Rating Every Poppi Flavor
Allison, if you see this, please sponsor me, I recommend your soda to people like I’m being paid for it
Dear readers, I promise I’ll be back to writing more thoughtful pieces soon! Here’s a fun lil post in the meantime. Onwards and upwards!
One of my biggest vices is that I love soda. However, soda is so, so, SO bad for the human body. Starting during the pandemic, I went on a quest to find an alternative. I tried sparkling water (gross) and Izze’s (way too much sugar) and iced tea (makes me nauseous).
One day I was scrolling TikTok and saw that a gal named Allison started an alternative soda company. With only a couple grams of sugar, a variety of fruit flavors, and cheerful packaging, I decided to acquire a couple cans to try. Why not? I thought. I tried so many drinks from Target and Trader Joe’s, I figured this one wouldn’t hurt. I also assumed that they wouldn’t be very good. So many drinks have odd aftertastes and funky flavors that are really off-putting. (cough, Olipop, cough)
Poppi, which started as an apple cider vinegar drink in Alison’s garage, exploded into mainstream media. After several successful marketing runs on TikTok and word of mouth, now most mainstream grocers stock Poppi. What started as a Whole Foods booth has made a Super Bowl appearance, sponsors the NBA Lakers franchise, and accompanies Chipotle burritos and bowls.
If you walk into my kitchen and open my fridge, chances are you’ll find at least one can of Poppi in there. Unfortunately, the price point makes them hard to keep in stock. Recently they released one dollar mini cans at Wal-Mart, which helps, but an average can of Poppi can run between $2-$3 apiece. Even the boxes from Costco and Sam’s run upwards of $20 for twelve or fifteen cans. I hope someday they can bring prices down, but in the meantime I’ll keep hunting for Amazon coupons and Walmart markdowns.
While Poppi has some hard-hitting flavors, they also have some I wouldn’t recommend to anyone (except maybe my worst enemy). I highly recommend the top five flavors down below, but the rest I’d probably leave alone.
From Worst to Best
Root Beer
This is by far the nastiest flavor of Poppi. I’m not a huge root beer gal anyway, but my root beer loving husband spat this out and would not drink the rest of it. I think they should replace this flavor with literally anything else.
Classic Cola
The caffeinated flavors of Poppi are two for three in terms of nastiness. The Cola flavor is slightly better than it’s brown counterpart, but is still pretty gross. I would reach for this in my darkest hour.
Ginger Lime
This is a mixer. Add some alcohol or lime juice and I can see this being much better. It tastes sorta like a burp. Definitely not my favorite.
Watermelon
Dear Reader, are you a fan of watermelon flavored Jolly Rangers? This flavor is for you! I am not a huge fan, but I bet this would hit ice cold next to a pool, or maybe in a popsicle!
Cherry Limeade
If my husband were in charge of this list, he’d put this at number one or two. Unfortunately, I am in command, and this is in the bottom half of the ranking. My husband drinks all of these so I don’t have to. I don’t love cherry and I don’t love cherry limeades, but if you do I highly recommend you give this one a try.
Doc Pop
Dr. Pepper fans…I don’t know about this one. Doc Pop is the least offensive of the caffeinated Poppis and is still tough to get through. If I don’t want to commit to a coffee in the early afternoon, this is a great lunch buddy. I usually have to drink it with food to make it tolerable.
Lemon Lime
If you’re thinking Lemon Lime is going to easily replace Sprite, you are dead wrong. However, its a pleasant tasting drink as long as you’re not thinking about a crisp fountain Sprite. This is a flavor I drink out of the multipack first so I have my favorites left over.
Orange Cream
Another flavor best enjoyed ice cold, Orange Cream is a love-it-or-hate-it situation. I thought I wouldn’t like it, but it’s pleasantly sweet without the sickly cow milk flavor of other cream sodas. Not one I would go out of my way to find, but I liked it.
Wild Berry
This is the first one on the list that I cracked open, took a sip, and smiled. For some reason Wild Berry is only in Costco packs and at 7-11, but worth the find. The color is a little off-putting, but whatever they use to color this drink has got to be miles better than whatever they’re putting into Mountain Dew. This is a solid flavor.
Orange
I don’t think this one is terribly close to it’s sugary mainstream counterpart. Orange is best enjoyed as cold as you can get it. You know that one spot in your fridge that makes drinks even colder? Stick this one right there, trust me. This isn’t the first one I reach for, but on a hot summer day after it’s sat in my fridge for a week it hits. It pairs really well with Mexican food or a picnic sandwich. It’s included in practically every variety box I get, so I’ve had a lot of this one.
Grape
If you don’t like grape flavored soda or candy, this soda is NOT for you. Out of all the soda knock-offs, this comes the closest to the flavor of a name brand drink. This is so good with lunch or by itself. I like cracking this one open with a small snack in the afternoon. If Grape has no fans, I am dead.
Strawberry Lemon
This is the most common and arguably best flavor. It looks like it would taste like strawberry lemonade but it doesn’t at all. I would say it is more strawberry forward with a lemon twist. My husband and I fight over the last one in our fridge all the time. They recently started carrying this flavor at Chipotle and I get it every time I go now. Strawberry Lemon is top tier and should be sold in a fountain. When I introduce friends to Poppi, I usually hand them this one. 10/10, no notes.
Raspberry Rose
In this tough two-way tie, Raspberry Rose barely squeaks on by to claim the top spot on the podium. This sweet pink flavor is DELICIOUS. It’s good iced, cold, or sat out for an hour. This flavor is much harder to find than Strawberry Lemon, so when I find it I snatch it up. Unlike Strawberry Lemonade, I hide this one in my fridge so guests can’t find it. (Sorry, Carter and Matt.) This one tastes best by itself; don’t waste it on a meal, it is too yummy to have to share space with whatever you scrounge up for dinner. Raspberry Rose officially wins Sarah’s Favorite Flavor. 12/10, huge slay.
Have you tried Poppi? Do you have a favorite flavor? Write me back and let me know. Have a Poppi obsessed friend? Share this article with them, and be sure to subscribe.
You can find Poppi in most major retailers. I have no referral code, link, and I was not paid to promote them.
we also have the same favorite poppi flavor, huh
I'm very glad to know you are a fellow grape lover! Did you do grape medicine as a kid too? If it didn't come in grape, my mom knew I wouldn't take it. One time, she went to a specialty pharmacy to get some random medicine I needed flavored grape.