This was my second trip to the Stubborn Soda fountain. My previous experience was with the Stubborn version of root beer, which you can read here. This time around I opted for the Black Cherry with Tarragon.
As I described before, the Stubborn line of sodas is Pepsi’s version of a natural soda option. They’re marketed as conscientious and unexpected with both natural ingredients and creative flavor combinations. Black Cherry with Tarragon includes “natural flavor”, but interestingly they use purple carrot juice as a coloring agent. Once again, the fountain version contains “sugar” but the bottled version contains both sugar and Stevia. I found the information facts to be deceptive because they show the bottled version as being 90 calories for a 12 ounce serving, and the fountain as 100 calories for an 8 ounce serving. You can’t show those side by side and consider yourself an honest advertiser. Especially when the fountains provide a 20 ounce cup as your only vessel size.
As far as the flavor goes, I found it to be a bit syrupy of a cherry soda (think snow cone), but the tarragon flavor does add a bit of nuance to it. Still not quite my jam. I’d prefer the flavor as more of a cola rather than a subtle flash at the end of a syrupy sip. Or, this flavor combo would be more satisfying a dry beverage flavor, perhaps with more emphasis on the tarragon to push the profile. It actually doesn’t have THAT much sugar in it, but cherry is a bit cloying in drinks and there wasn’t enough tarragon to override it.
I didn’t hate it, and I actually drank most of it. However, I’d be hard pressed to go higher than a 6.6 out of 10 on my rating scale.
If you want to see reviews of my other Stubborn Soda experiences, click here. As of this post I’ve only tried the Black Cherry and the Root Beer. Also, make sure you follow me on Facebook to keep up to date on other french fry and soda reviews.
Catalog:
Sampled on 2/13/2017, purchased at Mel’s Market in the Bartell Drug’s on 4th and Marion downtown Seattle for $1.99 (20 ounce fountain)
The Sodafry 
Where can I buy it? I live in Napa ca
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I’m not sure. Their website used to provide locations but I haven’t seen any for a while!
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I love it! Cherry tarragon! Can’t find it anymore in Bham, Alabama. Where can I get?
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No clue!
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Amazon.com carries the Stubborn Brand
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How can you say that this information cannot be shown side by side and call it dishonest if they do?
“You can’t show those side by side and consider yourself an honest advertiser. Especially when the fountains provide a 20 ounce cup as your only vessel size.”
What they are emphasizing is the caloric contents as a “semi-standard serving size of about 100 calories which is EXTREMELY important to someone who has any type of diabetes and can have some sugars in their diet. If you want to be specific the bottled version has 60 calories less than the Fountain version which for 12 ounces would be 100 x 1.5 = 150 in order to compare caloric content for equal fluid quantities. By the way you also don’t have to fill a 20 ounce cup to the 20 ounce level, so basically your “argument” is a moot point and in and of itself is not being honest.
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