Diet Coke Debuts Strawberry Guava And Blueberry Acai Flavors: Review

Last year, Diet Coke got sexy. In an attempt to appeal to the very appealing #millennials, the soda brand debuted a slim new can and four new flavors: Ginger Lime, Feisty Cherry, Zesty Blood Orange and Twisted Mango. Almost exactly one year later, Diet Coke is at it again with two new trendy flavors. On Wednesday (January 16), Strawberry Guava and Blueberry Acai versions of Diet Coke debuted. Ahead of these sodas' official launch, The Daily Meal was fortunate enough to try these new twists on a calorie-free cola, but our reactions were even more mixed up than these blended flavors.

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To say The Daily Meal's staff is addicted to Diet Coke may be an understatement. If you were to walk by our cluster of desks at almost any time of day, you'd see at least one editor sipping on this not-so-sweet, not-so-syrupy soda. We're also all solidly in the targeted demographic for these sodas, which seem to be inspired by smoothie bowls. So after having a fairly decent reaction to last year's four flavors, we were excited to try the Strawberry Guava and Blueberry Acai flavors.

Unfortunately, we were pretty let down.

First off, we sampled the Strawberry Guava. If you're a fan of Fanta and Jarritos, you're in luck! You'll probably love this soda. This take on Diet Coke tastes less like a soda and more like a Little Debbie cake or a pink Starburst. That signature essence of classic Diet Coke is nowhere to be found here. Instead, you get a strong strawberry flavor and perhaps a hint of, well, whatever it is that guava tastes like. This would probably be just fine when mixed with rum and sipped on a stunning, sandy beach, but we were at work. Thank u, next.

The second Diet Coke we tried was the Blueberry Acai variant. Unlike the Strawberry Guava Diet Coke, Blueberry Acai did have hints of that recognizable Diet Coke flavor. And we liked that! Above the base of classic Diet Coke, the blueberry and acai additions tasted less like blueberry or acai and shockingly more like another fruit: grape! Yes, if we had to liken this pop to something else on the market, it would be an old-school grape soda. As we sipped, we realized that we actually couldn't necessarily think of any other blueberry sodas. And perhaps there's a reason for that! Blueberries are a subtly flavored fruit, and this Diet Coke has tons of flavor, and we're not so sure it's blueberry.

Though the Blueberry Acai Diet Coke had an edge over Strawberry Guava, most Daily Meal staffers agreed that they didn't even like this Diet Coke enough to finish a single can of this soda, let alone buy an entire six-pack. What's great about Diet Coke in its original state is that it's a less-sweet alternative to sugary sodas, and these two new flavors abandon that and add back in a sweetness that fans of the original Diet Coke aren't necessarily looking for. Luckily, the classic Diet Coke is still very readily available along with its now six varities of flavors. And if you didn't even know that Diet Coke has six flavors, we bet you didn't know these other things about Coca-Cola, either.