavily discounted. Thanks for the review as it confirmed my fears! Maybe do a few more beverage, household gadget reviews on CV2 as you come across them, always a very interesting watch.

[@chinnyvision2]

They often discount it but the refills are still pricey as is the syrup. And I could live with it is they hadn't taken all the sugar out. When I'm minted I'm just going to install a full bar area and put a post mix machine in.

[@lasskinn474]

Get a "generic" carbonation cap thingy. Or an attachment to use a big co2 bottle with a sodastream so you don't need their capsules. That is if you want carbonated water or mix it with stuff. If you're buying drinking water anyway might just as well buy sodawater(prices are prohibitevely expensive in some countries)

[@6581punk]

Pretty much all the soft drinks should be available in syrup form. That's what they use in the bars with those units with all the buttons on them. They use to have Pepsi, Coke etc delivered in kegs but it was cheaper to ship the syrup and mix locally with water. The old kegs ended up being used by homebrewers (Cornelius kegs) and became so popular they still make them today.

[@chinnyvision2]

You used to be able to game self service dispensers to give you a richer mix.

[@nekononiaow]

@@chinnyvision2 Worked at Mac Donald's as a student and I confirm that all drinks were available only as syrup that were only carbonated by the distributing machine. Moreover it is much more economical or them to transport a waterless syrup than full bottles so you can bet that all volumes who do not go directly to end consumers are syrup based.

[@ds.35]

Thank you! Other reviews say it taste the same, but it taste like diet version. Horrible, and i have two of those bad boys that i cant return.

[@heyhonpuds]

Sweetener? Blasphemy! I don't understand why they'd do this. I saw a comment that said they'd been adding sweetener since before the sugar tax, so that's even more confusing. I'm with you. Sweetener is gross. Full fat or GTFO.

[@magicknight8412]

Everytime i see a SodaStream in a shop i am drawn towards it, I want to buy it and then quickly I walk away. The cost of it all and faff is just not worth it. Though always wanted to try their Intergalactic Astrojuice !

[@chinnyvision2]

Or Doctor Pete.

[@magicknight8412]

​@@chinnyvision2 never saw that, but people seem to like it

[@Popmetalj]

Must admit to not enjoying the full sugared cola - it seems to set my teeth on edge. Enjoyable video though! 1000 subs within arms reach, surely

[@chinnyvision2]

1000 subs will probably be far sooner than the 4000 watch hours!

[@nekononiaow]

It literally does set your teeth on the edge. The carbonic and phosphoric acid in cola do attack teeth before sugar eventually starts to as well.

[@bugbloke1975]

My Mrs has just bought a soda steam on Prime Day and this 'full-fat' (not so, it seems!) Pepsi syrup (mainly to placate me over the price of the thing!), and on first go, I thought it was pretty passable... almost good. However, as much Pepsi as I used to drink as a kid (remember those huge 1 pint cans?!), the last time I had real Pepsi, was likely 2-3 years back now, so I guess my pallet has now become somewhat uneducated!!! (Romana the cat, as in Adric, K9 and the Doctor? 😊)

[@chinnyvision2]

And her sister, Harry. I really dislike sweetner. I can tolerate it in some things but IMO it makes the Pepsi take on a supermarket own brand taste. And when some of the supermarket own brand stuff is passable and cheap, why bother with the Pepsi syrup?

[@tyrairvine4419]

You can just use fizzy water with the syrup and it works the same 😂😂😂

[@lummatravel]

It's a little thick, but the price is right

[@cronosoft]

It's not just the Soda Stream Pepsi that they've messed about with unfortunately. I've found that a lot of 'export Pepsi' (such as the Netherlands and German export Pepsi) that is kicking around places like Poundland and takeaway shops has been messed around with and had sugar removed and sweeteners added. The normal stuff should have somewhere between 42-45 calories per 100ml (recipe varies between countries), whereas NL/DE export has around 28 calories. I buy the Polish stuff from the East European shops for about £1.50 for a 2.25 litre bottle - full sugar, no sugar tax, and good old 1970s taste to it. I'll probably die soon. There you go. I've exposed my sad cola nerdiness to everyone, and invite shaming and ridicule for being very sad indeed. :)

[@chinnyvision2]

Oooh Polish shop is a good tip!

[@RodHull_TFW8b]

Panda Pops FTW!

[@chinnyvision2]

Literally tasted like that 12p a tin crap, yes. Their Ginger Beer was reasonable though.

[@skiveman]

@@chinnyvision2 Wait, panda pops I remember. Didn't drink them much when I was a kid because we had Kwenchy Cups. They were awesome when they were frozen, up until you sucked all the flavour out and were left with a big bit of flavourless ice. Which, when you were a kid and someone was annoying you turned out to be just the thing to stop that annoyance when thrown at a kid velocity...... or so I was told.

[@scottsledgister1877]

Sounds like you are getting the American recipe. Pepsi over here has sweetener not sugar. We get the Mexican version or the special cane sugar version.

[@ironmatic1]

Corn syrup is not a sweetener in that sense, like aspartame or sucralose.