I’ve had a lot of Dr Pepper content lately. I’m not apologizing, but I do want to explain that this is not the intended future direction of the blog. A few weeks ago I got some attention with the Dr Pepper with Pickles post. I attempted to ride that wave of interest by creating some other variants of Dr Pepper (Dr Pepperoni, Dr Peperoncini, Dr Peppercorn, Dr Peppermint…). This was particularly fun to post to the Dr Pepper subreddit community because their engagement became more and more hostile over time. What I didn’t expect was an interview with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal and a subsequent quote in their article about Dr Pepper overtaking Pepsi as the number 2 soda brand. I either came across as a Dr Pepper enthusiast, or a lunatic, but as a finance executive this was obviously not how I expected to make contributions to the journal. Dr Pepper themselves actually sent me two 12 packs following publication. They had intended to send me their new Creamy Coconut flavor, but Instacart couldn’t get it done and delivered the original flavor instead.

Creamy Coconut sounded interesting enough that I did some research and found a local grocery store that still had it on their shelves. Rather than just sampling and reviewing a can of this limited edition flavor, I decided to take the idea to the next level. And then another level after that. This is the only soda experiment where I’ve come close to hurting myself and I managed to catch it on video. I’ll post that at the end, but let me describe the process below.

First, I tasted the Creamy Coconut Dr Pepper by itself. I feared that this would lean towards the “suntan lotion” spectrum of coconut flavor, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was more in the “coffee shop syrup” family of coconut flavor. It complimented the Dr Pepper spice profile really well, although it was stronger than I had thought it would be. I enjoyed it, but needed to take it further. So, I added some of the Coffee Mate Dirty Soda creamer to the soda which gave it even more coconut flavor along with some lime and non-dairy creamer. That was also good, but obviously veeeeeeeeery coconut forward. After that I grabbed a fresh coconut, drained out the coconut water, and opened it up with a hole saw so that I could use it as a vessel for the drink. Despite knowing better, I held onto the coconut with one (bare) hand while drilling into it with a 2″ hole saw. It made a mess and I eventually lost control of the coconut. While I DID NOT injure myself, I easily could have. Instead, I just made a mess of my studio with coconut water spraying everywhere as the coconut spun and flung itself around the space. After gathering the pieces, I filled the coconut with ice, Dr Pepper Creamy Coconut, fresh coconut water, and a squeeze of fresh lime. This was refreshing and delicious, but I didn’t stop there. I added a splash of the Coffee Mate Dirty Soda. This was still good, but I think it was a step too far. I’m not going to say it was bad, but I don’t think it improved the drink.

After all that, I’d say that the Dr Pepper Creamy Coconut flavor is a solid limited edition offering. It hits on the basic idea of dirty sodas that are popular in Utah, but it’s conveniently in a can and ready to drink. I recommend adding a squeeze of fresh lime if you can, but serving the drink in a fresh coconut will get you some extra credit. Just make sure to secure that coconut before drilling into the top.