I tried all the flavors of Olipop prebiotic soda I could find and ranked them from worst to best
August 28, 20240
I was initially excited about Olipop’s watermelon-lime flavor.
Ted Berg
I was really excited about Olipop’s watermelon-lime flavor — until I took my first sip. Out of the 16 flavors I tried, this was the only one I found to be truly off-putting.
In my opinion, it tasted like watermelon that had been put in the fridge after sitting out in the sun all day. This flavor also overpowered any lime notes that may have been in there.
To be honest, I disliked it so much that I wondered if maybe I had gotten a bad batch. After trying another can from a different store, I found it tasted the same as the first one.
My wife tried both cans and didn’t care for it either. Maybe this flavor is more of an acquired taste.
Olipop’s crisp apple tasted like a green-apple lollipop.
I thought the cherry cola had an unpleasant aftertaste.
Ted Berg
Throughout my taste test, I was surprised at how few of the sodas tasted medicinal. However, the cherry cola was an exception.
In my opinion, it had an unpleasant aftertaste and a cherry flavor that seemed more artificial than other Olipop varieties.
I expected the banana-cream flavor to be my least favorite.
I wish Olipop’s classic root beer had more of a spicy bite.
Ted Berg
Olipop’s take on root beer definitely had some of the familiar, sweet, herbal taste. However, it didn’t pack much of the spicy bite the best varieties offer.
In my opinion, root beer typically translates poorly into diet form — maybe because it’s traditionally so sugary — and Olipop’s decidedly tasted like a diet root beer. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it didn’t leave me wanting more.
Olipop’s orange squeeze tasted like a traditional orange soda.
I found that the cherry flavor overpowered the vanilla.
Ted Berg
Unlike the cherry-cola flavor, the cherry taste that shined through in the cherry-vanilla variety is tart with acidity. I found it to be closer to the flavor of real, fresh cherries than maraschinos.
However, the distinct cherry flavor was a little too assertive for my tastes, and I would’ve liked more of the familiar warmth of vanilla to balance it out.
I thought the Olipop ginger ale had a strange aftertaste.
Olipop’s Doctor Goodwin reminded me of a cherry cola.
Ted Berg
Based on the name and packaging, Doctor Goodwin is presumably Olipop’s answer to Dr. Pepper. Diet Dr. Pepper is my go-to soda whenever it’s available, but Olipop’s version tasted nothing like it.
That being said, this soda wasn’t bad at all in its own right. It had a more palatable dose of the same cherry flavor from the cherry-vanilla variety. However, it was balanced out by an indistinct sweetness. To me, Doctor Goodwin might viably pass as a cherry cola.
The vintage-cola flavor reminded me of Diet Pepsi.
I was surprised by how much I liked the lemon-lime flavor.
Ted Berg
Lemon-lime seems pretty ho-hum as far as soda flavors go — so much so that this was the last of the 16 sodas I tried. However, I was surprised by how much I liked it.
Unlike with any other lemon-lime soda I can remember, I could taste the distinct flavors of lemon and lime instead of a vague citrusy sweetness. It was pleasantly sour and shockingly refreshing after I’d sampled 15 other flavors.
The strawberry-vanilla soda had a better flavor balance than the cherry-vanilla version.
Olipop’s classic-grape flavor reminded me of sparkling grape juice.
Ted Berg
Despite its name, Olipop’s classic grape didn’t taste much like classic grape soda.
Instead, I found it tasted more like actual grapes. More specifically, it was reminiscent of the fancy sparkling grape juice that comes in glass bottles and is served to kids when the grown-ups are having cocktails. It was tart, not too sweet, and a little winey.
The most noticeable flavor in the tropical punch was pineapple.
Olipop’s ginger-lemon flavor tasted like ginger beer.
Ted Berg
The ginger-lemon had even more ginger flavor than the ginger ale.
The flavor was strong enough to make the soda a bit spicy and taste like ginger beer, but it also had just enough sweetness to take the edge off the spice.
And most importantly, it didn’t have the same unpleasant aftertaste as the ginger ale. I did find that the ginger flavor overpowered the lemon, but I liked this soda so much that I was OK with it.
Olipop’s cream soda was my favorite.
There was nothing bland or boring about Olipop’s cream soda.
Ted Berg
In general, I typically find cream sodas to be bland. However, there was nothing bland or boring about Olipop’s cream soda. It was rich with vanilla flavor but not too sweet.
It was definitely on the milder side of the flavors I tried, but it absolutely captured the nostalgic soda-shop taste of cream soda — without anything to indicate it’s also loaded with fiber.
This story was originally published in May 2024 and most recently updated on August 28, 2024.
