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  • Harry: From calorie count to portion sizes,

  • we wanted to find out all the differences

  • between Pepsi in the UK and the US.

  • This is "Food Wars."

  • In the UK, Pepsi comes in a range of portion sizes,

  • but these do vary slightly

  • depending on which type of Pepsi you're buying.

  • We used to be able to get mini cans,

  • but they've been discontinued,

  • so now you can get classic Pepsi in four portion sizes.

  • As a 330-milliliter can,

  • as a 500-milliliter bottle,

  • as a 1.5-liter bottle,

  • and as a 2-liter bottle.

  • In the US, our Pepsi comes in these following sizes:

  • The mini can is the smallest. 7.5 fluid ounces.

  • Next one up, the classic can, 12 fluid ounces.

  • Then we move up to plastic bottles.

  • This one is 16.9 fluid ounces.

  • Then we got the 20-fluid-ounce bottle.

  • And if that's not enough,

  • we go up to 1-liter bottle. Liter of cola.

  • Then moving up a little bit more, 1.25-liter bottle.

  • And then our biggest bottle is the 2-liter bottle.

  • We can also get glass bottles,

  • but like the classic can, they are 12 ounces.

  • Where regular Pepsi is concerned,

  • both countries cap out at a 2-liter bottle.

  • However, in the UK, we can go one step further

  • when it comes to diet and Max Pepsi.

  • Certain retailers, such as Iceland or B&M, stock these.

  • A 3-liter bottle of Pepsi Max or Pepsi diet.

  • We finally have something bigger than America! We did it!

  • I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing,

  • probably bad for the nation's health,

  • but, you know, nice to be different for once.

  • There are some other slight size differences

  • for the sugar and sugar-free options in the UK as well.

  • For example, in the UK,

  • we can get a 1.25-liter bottle of Pepsi Max or Pepsi diet,

  • which we can't get for the classic Pepsi.

  • The size differences are largely down to the UK's sugar tax.

  • It's a tax which raised the price of drinks

  • with more than 5 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters.

  • The higher prices reduce the demand

  • for the full-sugar versions of soft drinks,

  • making it less viable to sell them in large containers,

  • such as the 3-liter.

  • But don't worry, because you can still get sugary Pepsi

  • in bulk quantities.

  • Our largest bulk is the 36-can pack of Pepsi,

  • and that's the 12-ounce cans.

  • That is 432 fluid ounces of soda,

  • or 3.375 gallons, of Pepsi.

  • Now, that pack of cans is at least available at Sam's Club,

  • possibly Costco, I don't know, but I went to Sam's Club,

  • and unfortunately they would not let me buy it

  • without a membership.

  • So, the best I could do are these pictures

  • of me with the packs.

  • That is much larger than our largest option,

  • which is this, a 24-pack of cans.

  • Not only is our multipack

  • only two-thirds the size of the American one,

  • but the cans themselves are also smaller.

  • A can in the UK contains 330 milliliters,

  • while a can in the US contains 355.

  • This means that the total for our 24-pack

  • comes to 2.09 gallons.

  • Even if we had a 36-pack,

  • it would still be smaller than the American version.

  • We need three extra cans to make up the difference.

  • Here are all the Pepsi products you'll find in the UK

  • that you won't find in the US.

  • Here are all the Pepsi products from the US

  • you won't find in the UK.

  • We'll start with the exclusive flavors of Pepsi.

  • In the UK, we have Pepsi Max raspberry.

  • It's got that really comforting,

  • extremely nostalgic artificial blue-raspberry flavor

  • that you're used to.

  • On Pepsi's UK website, it also said they do lime Pepsi,

  • but I wasn't able to find that at any of the stores I tried.

  • Whoops.

  • We have a few exclusive Pepsi options of our own.

  • Starting down here, we have Pepsi real sugar,

  • which is in fact made with real sugar,

  • not the high-fructose-corn-syrup stuff.

  • Not bad.

  • We also have Pepsi mango and Pepsi mango zero sugar.

  • Seems like a weird fruit choice.

  • Whoa, smells good.

  • I'm surprised by how good this is.

  • And they got the mango zero sugar.

  • Ooh, already smells drastically different.

  • It's got a real chemically aftertaste.

  • Not as good as the regular.

  • This one here is

  • Pepsi soda shop cream soda.

  • Mm.

  • Very nice.

  • And the last one, Pepsi vanilla.

  • I'm gonna be honest with you, Pepsi,

  • could use a lot more vanilla.

  • It's, like, vanilla-kissed.

  • [burps] There it is.

  • All right, right now what I want to do

  • is compare the already-tasted real sugar Pepsi

  • to the regular Pepsi, which has high-fructose corn syrup.

  • Regular Pepsi.

  • [coughs]

  • Pepsi's harsher than Coke.

  • Yeah.

  • About to say something somewhat controversial,

  • but bring it, I want all the smoke.

  • Real sugar Pepsi tastes just like Coke.

  • It's just smoother.

  • This is like ... [burps]

  • Yeah, this is, like, harsher.

  • Joe was kind enough to send me some American Pepsi

  • as well as some real sugar Pepsi,

  • so I'm going to do a three-way taste test

  • and see if I can tell the difference.

  • Pepsi No. 1.

  • That's very, like, strong flavor,

  • quite a syrupy texture to it almost.

  • Pepsi No. 2.

  • Yeah, very sweet, but almost in a more gentle kind of way.

  • And then No. 3.

  • More similar in kind of, like,

  • I'd say sweetness and mouthfeel to the middle one.

  • This one is the one that stood out with the strongest taste,

  • in my opinion.

  • These two were very similar, which is making me think

  • that these are the British and real sugar Pepsis.

  • I'm not sure in which order,

  • but they had a more gentle taste,

  • whereas this one seemed harsher and tasted very syrupy.

  • So I'm going to guess British,

  • American real sugar,

  • American normal Pepsi.

  • I'm shocked.

  • These two tasted really similar to me,

  • and this one stood out, like I said,

  • and it wasn't particularly pleasant.

  • Maybe the UK needs to take a leaf out of America's book

  • and just put high-fructose corn syrup in everything.

  • The other exclusive Pepsi item in the UK

  • is this Pepsi SodaStream syrup.

  • For the uninitiated, a SodaStream is a device

  • which lets you carbonate your own drinks at home.

  • Now, as a sparkling-water obsessive,

  • I actually own one of these.

  • So we're going to make our own Pepsi.

  • So, what you do

  • is you get one of your little SodaStream bottles,

  • fill it to the first line, and attach it to the machine.

  • Then you press this button, and the magic happens.

  • According to this bottle,

  • you add about half a cap of the syrup to this.

  • That's quite cool.

  • The first thing I get is just Pepsi.

  • It tastes a lot like Pepsi Max.

  • There is a slightly unpleasant aftertaste,

  • which, I'm not sure where that's come from.

  • Maybe I used too much syrup. Who knows.

  • But I think, yeah, in terms of recreating

  • a fizzy drink at home with not a lot of equipment,

  • it's pretty good.

  • And that's pretty much it

  • as far as Pepsi exclusives are concerned,

  • but we're not stopping there.

  • PepsiCo owns more beverage brands,

  • but it does differ depending on which country you live in.

  • Now, while in the US, Keurig Dr Pepper owns 7Up,

  • in the UK, it's actually owned by PepsiCo,

  • which means that technically

  • all of these are Pepsi exclusives.

  • British 7Up comes in four forms.

  • As classic 7Up, a 7Up Free, 7Up cherry Free,

  • and as a SodaStream syrup.

  • That's actually not bad.

  • It doesn't have the unpleasant aftertaste

  • that the Pepsi one did.

  • That to me just tastes like 7Up.

  • One other thing that's worth pointing out

  • is that in the UK, this is considered lemonade.

  • Like, if you walk into a pub or a restaurant

  • and ask for a glass of lemonade, this is what you'll get.

  • Like, a clear sparkling beverage.

  • Is that not the case in America?

  • That is definitely not lemonade,

  • and it is super weird.

  • Lemonade is lemon, not juice, right?

  • But you squeeze lemons in water and mix it up,

  • and it's, like, more refreshing and kind of tart.

  • And it's closer to a lemon juice.

  • It's definitely not carbonated.

  • In front of me we have something that's brand new,

  • and it is called Pepsi Nitro.

  • What is it? Wait, excuse me.

  • Nitro Pepsi, flip 'em.

  • Looks to be a tall boy of Pepsi

  • that, according to the can, is nitrogen-infused cola

  • with smaller bubbles and a smoother taste.

  • [drink fizzes]

  • Did you hear that? Oh, man!

  • That's a pretty hard pour, right?

  • It's not going crazy like a normal Pepsi would, right?

  • I'm more excited about the vanilla.

  • Let's really get really good audio on this one now. Ready?

  • [drink fizzes]

  • Hard pour.

  • Yeah, it's a little bit smoother.

  • It still tastes just like Pepsi.

  • Not as carbonated, which is fine.

  • Do the vanilla.

  • Much better. Ooh, that's nice. Yeah.

  • The issue I'm having with it

  • is that the only time soda is that "smooth"

  • is when it's flat.

  • I'll f--- with it, but it's just OK.

  • Pepsi has a few exclusive brands in the US,

  • including Mug Root Beer, Sierra Mist, and Bubly.

  • They're a carbonated-water brand.

  • Mug Root Beer.

  • I was the master at being able

  • to tell different root beers on taste.

  • I could tell them apart.

  • That information is, like, in my DNA.

  • One of these days we'll do a root-beer lineup,

  • a root-beer taste test.

  • I guarantee I will ace that test.

  • Yeah, it's taking me back.

  • Also, they got Sierra Mist.

  • I hate Sierra Mist.

  • It's a lemon-lime flavor.

  • I don't know if they're competing with Sprite or 7Up.

  • Always hated this.

  • Sprite is better. 7Up is better.

  • Sierra Mist tastes the way

  • fruit-flavored shampoo smells, if that makes sense.

  • [burps] OK.

  • This'll be my ranking system, from best to worst.

  • So, first we're going to go strawberry.

  • No, I do not like that.

  • Cherry.

  • I think these all might be bad.

  • That one's a little better than the strawberry one.

  • Pineapple.

  • Nope, woof!

  • Grapefruit, ugh.

  • Low expectations on this one.

  • Oh, my God, that smells like an armpit.

  • Oh, man, if I went into a public restroom

  • and it smelled like this, I would run out.

  • No!

  • Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!

  • Yeah, that's the worst one.

  • Lime. Can't screw up lime, come on.

  • Congrats, lime, you're the least offensive.

  • Peach.

  • What the hell happened? Why are these all so bad?

  • Raspberry.

  • Oh, man, the smell of that.

  • It says natural flavor.

  • It does not taste natural at all.

  • At all. At all.

  • Ah, blackberry.

  • OK, that's the best one, but it's not very good.

  • And last and not -- mango.

  • OK, so we had the mango,

  • so they know how to flavor things mango properly.

  • The mango Pepsi's fantastic.

  • I mean, yeah, these two are the best one.

  • They're not very good.

  • Bubly is not very good.

  • How could they screw these up this bad?

  • PepsiCo also owns Mountain Dew in the UK and the US,

  • but that is a story for another episode.

  • Story time. Anyone ever remember or heard of New Coke?

  • Well, you can thank Pepsi for that.

  • Once upon a time,

  • Coca-Cola was actually losing market share,

  • and Pepsi put out a very popular ad campaign

  • where people were blind taste-testing Coke and Pepsi

  • and picking Pepsi.

  • So Coke panicked,

  • and they pushed to market a beverage called New Coke,

  • which is basically Coke

  • that was supposed to taste more like Pepsi.

  • Guess what? Huge marketing blunder.

  • Not only did Coca-Cola fans get annoyed

  • that they changed the formula of a beverage they liked,

  • but all New Coke was doing was giving Pepsi more attention.

  • Either way, just 79 days after introducing New Coke,

  • Coke announced that they'd be bringing back

  • the original drink, called Coca-Cola Classic.

  • And you will maybe notice, for, like, 20 years,

  • Coca-Cola was called Coca-Cola Classic.

  • It had "Classic" on there. Have you ever wondered why?

  • That's because they wanted to make it perfectly clear,

  • this is not that New Coke that you hated

  • from 1988 or whatever.

  • So, Pepsi, they had their day in the sun,

  • but to be honest, I mean,

  • Coke is clearly the more dominant brand.

  • Speaking of product failures, remember Crystal Pepsi?

  • That was widely considered

  • to be one of the biggest product failures ever.

  • Time magazine put Crystal Pepsi at No. 3

  • on the biggest-fails list.

  • Thrillist called it "Soda World's Greatest Fail."

  • But why?

  • Soda sales were stagnant in the early '90s,

  • with consumers instead opting

  • for clear and caffeine-free sodas.

  • Former Pepsi marketing exec David Novak

  • pitched a drink that was both,

  • and Crystal Pepsi was born.

  • The recipe was developed by food scientist Surinder Kumar,

  • and Pepsi ended up with a clear drink

  • that maintained an almost identical taste to Classic Pepsi.

  • They rushed it out in time for the 1993 Super Bowl.

  • It was backed by a $40 million ad campaign,

  • and they did sell about half a billion dollars' worth of it.

  • But by March of '93, the hype quickly faded.

  • Consumers did not love the new flavor,

  • and the concept was even parodied by "SNL"

  • in a "crystal gravy" sketch.

  • Hilarious.

  • Roughly one year after launch,

  • Crystal Pepsi was discontinued.

  • But if you never got the chance to try it,

  • there's still hope for you.

  • Pepsi's bringing Crystal Pepsi back for a limited time

  • to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

  • You can't buy it in stores, but you can enter a contest

  • by sending them a picture of yourself

  • from the '90s on Twitter.

  • Here is my entry.

  • I've got a story of my own.

  • Remember that time when Pepsi briefly became

  • the world's sixth-most-powerful military force?

  • It all started in 1959

  • at the American National Exhibition in Moscow.

  • When a discussion between

  • the then vice president, Richard Nixon,

  • and Nikita Khrushchev became heated,

  • a Pepsi exec called Donald Kendall stepped in

  • to hand Khrushchev a glass of Pepsi to cool him down.

  • Khrushchev enjoyed Pepsi so much that arrangements were made

  • for it to be imported from the US to Russia.

  • As part of the deal, Pepsi even negotiated a monopoly,

  • locking Coca-Cola out of the country.

  • The drink's popularity exploded

  • in an otherwise uncontested market.

  • But there was one problem: payment.

  • The Russian ruble wasn't accepted

  • outside of the Soviet Union,

  • so the Russians had to come up

  • with an alternative arrangement.

  • They settled on a universal currency: vodka.

  • Russia traded thousands of cases of Stolichnaya vodka

  • for Pepsi syrup throughout the '60s and the '70s.

  • However, they did run into problems in the '80s.

  • Pepsi's popularity in Russia combined with a boycott

  • due to the Soviet-Afghan War

  • meant that vodka just wasn't going to cut it anymore.

  • Here's where things get fun.

  • In the spring of 1989,

  • Pepsi and the Soviet Union agreed a deal

  • whereby Pepsi would be given 17 old submarines

  • and three warships.

  • They would then sell them for scrap to pay for the Pepsi.

  • Therefore, for a short period of time,

  • Pepsi controlled the sixth-most-powerful navy in the world.

  • Now that is a food war.

  • Here's everything in a Pepsi in the US.

  • Carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup,

  • caramel color, sugar,

  • phosphoric acid, caffeine,

  • citric acid, natural flavors.

  • Here is everything in Pepsi in the UK.

  • Carbonated water, sugar,

  • color (caramel E150d), phosphoric acid,

  • and flavorings including caffeine.

  • Now, obviously Pepsi won't go into specifics

  • on the flavorings used,

  • because the recipe is a closely guarded secret.

  • Or is it?

  • Pepsi was invented in North Carolina in 1893

  • by a man named Caleb Bradham.

  • First it was called Brad's Drink,

  • but then they renamed it Pepsi in 1898.

  • It comes from the fact that it was marketed

  • as relieving dyspepsia, another word for indigestion.

  • It's giving me indigestion, so that's weird.

  • However, in 1923, the original Pepsi-Cola company

  • went bankrupt due to fluctuating sugar prices

  • after World War I.

  • As part of the bankruptcy filing,

  • Bradham had to release the recipe for Pepsi,

  • as it was a company asset,

  • and it's still publicly available to this day.

  • So you can make your own Pepsi at home

  • simply by combining sugar, water, caramel color,

  • lime juice, phosphoric acid, alcohol, lemon juice,

  • orange juice, cinnamon oil, nutmeg, coriander (cilantro),

  • and petitgrain, which is an essential oil

  • extracted from the leaves and twigs of bitter orange trees.

  • Yeah, just those things.

  • The rights to Pepsi were eventually bought

  • by a man named Charles Guth,

  • who was then the president of the Loft Corporation,

  • which later merged into PepsiCo.

  • They of course claim

  • that they reformulated the recipe after the takeover,

  • but the original is still there for all to see.

  • Enough with the history lesson.

  • What is the difference between US and UK Pepsi?

  • That is why we are here.

  • First, let's talk about acids.

  • Both the UK and the US acidify their Pepsi

  • with phosphoric acid.

  • It's a weak acid which is primarily used as a fertilizer.

  • When added to foods, it provides a tangy taste,

  • but it's also been linked to causing kidney stones

  • as well as osteoporosis.

  • The US also uses citric acid in its Pepsi.

  • Citric acid is a more common

  • and generally safer acidifier in foods,

  • but it's one of the things in sodas

  • that will cause tooth enamel to erode

  • after repeated consumption.

  • I happen to have some of that right here.

  • Whoo!

  • That's sour.

  • Another major difference in Pepsi

  • is that in the US, we sweeten our Pepsi

  • with high-fructose corn syrup in addition to sugar.

  • High-fructose corn syrup is everywhere

  • in American sodas and candies.

  • Government subsidies make it super-cheap

  • for American farmers to grow corn,

  • and food manufacturers use corn syrup to save money

  • instead of importing sugarcane

  • from places like Mexico and Brazil.

  • Corn syrup is hard to find at all in the UK.

  • We did manage to track down this small bottle,

  • but only in a specialist grocery store.

  • Even then, it's just regular corn syrup

  • and not high-fructose.

  • The good news is, is that it isn't actually

  • any worse for you than sugar.

  • The main impact is on the taste,

  • which explains why we have a Pepsi made with real sugar.

  • Here it is, a version of the US drink

  • which does not contain any corn syrup.

  • This version actually has the exact same ingredients

  • as the UK Pepsi.

  • Anything else to note?

  • Well, our old friend caramel color is back.

  • In the UK, it's listed as caramel E150d,

  • while the US just lists caramel color.

  • This is a somewhat controversial food coloring

  • used to give things like Pepsi

  • a distinctive golden-brown tinge.

  • There are four classes of caramel color,

  • classes I through IV. Studies have suggested

  • that the production of classes III and IV

  • create a byproduct that may put people at risk

  • of developing cancer.

  • Of course.

  • Why can't we enjoy anything?

  • While the FDA has stopped short of banning caramel color,

  • the state of California added it to its Proposition 65

  • list of chemicals known to cause cancer

  • and birth defects or reproductive harm.

  • Are these potentially harmful caramel colors in our Pepsi?

  • Well, in the UK, the answer is yes.

  • We know that class IV caramel color is used in the UK

  • because sulfite ammonia caramel has the E number E150d,

  • which is on the list.

  • What about in the US, where it just says

  • caramel color without specifics?

  • We reached out to Pepsi

  • to ask which class they use over here.

  • And their answer was: nothing.

  • They said they would not comment on the specific ingredients

  • due to proprietary issues.

  • Yeah, guys?

  • You're afraid that detail's gonna really help,

  • uh,

  • cut into your competition?

  • So, your Pepsi may or may not

  • be putting you at risk of cancer.

  • So glad we cleared that up.

  • In the US, a can of Pepsi contains the following.

  • 150 calories,

  • 0 grams of fat,

  • 41 grams of carbohydrates,

  • and all those are sugars,

  • and 30 milligrams of sodium.

  • A can of Pepsi in the UK contains the following.

  • 135 calories,

  • 0 grams of fat,

  • 36 grams of carbs,

  • of which 36 grams are sugars,

  • and 4 milligrams of sodium.

  • Obviously the alarming stat here is the sugar.

  • Just one can of US Pepsi

  • contains 80% of your daily sugar allowance.

  • Really, one?

  • Ugh.

  • The UK statistic is slightly better,

  • at just 72% of your daily allowance,

  • but that is still a lot of sugar

  • in a relatively small amount of liquid.

  • There's also some caffeine in Pepsi.

  • A 12-ounce can contains 38 milligrams of caffeine,

  • which is about half as much as an 8-ounce cup of coffee.

  • I of course am drinking

  • both Pepsi and coffee at the same time.

  • Pepsi doesn't openly disclose

  • its caffeine content in the UK,

  • but according to a website I found

  • called caffeineinformer.com,

  • a can of UK Pepsi Max contains 42 milligrams of caffeine.

  • The US equivalent of Pepsi Max is Pepsi zero sugar,

  • but a can, not pictured here,

  • has over 69 milligrams of caffeine.

  • N-n-n-n-nice. [air horn goes off]

  • Making it significantly more caffeinated

  • than the UK version.

  • But the good news: According to the FDA,

  • you need to consume 1,200 milligrams of caffeine

  • in a short period of time to put your health in danger.

  • That's about 18 cans of Pepsi zero sugar.

  • I like a challenge, let's go.

  • Ugh!

  • Can I drink a carbonated water without burping?

  • Wait. Ah, damn it.

  • I'm sorry. [burps] I tried.

Harry: From calorie count to portion sizes,

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