This Chinese Pepsi Is Flower-Flavored and We Tried It

As Sporked’s resident international beverage guinea pig, I walk the aisles of international stores like World Market pretty frequently. Google Lens in hand, I’m translating labels and asking the tough questions like “do I need to tell the world about flower-flavored Pepsi?” If it wasn’t obvious, the answer was yes. I have a bottle of Osmanthus Pepsi Cola all the way from China. We’ll tackle the obligatory question before we pop the bottle—let’s get into it.

What is osmanthus and why is it invading my Pepsi?

Osmanthus is a family of flowering plants primarily native to Asia. The scent of the most popular species is likened to apricots and peaches, while the flower itself is used to flavor wines, teas, and bread. A few years ago, Pepsi’s Chinese distributor discovered that classic Pepsi variants like cherry and vanilla didn’t make an impact with Chinese consumers. Thus, they took a more culturally relevant flavor for a spin starting in 2020 when they launched Osmanthus Pepsi. (This same logic explains why Chocolate Dr Pepper has only been launched in America.)

But what does this flower-flavored Pepsi taste like? Read on for the full review. 

International Pepsi!

Chinese Osmanthus Pepsi

Yami

Pros: Even if I hadn’t read the Wikipedia page for this flower, I think I would have figured out the apricotfulness and peachiness going on here after a few sips. This is a super pleasant international Pepsi variant that, despite the flavor name, isn’t too floral. (As an herbal tea enjoyer, I’m not afraid of floral but “Flower Pepsi” did give me pause when I first saw this on the shelf.) If we saw a Peach Apricot Pepsi release here in the States, I have a feeling it’d taste a lot like this.

Cons: The initial taste is very sweet, but it peters out into a pleasant aftertaste. The bottle I tried also suffered from the ever-present flatness that imported sodas suffer from, but I can’t put that on the soda itself. To resolve this issue, I’ll be pitching a “Griffin Travels Across Asia to Drink Their Soda While It’s Still Carbonated” travel series to Sporked.

Credit: Liv Averett / Yami

Rating:

7/10

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