Always refreshing, always Coca-Cola.

[Bunk]

Diehard coke drinker here. Been trying to ween myself off of it as much as possible.  I haven't seen Coke Zero up here yet, but as much as possible I've switched to drinking C2. There's enough of a balance in C2 that I don't really taste the aspertime, which is good. Taste scale:

Coke > C2 > Safeway Select > Pepsi > Diet Pepsi > Diet Coke

Pepsi too me is just too sweet. Coke has a 'deeper" flavour if that makes any sense.

In my efforts to drink less pop, I've been switching over to this stuff:



"Nestle Pure Life Zero Carb Zero Calories Naturally Fruit Flavoured Water Beverage 500g Bottle ORANGE SPLASH Flavour"

Lightly fruit flavoured, sweetened with Splenda. I can get a flat of 32 in four flavours at Costco for about $10. Three out of the four flavours are really good, strawbeery's a bit sweet though. And unlike real fruitjuice, it doesnt cost $4.50 for a jug.

[Signe]

I just tried Coke Zero and it's actually not too bad.  I've tried Diet Coke and Pepsi One and the aftertaste is too nasty.  Coke Zero doesn't have much of an aftertaste, but still, there is no mistaking it for full flavour soft drinks.  Unfortunately, I'm diabetic and have little choice.  Water suits me fine and Tropicana no sugar Lemonade is also pretty good.  Lemon goes a good way in reducing aftertaste.

[Yegolev]

I assume that lemon and lime variants of Coke Zero are going to come out eventually, since the are so many Diet Coke variants: regular, Splenda, vanilla, lemon, and lime, maybe more.

[MrHat]

My fiancee drinks "filtered" water here at home.  It's run thru a Brita.  Just to prove a point, I haven't changed the filter in a looong time and it still tastes the same to her.  I am now convinced that thing is a placebo.

She also prefers diet coke to coke zero.  But then again, she used to be a white sox fan.

Oh, and this emoticon  scares the crap outta me.  At least add the Cthulu kitty one if you're gonna have that.

Try this.  Make tea with tap water in a white mug.  Make tea with Brita water in a white mug.  Notice anything different?

I definetly taste a difference between the 2.

[CmdrSlack]

My fiancee drinks "filtered" water here at home.  It's run thru a Brita.  Just to prove a point, I haven't changed the filter in a looong time and it still tastes the same to her.  I am now convinced that thing is a placebo.

She also prefers diet coke to coke zero.  But then again, she used to be a white sox fan.

Oh, and this emoticon  scares the crap outta me.  At least add the Cthulu kitty one if you're gonna have that.

Try this.  Make tea with tap water in a white mug.  Make tea with Brita water in a white mug.  Notice anything different?

I definetly taste a difference between the 2.

Hm.  Maybe it's just me then.  I guess I'll have to try it after I've been quit smoking for a few weeks.  By then my sense of taste should be back to 100%

[Murgos]

It really depends on your local water dept.  Some places the tap water is like something out of a horror/comedy others its as clean and clear as anything you get in the store.  In my experience the chage can litteraly happen when crossing the street.

Also there is something to do with your pipes and such.

[Merusk]

What Murgos said.

As for 'something to do with your pipes.'  If you've got an older house with cast iron sewer pipes, chances are you've got galvanized steel water lines instead of copper or PVC. (Unless the pipes were redone in the last 10-15 years)  Galvanized rusts, so you wind-up with all kinds of lovely crap in your water.  If you've had a faucet sit for a while, then come out rusty/ muddy when the faucet is turned on, this is because of galvanized pipes.

IIRC, main supplies for cities are also galvanized, so unless they have a regular maintence program that replaces old/ worn out pipes, that's where you'll see the difference of 'this house is ok, this house sucks.' in water quality.

[Zephyr]

What Murgos said.

As for 'something to do with your pipes.'  If you've got an older house with cast iron sewer pipes, chances are you've got galvanized steel water lines instead of copper or PVC. (Unless the pipes were redone in the last 10-15 years)  Galvanized rusts, so you wind-up with all kinds of lovely crap in your water.  If you've had a faucet sit for a while, then come out rusty/ muddy when the faucet is turned on, this is because of galvanized pipes.

IIRC, main supplies for cities are also galvanized, so unless they have a regular maintence program that replaces old/ worn out pipes, that's where you'll see the difference of 'this house is ok, this house sucks.' in water quality.

It really doesn't matter what the pipe material is made of, as far as water quality goes.  As long as there is sufficient water pressure, iron pipes are acceptable.  Otherwise, corrosion occurs when air enters the system due to disruption of service, or thru cavitation due to pumps, and the bits fall down and are flushed out when service is restored.  Water quality is determined more by the processes that the municipality chooses to treat the water rather than pipe material.  Most of the water lines we design are ductile iron pipes with copper or pvc service connections.

[Xanthippe]

There is really only one carbonated beverage to drink, and that is the nectar of the gods.

Beer.

Good beer, like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, not that stuff that people call beer but is really bottled chemicals.

Why drink coke when you could drink a beer?

[Paelos]

Because some of us can't afford to get any larger, so beer isn't always a great option over a Diet soda.

[stray]

I'm more of a wino than anything else.....But I agree, if you're going to drink beer, make it worth it.

As for the question "Why drink coke when you could drink a beer?"

The burn. I don't know why, but I need it from time to time. Plus, it's more quenching than a beer could ever be.

[WayAbvPar]

It is more like 'the job' instead of 'the burn' for me. I get all the free soda I can drink at the office; pretty sure they would frown on my guzzling suds all day, even if I provided it myself.

[Bunk]

Yea, its the whole - it's not a good idea to drink 8-12 beer per day - thing. If you could make real beer, that tasted like real beer, and had zero cals and zero alchohol - that would be all I ever drank.  Hell, I'd brush my teeth in the stuff.

Well, maybe not.

[HaemishM]

Not that it's a good idea to drink 8-12 soda a day either.

[WayAbvPar]

Yeah, your kidneys would not be overly happy with you in either case, methinks.

[Xanthippe]

As for the question "Why drink coke when you could drink a beer?"

The burn. I don't know why, but I need it from time to time. Plus, it's more quenching than a beer could ever be.

See, that's one of the great things about beer.  Drink one, and you immediately want another.

And the 2 beer buzz - there's no finer feeling.  Cheap too.

But then you must stop.  More is a headache.

[Old age is when 3 beers is a headache]

If I can't drink beer, it's water.  Just plain.

[Samwise]

I got in the habit of drinking diet soda at a relatively young age, because the tap water in our house would make me nauseous after a couple of glasses.  My mother refused to buy a filter, but she had no problem buying bottle after bottle of Diet Coke.  The water used in Diet Coke is filtered and much better than the stuff that came out of our tap, so...

[Bunk]

Not that it's a good idea to drink 8-12 soda a day either.

I direct you to my earlier post of fruit infused bottled water.  Mainly because my body started telling me that 8-12 bottles of pop a day were not good for me.

I miss the highschool days of Super Big Gulps and downing 2 Litres of coke in one sitting.

[Signe]

I don't drink beer.  I don't even like it.  It tastes like ear wax.  I enjoy water but now and then I want something fizzy.  Either fizzy water or diet soda is pretty much all I can have without worry.

[WayAbvPar]

So you refuse to drink beer, but you eat ear wax?

[MrHat]

Diet Coke has caffiene, doesn't caffiene dehydrate you?

[Signe]

So you refuse to drink beer, but you eat ear wax?

Yes, that's right.

[WayAbvPar]

I have heard crazy things about British cuisine, so it doesn't really surprise me 

[Samwise]

Diet Coke has caffiene, doesn't caffiene dehydrate you?

Yes, but the caffeine levels are low enough that you still get more water than you lose. 

In the Middle Ages, people would drink very light beer in place of water - the brewing process would kill the plague germs, but the end result didn't have enough alcohol to dehydrate you to death.  Same effect.

[MrHat]

Diet Coke has caffiene, doesn't caffiene dehydrate you?

Yes, but the caffeine levels are low enough that you still get more water than you lose. 

In the Middle Ages, people would drink very light beer in place of water - the brewing process would kill the plague germs, but the end result didn't have enough alcohol to dehydrate you to death.  Same effect.

Awesome.  I always thought that a can of coke had about as much caffiene as a cup of tea, but the kick was from the sugar.  Thanks for the reinforcement.  Diet coke for my fizzy/easy cold drink, and insta coffee ftw.  Nescafe Tasters Choice, uh, Gold!

[Merusk]

IIRC, main supplies for cities are also galvanized, so unless they have a regular maintence program that replaces old/ worn out pipes, that's where you'll see the difference of 'this house is ok, this house sucks.' in water quality.

It really doesn't matter what the pipe material is made of, as far as water quality goes.  As long as there is sufficient water pressure, iron pipes are acceptable.  Otherwise, corrosion occurs when air enters the system due to disruption of service, or thru cavitation due to pumps, and the bits fall down and are flushed out when service is restored.  Water quality is determined more by the processes that the municipality chooses to treat the water rather than pipe material.  Most of the water lines we design are ductile iron pipes with copper or pvc service connections.

Makes sense to me.  You can guarantee pressure/ integrity in the main lines much more assuredly than you can house lines. I was just taking what I know about house lines and moving it over to mains.  Thanks for the info.

[Yegolev]

Diet Coke has caffiene, doesn't caffiene dehydrate you?

You should be able to find Caffeine-Free Diet Coke at some retail outlet near you.  Likely Wal-Mart.

[Signe]

Is the name Wal-mart really hyphenated?  Now that's class!

[Yegolev]

Is the name Wal-mart really hyphenated?  Now that's class!

I have to admit that I don't know.  I have to think hard to avoid hyphenating Micro-Soft.  I think it is probably Wal*Mart, but I shill for a different corp and cannot be trusted.  I shop at Target.

[WayAbvPar]

I think it is probably Wal*Mart

That is probably right. The * is representative of the asshole of the employees and suppliers that Wal*Mart likes to fuck.

[Yegolev]

I think it is probably Wal*Mart

That is probably right. The * is representative of the asshole of the employees and suppliers that Wal*Mart likes to fuck.

That's funny.  Somehow I never thought of that.  Fortunately, they only fuck suppliers smaller than them.

[Kairos]

It's "Wal*Mart", where that asterisk is actually a five-pointed star. I prefer "Wal-Mart".

[HaemishM]

I think it is probably Wal*Mart

That is probably right. The * is representative of the asshole of the employees and suppliers that Wal*Mart likes to fuck.

That's funny.  Somehow I never thought of that.  Fortunately, they only fuck suppliers smaller than them.

So that's pretty much every other supplier on the planet?

[Strazos]

I still like that article that someone posted awhile back (Abagadro I believe) pointing out that because Walmart is so shitty to their employees, in the form of pay and benefits, each store actually costs taxpayers money to maintain.

Fuck that shit, why does Walmart even exist?

[Rasix]

Fuck that shit, why does Walmart even exist?

Because Target has a long standing rule of "no beating your children in the aisles"?

Edit: You're going down, monkey man.