Wednesday, July 11, 2007

What I'm eating/drinking - Blue Vanilla Slurpee, Diet Pepsi Max


-Woo Hoo Blue Vanilla Slurpee
The Simpsons Movie is coming out soon and 7-11 stores are promoting it...they're doing all kinds of stuff. I'm not really a fan of the show (I actually like Futurama much better), but I have seen enough episodes to be familiar with it. To promote the movie, the slurpee flavor of the month is "Woo Hoo Blue Vanilla". I've had a couple already and have found it to be pretty good. Good flavor but there's some kind of aftertaste...to me, that aftertaste kind of hints at coconut but other people claim it tastes like something else. But I like it anyway and it's supposedly only for the month. My wife likes to buy a large one and it goes right to the freezer. The she eats it later by scraping it with a spoon...guess it's kind of like eating one of those sorbets you make from scratch and scrape it or like eating frozen lemonade?...and if you freeze it before it liquifies it's really easy to scrape it out and eat later.
So, what is a slurpee anyway? I looked it up on the wikipedia and you can read that page here, with all of the details. We all know that it's a frozen carbonated beverage with the cup that states, "Warning, Brain Freeze may occur". The wikipedia says that it is "heavily infused with air" and that "there is less food energy in a Slurpee than in the same volume of a soda of the same name". Well, guess you don't get much nutrition out of it but we all like it anyway :) ...and it's a great treat on a hot, sunny day. There's even a fansite on slurpees and I guess it can tell you everything you wanted to know (and stuff you didn't want to know) about slurpees. Heck, just go out and check out your local 7-11 before the end of the month and try one!

-Diet Pepsi Max
I'm not a heavy soda drinker...well, not any more. When you get to my age, you start to worry about taking care of your teeth so you can at least have them when you reach the golden years. These days, I'm an occasional soda drinker but it's hard to kick the habit. I still like to try out new drinks when they come out. So, when I saw the Pepsi Max commercials, I knew I had to try it at least once. Just to let you know, I used to be a soda junkie...I would drink almost any kind of soda, no matter if it's diet or regular. But I do have discriminating tastebuds where soda is concerned...the Pepsi vs Coke blindfold test?...no problem...can't tell you the year, date or production site but I could tell the difference between soda brands easily. These days, as I don't drink soda as often, I could probably identify the major brands blindfolded but perhaps not the indies and minor companies...and there's a lot of them now. But I digress... Diet Pepsi Max...the bottle claims that it's "invigorating cola". What the heck? Checking on the ingredients(see the Pepsi page)...hmmm...Caffeine Content: Diet Pepsi Max has 46 mg in an 8 oz. serving and regular Diet Pepsi has 24 mg in an 8 oz. serving. There's also ginseng in it. Guess that will keep you "invigorated"...

I checked on the Wikipedia and found some interesting info on this drink. Apparently, it was released way back in 1993 in Europe and not as "Diet Pepsi Max" but just as "Pepsi Max". The drink was not available to the US because it included one ingredient that had not been approved by the FDA yet...this ingredient is acesulfame potassium. Seems that when it is combined with aspartame (the diet sweetener), it supposely results in a better taste. Anyway, the ingredient got approved but we still didn't get Pepsi Max...apparently everyone else did...and those Europeans got some exotic flavors too...like Citron Citron Vert(sold in France), Twist (Lemon Lime flavored sold in the United Kingdom), Punch (Sold in the UK during Christmas 2005, similar to Pepsi Holiday Spice), Cappuccino (Coffee flavored sold in Europe), Cool Lemon (Lemon flavored sold in Europe), Chill (Apple flavored sold in Sweden and Finland-limited edition, summer 2007)...boy, Europe always gets the good stuff... It was finally released in the US on June 1, 2007 as "Diet Pepsi Max".

Anyway, how does it taste? To me, it's a little more milder taste than the regular diet Pepsi...pretty smooth. Usually on the diet drinks, you get that heavy aftertaste from the artificial sweetener...I don't get it here. Did I get any benefit from the extra caffeine & ginseng? Haven't noticed anything...guess I would have to tank a whole bottle or so to see if the caffeine kicked in and did anything for me. After all, if you want more caffeine, an energy drink usually gives you 50 mg or more of caffeine and a cup of coffee can give you between 115 - 175 mg. It's an OK soda but nothing I would crave.

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