This Might Be The Worst-Tasting Soda At Aldi

If you're addicted to sugar-free cola, you're definitely not alone. Diet sodas have been an institution for decades, and diet cola, in particular, has come a long way since the advent of Royal Crown Cola's Diet Rite, first launched way back in 1958, and Coca-Cola's Tab, introduced in 1963 (via The Baltimore Sun). Since then, companies large and small have spent time and money trying to create a diet cola that tastes as good as the original stuff. In fact, Coca-Cola's classic Diet Coke did so well when it first launched in 1982 that it sparked a legal battle over whether or not bottlers would need new contracts with Coca-Cola for this new product and recipe (via The Smithsonian). Winning that battle gave Coca-Cola control over syrup prices and, within one year, they became the largest-selling soft drink in the U.S., all thanks to Diet Coke.

So, it should come as no surprise that diet drinkers tend to compare the store-brand sodas, whether consciously or unconsciously, to the Diet Coke benchmark. In fact, that's exactly what happened to Aldi's "Summit" diet cola on Reddit today. Someone posted to the subreddit r/aldi calling the drink "undrinkable," stating: "This has to be the worst generic diet cola I have ever tasted... I even tried to do half and half with real diet coke to make it salvageable – ruined the diet coke" (via Reddit). However, the response from fellow fans of both Aldi and diet cola surprised many.

In the original post, the user mentions that they expect backlash for voicing this potentially unpopular opinion, especially since, as they point out, "this is a sub for praise of Aldi products rather than criticism." But, within twelve hours, the post was 92 percent upvoted, with 82 comments that were largely very constructive. For instance, one person wrote: "I'm sure I'm not the only one in here that appreciates knowing what not to buy. Thanks for the info!"

While many were quick to agree with this assessment of Aldi's sodas in comments like "I tried the regular cola and it was the worst generic cola I have ever had. I poured it down the drain," others stepped in to disagree. However, even those who do like the Summit brand cola, or know someone who does, were more than civil in their comments, writing, "This is such a strange thread for me! I like the normal summit cola quite a bit. Not as good as Coke of course but it's good, in my opinion." Then there were those who agreed that Summit is not the tastiest diet option but still buy it because of the low price, with one person writing: "It's not bad tbh but yeah original Diet Coke is better. I still buy it cause it's cheap and I like cans." Overall, the post garnered a surprisingly calm, kind thread for such a potentially contentious topic.