by Andrew Post

Created on: April 21, 2008

This question is as nebulous as the debate between Duracell and Energizer or Ford versus Dodge, and like them it seems to be largely a matter of preference. Having sampled both Coke and Pepsi liberally and considered both sides of the argument, my favor lies firmly with Coca-Cola as being the clearly superior soft drink.

Several factors influenced my decision, the foremost of which was taste. Coke just tastes better. It's got a unique flavor to it; a kind of spiciness that adds an extra kick to the sweetness and the fizz. It's a full-bodied flavor that goes down very well with anything remotely involving pizza, hamburgers, tacos, or any other kind of fast food. Potato chips, popcorn, Chex mix, and several other salty snack foods also combine excellently with Coke. Pepsi, on the other hand, lacks that extra kick. It is all sweetness and fizz, without the benefit of taste. It's suitable when Coke is unavailable and Fanta is the only other alternative.

Another factor used to evaluate these soft drinks, related to taste, was texture. Arguably Coke and Pepsi have the same texture, but I think that because Coke tastes better, it goes down smoother. I often find that when I drink Pepsi (particularly served in those cheap papery cups you get at fast food joints), it seems slimy going down. It slithers down my esophagus and coils up in a corner of my stomach; only its fizz prevents me from thinking that I have just ingested a sugary nightcrawler. Coca-Cola, no matter how substandard the drinking vessel it's served in, is easier on the swallow.

One point in Pepsi's favor was the general hilarity of its television advertisements, particularly that one where that guy with curly hair takes a swig of Pepsi and then gets somehow glued to an enormous sphere with the Pepsi logo on it and bounced all over downtown Manhattan like the world's largest game of pinball, complete with jingles, flashing lights, and klaxons. Coke's commercials involving polar bears tended to give me a fuzzy feeling, but nothing that made me chortle outright. I am not easily swayed by advertising, but I will look more charitably upon an unsatisfactory product if its commercials are thought-provoking or just plain funny.

My comparison is not much more in-depth than that. I didn't go into details like caloric content, effervescent stamina or operational history. Suffice it to say that the comparisons I did use, mentioned above, presented to me a very clear result: Coke is superior to Pepsi in the ways which matter, taste and texture. Given the fact that Coke is available in every single vending machine I've ever encountered, whereas Pepsi pulls a disappointing 75 percent, the popularity of the veteran Coca-Cola would seem to speak for itself.

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