Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

We compare king of pop Coca-Cola against four supermarket brands in the ultimate cola taste test

Coca-Cola has long marketed itself as the ‘real thing’ but what happened when we put the king of the fizz up against a clutch of supermarket-brand wannabees in a taste test for the ages.

We got our panel of expert tasters to see whether Coke really is it, or whether far cheaper alternatives can give it a run for its crown.

We also took the winning supermarket cola out on to the streets to see if the public preferred it to Coca-Cola.

Supermarket colas may lack the branding power of the world’s best known soft drink, but fame might not be all it’s cracked up to be.

And, as the supermarket brands sell for a fraction of the price, there’s a lot to be gained from switching sodas.

We’re back with our sixth instalment of Battle of the Brands, our weekly series aiming to help readers grab a food shop bargain as the cost of living crisis continues to affect everyone across the country.

This week, Coca-Cola is in the spotlight as it goes up against some supermarket favourites. But what wins out?

Who knows, you may even find yourself preferring the alternatives – and your wallet would likely thank you for it, too.

The items and supermarkets we tried against Coca-Cola include:

  • Aldi Vive Cola
  • Asda Cola
  • Morrisons Cola
  • Tesco Classic Cola (winner)

Coca-Cola

Price: £1.70

A bottle of classic Coca-Cola.

Much to the surprise of the team, this was Karla’s first taste test of full-sugar Coca-Cola.

Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disappointment – all she could taste was sugar. That is hardly surprising, considering that The Coca-Cola Co decided to retain Coke’s high sugar levels after the UK sugar tax was introduced a few years back.

Other colas reduced their sugar content, which is why Coca-Cola is sweeter – and more expensive – than rivals.

Overall, however, the team preferred the taste of Coca-Cola. Everything else just didn’t seem quite right.

Overall team scores: 

  • Value for money: 2/5
  • Nutritional value: 1/5
  • Taste: 4/5
  • Mouthfeel: 4/5

Tesco’s Classic Cola

Price: 60p per two litres

The Tesco cola was deemed not as “synthetic” as the other supermarket colas, which is certainly damning with faint praise.

While not as popular with the team as Coca-Cola, Tesco’s attempt was at least a decent try compared to the other options on the table.

Overall team scores: 

    • Value for money: 4/5
    • Nutritional value: 2/5
    • Taste: 2.5/5
    • Mouthfeel: 3/5

Public’s verdict

Some of our previous battles came out fairly even, but Coca-Cola walks it this week. Tesco’s cola was powerless against the mighty soda king, and almost everyone we spoke to knew exactly which was which.

Tesco’s chances weren’t helped by the sheer coincidence of one of our tasters coming from Atlanta, the home of Coca-Cola. But even without that, Coca-Cola would have easily won.

Tune in next week where we’ll be putting Kellogg’s cornflakes up against supermarket brands to find out if their versions are better.


For more like this…

Conversation