Probiotic sodas are the latest rage, and each brand makes it difficult to distinguish from the others because all contain the word "pop": Poppi, Olipop, and Culture Pop Soda.
Culture Pop may be the least known of the three brands mentioned, but it continues to grow its flavor assortment. The latest introduction is grape, which is available at Target.
Since we are new to Culture Pop, we took the opportunity to taste three flavors: Grape, Wild Berries & Lime, and Watermelon & Lime.
Taste testing three Culture Pop soda flavors
1. Culture Pop Grape Soda
All Culture Pop labels tout the claim of being "Slightly Sweet," but it depends on your definition. We were surprised to find the grape soda has 11 grams of sugar in a 12 fl. oz. can. That seemed like a lot, especially when it tasted slightly bitter.
It tasted similar to flavored sparkling water. The grape soda has 50 calories per can and contains 20% juice. In the interest of full disclosure, we are not fans of grape soda in general. That's why we opted to add more flavors to our taste test.
2. Culture Pop Wild Berries & Lime Soda
The Wild Berries & Lime flavor contained 19% juice, 45 calories, and 8 grams of sugar in the 12 fl. oz. can. With blackberry, blueberry, and lime, it tasted better than the grape flavor and had less sugar.
3. Culture Pop Watermelon & Lime Soda
The Watermelon & Lime flavor was the best of the three we tested. Like the Wild Berries & Lime, it contained 19% juice, 45 calories, and 8 grams of sugar per 12 fl. oz. can. It is worth noting that the lime was barely existent to us, but we enjoyed the watermelon taste.
Though we were not obsessed with any of these flavors, we will definitely try other Culture Pop flavors in the future. According to the cans, Culture Pop is "soda you can feel good about" and is "made with real fruit juice, spices, & live probiotics."