It's easy for me to vote neither because theses days I don't like diet drinks. But I remember during the early 1980's that Tab & Diet Coke tasted different. But what's your take on this?

OR

I can remember when Dite Coke was release: until then as far as I knew there were 2 diet colas:

Tab and diet rite. My mom drank diet rite out of quart glass bottles. (before the plastic). Sometimes I would steal empties to turn in for the deposit.

Feeling hungry Tony?

smoothcriminal12 said:

Feeling hungry Tony?

I'm having red beans & rice for dinner. Too bad I don't have a throwback.

TonyVanDam said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Feeling hungry Tony?

I'm having red beans & rice for dinner. Too bad I don't have a throwback.

I wish I was old enough to remember all these glory days y'all are talking about. I'll just sit and watch the commercials.

I can't even remember what Tab tasted like. Surprisingly, I still see it in particular stores these days. Not everywhere, just in certain stores. I've been meaning to buy one just to refresh my memory on the taste but forget every time I'm in the store because I'm always in such a rush.

As for back in those days, Tab is the first diet drink I can think of and it didn't have the word "diet" on it anywhere, it was just well known and advertised that was the type of drink it was. I also remember in the 1970s, the diet drinks didn't have the word "diet" in the name. They were called "sugar free". The first one I ever remember was called Sugar Free Dr. Pepper in the 1970s. Remember the old commercials....."Sugar Free Dr. Pepper tastes fattening but it's not. How can something so sugarless taste so sugarfull".....Well, at least I think that's how it went. That's been a lot of years ago. Then when the 1980s arrived, they started calling them Diet Dr. Pepper, then Diet Pepsi. Diet Coke was the last one I remember coming out. I remember that because my mother was a Coke drinker and she used to always complain back then....."Why doesn't Coke make a diet drink? I'm tired of all these Dr. Peppers and Pepsis, I want a damn Coke, that's my drink.".

Genesia said:

Fresca.

Lord, I remember that one. Remember Shasta? That's going waaaaaaaay back.

vainandy said:

Genesia said:

Fresca.

Lord, I remember that one. Remember Shasta? That's going waaaaaaaay back.

They sell Shasta brand soft drinks at Dollar Tree.

Genesia said:

Fresca.

Ive got some in my fridge right now! It my fave in the summer...

Genesia said:

Fresca.

has anyone seen this???

It's kinda like redbull, it's not a cola and

It's soooo good... I tried it a while back, loved it, and now I can't find it.

vainandy said:

Genesia said:

vainandy said:

Lord, I remember that one. Remember Shasta? That's going waaaaaaaay back.

We looooooved Shasta - mostly because it cost, like, a dime a can.

If I recall it came in many flavors too!

I went on a diet where I ate only once a day and drank Shasta. If I am remembering the right brand, their was diet orange, root beer, grape, gingerale etc. It made me feel like I had variety in my diet!

TonyVanDam said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Feeling hungry Tony?

I'm having red beans & rice for dinner. Too bad I don't have a throwback.

Pepsi Throwback is the truth.

Genesia said:

vainandy said:

Lord, I remember that one. Remember Shasta? That's going waaaaaaaay back.

We looooooved Shasta - mostly because it cost, like, a dime a can.

We still load up the plastic lined trash barrels with ice and Shastas of all flovors.

My faves... Pineapple, Champagne, Strawberry. I think they have watermelon also....

Deadflow3r said:

I don't remember how it tasted (probably because none of my family was into it) but I do remember the commercials for Tab. I tasted Diet Coke once though, realized Coke/Pepsi (not Diet Pepsi) was better.

Genesia said:

Deadflow3r said:

If I recall it came in many flavors too!

I went on a diet where I ate only once a day and drank Shasta. If I am remembering the right brand, their was diet orange, root beer, grape, gingerale etc. It made me feel like I had variety in my diet!

Diet Shasta was every high school girl's diet beverage of choice - especially if her parents refused to buy her soda.

Shasta is winning and it wasn't even on the list

(real TAB tasted very metalic to me).

one of Whitney Houston's Diet Coke ads from the 80s.

My grandmother loved her some TAB so I'd have to go with Tab in her memory!

The only thing I remember from the 80's is that I always chose Coke over everything else.
And I don't mean the drink.
Back then, freebasing didn't take the toll on my body as much as it does these days.
Ah, to be young again.
I miss the 80's.

Deadflow3r said:

Genesia said:

Deadflow3r said: Diet Shasta was every high school girl's diet beverage of choice - especially if her parents refused to buy her soda.

Shasta is winning and it wasn't even on the list

(real TAB tasted very metalic to me).

Tab was sooo gross to me, my mom loved Tab.

I was too skinny to drink anything diet so I stuck to regular Pepsi/Dr. Pepper.

paintedlady said:

Deadflow3r said:

Shasta is winning and it wasn't even on the list

(real TAB tasted very metalic to me).

Tab was sooo gross to me, my mom loved Tab.

I was too skinny to drink anything diet so I stuck to regular Pepsi/Dr. Pepper.

Having to drink TAB while others drank Coke seemed to be punishment for being fat. Drink TAB or water, take your pick.

I can not picture you very skinny at all It doesn't suit your personality.

Wasn´t TAB basically the predecessor to Diet Coke? Because Coke didn´t want to give the Coca Cola name to a diet product? I think the main difference is that TAB contains saccharine (sp?) whereas Diet Coke contains aspartame. We had a thread about this ages ago, when Prince.org. co-founder was still around. He´s a big fan and collector of all things Coke.

http://www.straightdope.c...ke-and-tab

We never had Tab in Sweden, and Diet Coke was called Coke Light - which I honestly think is a better name. I was never a fan though. I prefered regular Coke, and Loranga - a Swedish orange-flavoured soft drink.

These days it's just water all the way.

KoolEaze said:

Wasn´t TAB basically the predecessor to Diet Coke? Because Coke didn´t want to give the Coca Cola name to a diet product? I think the main difference is that TAB contains saccharine (sp?) whereas Diet Coke contains aspartame. We had a thread about this ages ago, when Prince.org. co-founder was still around. He´s a big fan and collector of all things Coke.

Correct.

Deadflow3r said:

paintedlady said:

Tab was sooo gross to me, my mom loved Tab.

I was too skinny to drink anything diet so I stuck to regular Pepsi/Dr. Pepper.

Having to drink TAB while others drank Coke seemed to be punishment for being fat. Drink TAB or water, take your pick.

I can not picture you very skinny at all It doesn't suit your personality.

Actually, I went from "too skinny" to "too fat" ...

people who knew me in my twenties are saying "OMG, I its weird seeing you like this! I NEVER thought YOU'D get fat!"

I am soooo glad I have been fat long enough (10 years) to get people to stop talking how shocked they are about my weight.

... and I STILL will NOT touch any diet drink, I'd rather have water. I hate the after taste.

KoolEaze said:

Wasn´t TAB basically the predecessor to Diet Coke? Because Coke didn´t want to give the Coca Cola name to a diet product? I think the main difference is that TAB contains saccharine (sp?) whereas Diet Coke contains aspartame. We had a thread about this ages ago, when Prince.org. co-founder was still around. He´s a big fan and collector of all things Coke.

Tab was the first diet drink I remember and Diet Coke was the last of the big name ones coming out after Diet Dr. Pepper (previously Sugar Free Dr. Pepper) and Diet Pepsi.

It's amazing how far they have come since the 1980s in making these drinks taste as close to the real thing as possible. Everyone in my family are longtime Coke lovers, including my mother who switched to Diet Coke when it came out and rarely drank anything else. Diet Coke definately has that old "diet" taste compared to the other drinks nowadays and I remember at one time they had a slogan called "Diet Coke, just for the taste of it". Whatever they use in it must be a taste that some people like because when I tasted Coke Zero, I loved it and couldn't tell the difference between it and real Coke. I told my mother about it, she tried it, and didn't like it. She said once she got her taste buds used to drinking Diet Coke, real Coke tasted flat to her. I've heard other Diet Coke lovers say that also. They love their Diet Coke.