Pepsi is an iconic soft drink – it’s hard to beat the crisp taste of a brand-new Pepsi you just cracked open. But that has never stopped PepsiCo from simply resting on its laurels; the soda giant is always trying to find ways to increase sales and find new audiences while, of course, attempting to crush Coca-Cola in the process.
That leads to plenty of innovation in the soda drink world, with millions of pop scientists working around the clock in secret underground bunkers, desperately trying to unlock the next great Pepsi flavor – or something like that.
These Are the Weirdest Pepsi Flavors You’ll Ever See
One of the most famous weird Pepsi flavors is, of course, Crystal Pepsi. It was sold from 1992 to 1994 before a recent revival, and was, you guessed it, a clear version of the flagship product, swapping out the caramel coloring for modified food starch to give it the clear look. Though it experienced initial success, Crystal Pepsi was discontinued just a few years later.
And if you’ve got a soft spot for those freewheeling Crystal Pepsi days, there’s no shortage of ’90s merch you can buy, including authentic soda coolers like this:
There was also Pepsi Vanilla, which you might remember as the brand’s answer to Vanilla Coke. You’ll notice a lot of these flavors are a result of the competition between these two drink giants.
Pepsi also got wild experimenting with different sweet flavors, which resulted in Pepsi Wild Cherry, Pepsi Raging Razzberry, Pepsi Strawberry Burst, Pepsi Tropical Chill, Pepsi Twist, Pepsi Blue, Pepsi Lime, Pepsi Cherry Vanilla, and Pepsi X. They even launched something called Pepsi Candy, which was released in Canada in 1999. And don’t worry, Pepsi is still on its fruit game, releasing Pepsi Berry, Pepsi Mango, and Pepsi Pineapple in 2019.
And at one point, Pepsi really wanted you tweaking out on its drinks, launching Pepsi AM in 1986, marketed as having 25% more caffeine than regular Pepsi. It was designed as a morning drink meant to compete with coffee, but it never made it out of the test market stage due to poor reception and sales.
In the past few years, Pepsi has unleashed Pepsi Fire, which was Pepsi with a cinnamon infusion, and likely a result of that stretch where everyone was obsessed with Fireball cinnamon whiskey. Pepsi has gotten weird with cinnamon before, too, releasing Pepsi Holiday Spice during the 2004 holiday season (which also had an additional spicy finish of ginger).
The Pepsi S’more Collection Is a New Flavor With a Twist
Always the innovators, Pepsi announced the S’more Collection in 2022, giving away 2,000 of these three unique flavors to the company’s social media followers.
The three flavors include Toasty Marshmallow, Graham Cracker, and Chocolate, and the twist here is that these individual 7.5-ounce cans – each flavor with its own full profile – are fully intended to be mixed together to create an infinite number of different flavor combinations. It’s soda mixology at its very best.
Strange Pepsi Flavors Around the World
Go around the globe and that’s where you’ll find a brand like Pepsi getting really weird.
There was Pepsi Raw, which is a hilarious name for a soda, which contained all-natural ingredients and no artificial colors. Pepsi Ice Cream and Pepsi Cappucino was sold in Russia, and Pepsi Twist Mojita could be found in Italy, though it contained no alcohol.
In Japan, you’ll find a wide array of interesting Pepsi flavors, from Pepsi Azuki (an azuki-bean flavored drink), Pepsi Baobab (a baobab tree-flavored option), and Pepsi Shiso (a leaf with a smell and taste similar to basil) to Pepsi Ice Cucumber and Pepsi Mont Blanc, which was based on the French chestnut dessert. Japanese Pepsi got in on the caffeine game too, releasing Pepsi Strong Shot, which featured a ton of caffeine and more carbonation.
In other markets around the world, you’d see flavors such as Pepsi Ice, which had an icy mint flavor and was sold in Guam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Though Pepsi Ice was also the name of an apple-flavored cola in the Czech Republic and Slovakia at one point. Global markets sure seem to love their lemon-flavored Pepsi, too.
In some markets, Pepsi has marketed similar products under different names, and you can see that the brand will often cater some flavors based on the tastes of other countries. It can never be said that Pepsi isn’t always trying to innovate and create a winner based off its iconic original brand.
Not all of them will stick over time, but every now and then it’s worth checking out a different Pepsi flavor just to feed your curiosity. Unless it’s Pepsi Peeps, which is a marshmallow-flavored Pepsi initially released in 2021 around Easter. That flavor can go straight to hell.
The Return of Pepsi Peeps
That being said, PEPSI x PEEPS, as it’s called, is back for 2023 “by popular demand” according to the company. Though you might see some people on social media describing the taste of PEPSI x PEEPS as nothing less than abhorrent, it’s apparently quite popular. Though in 2021, there were only 3,000 available, which drove consumer interest and the skyrocketing prices on the secondary market.
So it’ll be interesting to see what the consensus is on a marshmallow-flavored soda now that the general public can get its hands on it.
Don’t Forget the Pepsi-Infused Condiments and Foods
Pepsi just released the “Colachup,” a Pepsi-infused ketchup for the summer and the company’s first foray into condiments. Honestly, the “distinctive flavors and vibrant citrus blend” of Pepsi enhancing the “bright and tangy characteristics of ketchup, offsetting the smokiness of the hot dog” sounds pretty good, but like many special releases, the Colachup will only be available for a limited time in limited locations.
This isn’t the first time Pepsi has dipped its toe into food. Just last year, Pepsi worked with the Culinary Institute of America to develop the Pepsi-Roni Pizza, a Pepsi-infused pepperoni pizza, which was only available in a few select cities (of course).
