Orange Cream Coca-Cola

 

Product circa: 2025

It is my contention that every product should have an orange vanilla version, period.

Anyway, this stuff is good.  Orange, vanilla, and cola are flavors that have always gone well with each other in any combination.  The flavor is strong enough to be noticed here as well, and I would say they struck a good balance.  However, I might say that the older Orange Coca-Cola product would be my preference.

The zero sugar version is a pale comparison to the original; the flavor balance is off, somehow.  I think that vanilla flavoring might specifically struggle with calorie-free sweetener.

Powerade FIFA World Cup 2026 Trio

Products circa: Summer 2026

Yet another promotion for the 2026 World Cup.

Blood Orange Kick - It took me years to understand the flavor of blood orange.  The way I describe it today is a slightly more savory version of orange, a savoriness that borders on tomato.  Anyway, this has nothing of that.  It tastes mostly like any orange sports drink, but the flavor is slightly worse.

White Grape Wave - They somehow managed to alter the artificial grape flavor to simulate a commendably realistic white grape flavor.  It's not bad, but it's an odd mix with the sports drink base.

Cold Berry Burst - A tart blue raspberry with other generic "berry" thrown in.  Not teeming with flavor, but probably just the right amount of subtlety to make it easy to chug.  However, this stuff has the "cooling" menthol-like ingredients (which the internet doesn't readily identify)

Cap'n Crunch's Orange Creampop Crunch

 

Product circa: summer 2025

As soon as I learned of this product's existence, I was able to order some from Walmart's backstock in autumn 2025.  Have YOU ever had orange-flavored cereal before?  I rest my case.

The subtle-but-present orange flavor is there, and it's definitely a unique experience for cereal.  The typical "cereal vanilla" is what dominates most of the experience, but the vanilla and orange combine to get an almost banana-like flavor, which is very welcome.  In the end, this is a like a tropical-tasting cereal, and dare I say, even a refreshing experience.  I'd reach for a box of this once a year, if I had the chance.

Gatorade Citrus Cooler

 

Product circa: autumn 2025 

 Evidently a re-release of a vintage favorite from 1987.  I wonder if Gatorade still used glass bottles in that year... I'm too lazy to look it up.  Anyway, this is a product promoting the final season on Stranger Things.

 I can see why it was a favorite. To me, this tastes like a more subtle and natural orange flavor... it's almost as if I can taste the pulp in my mouth.  It's more like an orangeade than a orange sports drink.  I'm not sure I'm tasting any additional citrus in here... but if you told me it was part of the formula, I'd believe you.  If this flavor were available permanently, I probably would never reach for any other flavor.

Diet Coke Flavors 2018

Products circa: 2018

In 2018, Coke released a bevy of flavors for their Diet Coke line.  Definitely an odd choice, as Coke Zero (Sugar) had been out for a long time by then, and I'm pretty sure it was the more popular 0-calorie product.  But with that said, some 20 years ago Coke experimented with both Lemon and Lime variations of Diet Coke, and I've heard die-hards talk about both of them ever since; they should really re-release those to see how they perform.

Twisted Mango - A very light mango taste added to the original, whose mild tartness somehow makes the mix taste less sweet than the original.  Refreshing, even.  Nice.

Feisty Cherry - A cherry flavor that is dry and not overly sweet.  Bordering on peppery, like a black cherry.  Interesting, but not my cup of tea.

Ginger Lime - Dry ginger, like a ginger ale, and a dry tart lime.  Refreshing, like the mango above.

Zesty Blood Orange - Light tart orange, and it really goes great with the Diet Coke formula.  Definitely the best of the bunch. 

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the lot, mainly because they seemed to realize that the sweetness needed to be restrained.  Impressive!  But we'll definitely never see these again.

Mountain Dew Baja Cabo Citrus

 

Product circa: 2025

Note: This is a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom.

Simply put, a flavor that somehow concentrates on citrus flavors within a formula that is already based on citrus.  I get added flavors of orange, lime, and maybe even grapefruit.  But it is missing additional acid - this feels sweeter than it needs to be, and I think the product suffers for it.

Hi-C Ecto Cooler (2017)

 

Product circa: 2017 and intermittently after

Back in the day, Ecto Cooler was one of the coolest things you could have in your school lunchbox… before Capri Sun gained popularity, that is.  I gotta hand it to Coca-Cola for bringing it back for a time, and I'm glad to hear they've done it again since.  Luckily for folks my age, companies are realizing that there is a huge amount of money in fanservice to nostalgia of products like these.

This formula tastes exactly like it did in the 80s/90s, and I have no idea how they do it.  It’s an orange flavored drink unlike anything else that’s been made.  It’s not pure orange juice, it’s clearly mixed with some kind of artificial drink, but it still maintains an acidic bite that a bottled juice drink wouldn’t have.  I think I’m going to start mixing Hi-C Orange and orange juice to see if I can replicate this.

Gatorade Electric Flash

 

Product circa: 2025

With no description of what it tastes like, the internet says that Gatorade Electric Flash tastes like the orange and lemon lime flavors combined.  They are right.  And it's delicious.  That's about it.

Sprite LeBron's Mix

Product circa: summer 2015

LeBron's Mix was actually a reprise of Sprite's "6 Mix by LeBron James" which had appeared a year before.  Both had the same formula: a Sprite base with cherry and orange mixed in.  The promotion seemed to be nothing more than Coca-Cola attempting to cash in on LeBron's immense popularity from the early 2010s.  I presume that LeBron himself collaborated on how his mix would taste, but I'm not sure.

Sprite variations, which are seldom, tend to be quite good, but this one falls short.  The first half of each sip is nice, with a cherry-like Sprite vibe, but the aftertaste is like cheap orange candy.  Each swig plays with your emotions, such that it ends up being worse than the original product.

So unfortunately, the flavored Sprite exceptionalism ended in 2015.


Sprite LeBron's Mix:- Passable
Original Sprite (for comparison):- Good

Mountain Dew LiveWire

Congress is in recess, and August's dog days are upon us here in Washington.  In such oppressive humidity and heat, a refreshing beverage surely is the cure, no?

Every summer Pepsico releases Mountain Dew LiveWire.  I thought they might not do it this summer, but I was wrong.  Evidently the product is successful enough to bring back every year, and they've been doing this for 10 years now.

LiveWire is essentially an orange-flavored Mountain Dew.  Unfortunately, the company uses a heavy hand with the drink's orange flavoring, and whatever redeeming qualities that Mountain Dew boasts are barely there for LiveWire.  It's more like an orange soda with a kiss of Mountain Dew.  Every successful Dew iteration has had the Dew elevate it to something else, and this doesn't hit the mark.  It's a wonder it's been around for 10 years.  Perhaps this is a lesson on what artificial scarcity can do.


Mountain Dew LiveWire:- Good

Original Mountain Dew(for comparison):- Great