In my review of Sprite Remix- Aruba Jam, I mentioned that I thought Aruba Jam tasted like a less-sweet version of the Tropical which was out a couple of years ago. I read on BevNet, the soft drink discussion forum, that many thought the two soda were identical. In the comments to my Aruba Jam article, Hastypete, a big fan of Tropical, claimed that Aruba Jam was exactly the same thing and wondered if anyone had some old Tropical lying around to put it to the test.
I was that anyone. I had three cans of Tropical left. Into the fridge they went- a plan for a scientific taste test was hatched.
My lovely wife Debbie would administer the test. To make things more complex, I decided there should be three sample- two of one of the flavors and one of the other. I was confident I could tell which was which. Cathy, my sister in law ("The Awsom 1" ), was in town so she joined me in the tasting.
Glasses were labled A, B and C. Tasting began.
The results?
Cathy said A was different and B and C were the same.
Yours truly quickly and decisively said C was different than A and B- and that C was sweeter, and was therefore Tropical.
I was 100% correct.
The Tropical IS sweeter. It also smells sweeter, sickenenly so to Debbie. I like them both, but the Tropical ranks about a 6, where the Aruba Jam is at a 7.5 or so. Interestingly enough, the ingredient list is slightly different. There’s more sodium in Aruba Jam, and Citric Acid comes before Natural Flavors on the ingredient list. It makes sense- a little more salt and a little more acid = a little less sweet. Tropical and Aruba Jam are close- but if you are a jackass soda lover like me, with a discerning palate and a very deep soda closet, you can tell the difference.