The Truth About Dr Pepper's Blend Of 23 Flavors

There's something different about cracking open a cold can of Dr Pepper. From the fizz buzzing to the unique scent, fans of the soft drink know all 23 flavors are about to hit their taste buds with a sweet and peppery kick. But there's more to the signature taste and smell of the classic soda than simply striving for complexity and balance.

Dr Pepper was invented in 1885 by Charles Alderton, a pharmacist in Waco, Texas. Noticing that customers loved how the soda fountain inside the drug store where he worked smelled sweet, Alderton decided to create a drink that imitated that soda fountain scent and flavor. While the aroma of the old-fashioned soda fountain might have been the inspiration behind the drink's taste, a blend of other kinds of soda aren't exactly the 23 flavors that give Dr Pepper its unique taste. To find out exactly what those ingredients are, you'd have to break into the vault that holds the recipe, currently located inside the Dr Pepper Snapple Group headquarters in Plano, Texas (via Thrillist).

When you think of what Dr Pepper tastes like, and what we know other soda flavors are flavored to taste like, you might be surprised by the flavors people believe make up the drink's profile. According to The Daily Meal, mega fans of Dr Pepper believe the 23 flavors are (in alphabetical order) amaretto, almond, blackberry, black licorice, caramel, carrot, clove, cherry, cola, ginger, juniper, lemon, molasses, nutmeg, orange, prune, plum, pepper, root beer, rum, raspberry, tomato, and vanilla. So, the peppery kick that the soda has might come from pepper itself, but it could also be helped along by black licorice, clove, ginger, and root beer to give Dr Pepper the more subtle spice it has.

Whether you agree with the public consensus on Dr Pepper's flavors or not, you should definitely pick up a bottle and try to decipher it yourself for the fun of it. You might be surprised at what flavors your palate finds hidden within the soda's proprietary secret blend.