When you are thirsty, what drink would you want? Think about that question for a second. If your fridge had soda in it, what soda would it be? If there were many popular sodas, what would you take?

      There are more than 450 soft drinks in the US. On Gitnux, a statistics website, it’s stated that roughly 1.75 Billion servings of Coca-Cola are consumed daily.  According to a stock exchange website named “Stock Analysis”, Coca-Cola has a net worth of over 260 Million USD, as of April 2024. Many websites and online forums crown Coca-Cola as the “#1 Drink in the World”. Despite this, many dispute this claim and say Pepsi is better. I don’t agree with Pepsi being better, but I won’t say it tastes bad (an ice-cold Pepsi with a pizza at Costco is an amazing combo). However, to truly see the greatest soda on the local (school) level, the best thing to do is ask my fellow Oakmonior staff members.

     To start, I surveyed data from 22 students in my Oakmonitor class (that’s roughly my entire class). The data I collected stated what sodas they liked, disliked, thought were overrated, etc. 

     I found that 77.3% of the Oakmonitor said they liked soda, whereas the other 22.3% did not. Out of the soda enjoyers, 44% said that Coca-Cola was better than Pepsi, 31% said that Pepsi was better, and the remaining 25% percent said they were equal. 

     When it comes to rootbeer and rootbeer floats, 64.7% said that rootbeer is good with or without being afloat. 11.8% said it was only good by itself, another 11.8% said it’s only good in a float, and the final 11.8% said Rootbeer was all-around bad. 

     To get more opinionated, students were also asked what soda they thought was the most overrated. 35.3% said Mountain Dew was the most overrated. 23.5% argued that Dr. Pepper was more overrated. 11.8% said Spirte was the most overrated, and 23.5% said Coke / Diet Coke was. The remaining 5.9% said Mug Rootbeer was the most overrated. On the topic of name-brand and off-brand, 64.7% of people said off-brand sodas aren’t that bad. 35.3% said that off-brand does not taste good.

     The last question asked was what your favorite soda was. 29.8% of people said that Coke / Diet Coke was their favorite. Another 33.3% of people said that Dr Pepper was their favorite. 13.4% of people said that Rootbeer was their favorite. The remaining 20% was split equally 3 ways between Mountain Dew, Gingerale, and Fanta Pineapple.

As it seems, the majority of the Oakmonitor thinks:

• Soda is good / People that drink soda (77.3%)
• Coke is better than Pepsi (44%)
• Rootbeer is great in floats, and by itself (64.7%)
• Mountain Dew is the most overrated (35.3%)
• Off-brand soda isn’t bad (64.7%)
• Dr. Pepper is the best (33.3%)

Landon Matewsky, a fellow Oakmonitor reporter, says “Rootbeer all day every day”. 

     I personally believe that Coca-Cola is the best, and I don’t believe Pepsi is better. I guarantee that I will never be caught holding a can or pack of Pepsi, whether I am in Hannaford, Walmart, Market Basket, Target, or quite literally anywhere else. However, I will only drink Pepsi in the Costco food court. I believe that’s the only place where Pepsi tastes good and is acceptable to drink. Outside Costco, I will proudly refrain from even a sip of Pepsi. 

     Regardless of this, soda is soda. We in the Oakmonitor staff have our own opinions. To answer the initial question, the Oakmonitor believes the best soda is Dr. Pepper. Even though I do enjoy Dr. Pepper, I believe Coca-Cola is better. Even if the answer took you by surprise, at least the people have spoken.

Sources:

1. Lindner, Jannik. “Statistics About The Most Popular Sodas In The World • Gitnux.” Gitnux, 7 Feb. 2024, https://gitnux.org/most-popular-sodas-in-the-world/.