Red Bull Simply Cola Vs Pepsi and Coke

In the Feb. 09 issue of GQ magazine there was an article entitled 50 Reasons to Have Actual, Legitimate, Genuine Hope, by Tom Schierlitz. The #16 reason to have hope apparently is that Red Bull Cola kicks Pepsi's corn-syruped ass.

According to the article, the Red Bull Cola, which is flavored with natural plant extracts instead of high fructose corn syrup, "has 45 mg of caffeine to Coke's paltry 35, but it doesn't taste like sugary batteries."

I am not, nor have I ever been a big cola drinker, I'm more of an un-cola person. I like either fruity pops or a fresh tasting Sprite or Sierra Mist. I don't think I've ever purchased a can of regular cola in my entire life, when I have bought a can it's always been a cherry cola or some hybrid version of cola. Whenever I drink plain cola it's usually because I'm at home or at someone else's and the only thing to drink is cola or water.

I live with a big Pepsi lover and for the past year whenever I've drank it I always notice how thick and syrupy it is. It tastes mostly acidic and besides that there is no flavor except for sweetness.

I worked with a Coke lover and I've drank a few cans of it and realized that I preferred Pepsi over it. Coke, to me, tastes really sweet too, but it's also really flat and bland, and at least Pepsi has a stronger acidic kick.

So when I saw the article I became really interested in trying the Red Bull Simply Cola. I guess I wanted to see if I could actually enjoy cola since I haven't liked any of the ones I've tried before.

I looked out for the Red Bull Cola and when I saw it a few weeks after reading the article, I bought a 12oz can for $1.69 at CVS. The can of Red Bull Simply Cola contains 130 calories, 10mg of sodium, and 31g of carbs all derived from sugar.

It contains water, sugar, carbon dioxide, the natural flavor of carmel and natural plant extracts including galangal, vanilla, mustard seed, lime, kola nut, cacoa, licorice, cinnamon, lemon, ginger, coca leaf, orange, corn mint, pine, cardamom, mace, clove, and lemon juice concentrate. And the caffeine in this comes from coffee beans.

I drank my cola when I got home so by then the cola was warm. When I tried it the first thing I could taste was the sweetness of it. But then I could make out vanilla, and the flavors of lime and ginger, and maybe even pine, which gave it a true cola taste but the citrus flavors made it taste refreshing too.

There isn't any phosphoric acid in the Red Bull Simply Cola like there is in Pepsi so there wasn't a lot of acid in the Red Bull. I was glad about that because Pepsi always makes my teeth feel weird.

I have to say that I really liked the Red Bull Cola as much as I could personally like cola. It's sweet but not thick and syrupy sweet like Pepsi, and it definitely has a lot more flavor and character than a can of Coke does. It's not overly acidic and I found it to have a lot of well-balanced flavors.

Other colas have very sweet and heavy after tastes but the Red Bull Cola has a clean after taste like Sprite. I would actually buy it again, though I'd make sure I chilled it in the fridge rather than putting it on ice which waters it down.

I have to say that the 45mg of caffeine in this is very stimulating. I drank the cola at 10pm when I was incredibly tired but by 12 I was bouncing off the walls and I didn't feel tired until about 3 that morning, and I realized it was because of the Red Bull.

I'm not converted, but I have to admit that I like the Simply Cola. I do recommend trying a can. It's all natural and it has a better flavor to me than syrupy Pepsi and bland Coke, it doesn't taste artificial and the caffeine is way more cranked up. 4 out of 5 stars.