Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola are obviously different sodas. Fortunately or unfortunately they're always going to be clumped together because they are Colas. But if you've ever tasted them, you know they are very different. There's one main reason why, and it's pretty self-explanatory...
Coke & Pepsi are straight up different flavors.
Despite both drinks falling under the "cola" category, Coke carries with it a vanilla flavored cola while Pepsi brings to the table a citrus base cola flavor. When you think about it, yeah I can see that.
But here's the real question. Why does Coke seem to be the drink of choice while Pepsi wins all of the taste tests? There's an answer for that as well and it comes from best selling author Malcom Gladwell.
In his book "BLINK" Gladwell explains the theory behind this...
Malcolm Gladwell explains why Pepsi tends to win the Pepsi Challenge: “Pepsi is sweeter than Coke, so right away it had a big advantage in a sip test. Pepsi is also characterized by a citrusy flavor burst, unlike the more raisiny-vanilla taste of Coke. But that burst tends to dissipate over the course of an entire can. Pepsi, in short, is a drink built to shine in a sip test.”
So there you have it.
In other news, I'm 99% confident I could tell the difference between Coke & Pepsi in a blind taste test...no so much for these people.