My favorite Stubborn Soda so far. The past two that I tried (Black Cherry Tarragon and Root Beer) were fine, but they didn’t set high expectations for the brand in general. My first sips of this reminded me of a tangy lemon curd, but the hint of berries added good contrast to the bright lemon flavor. Acai is hard to describe, but I felt like it provided some depth, or body, to the drink. Reminded me somewhat of persimmon, although that’s not a widely known flavor either.
For those unfamiliar with the Stubborn Soda brand, it’s a Pepsi venture created to explore natural sodas using natural ingredients. Their website is slick, and it’s actually hard to tell that this spawns from Pepsi. They sell their interesting flavors both in bottles and fountains, but I’ve only found it in a fountain here in Seattle. It’s in the back of a Bartell Drug’s next to the Seattle Public Library downtown.
I still have a gripe with the philosophy, or marketing, of the Stubborn Sodas. They advertise the brand as having “all natural ingredients” and “no artificial sweeteners”. However, per the ingredients listed online the bottled versions contain sugar and some stevia. The fountain version is just sugar. Is Stevia extract any more natural than high fructose corn syrup?
Beyond the actual ingredients, the advertised nutrition facts shows calories per 12 ounces for the bottles, and then they show calories per 8 ounce serving for the fountain version. The cups they provide at the fountains are 20 ounces. This makes it even more obvious that they’re reducing the “serving” on the nutrition facts in order to deceive customers. It certainly makes it look like the two are about the same. I’m basing this observation on a screen shot I took while reviewing the Black Cherry Tarragon.
Still, I liked this. I liked it a lot. I’ll give Stubborn, or Pepsi, an 8 out of 10 on my rating scale for this flavor. However, I want to encourage them to be more honest in their marketing. If you want to see all my reviews of Stubborn Soda flavors, click here.
Catalog: Sampled 9/2017, purchased in the Bartell Drugs on 4th Avenue next to the downtown library.
The Sodafry 