Starry Zero Review: Do We Love or Hate It?

When I recently wrote a somewhat positive (but overall pretty ambivalent) review of Starry, Pepsi’s newly released lemon-lime soda, I wasn’t aware how strongly people felt about lemon-lime soda. Last I checked, there were around 80 comments on that review, some of them personal attacks on my character, ability as a writer, and value as a human being. One person called me “uncool” and then actually typed out the words, “This ‘author’ could give an aspirin a headache,” which is, no offense, the dorkiest insult I’ve ever read. But, listen, I get it. Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has them and most of them stink, even when they belong to a professional food taste tester.

But some of the more constructive comments gave me more insight into why people are so worked up about this soda release.

For one thing, Sierra Mist, a now discontinued lemon-lime soda from Pepsi, was made with real cane sugar and Starry is made with high-fructose corn syrup. Why Pepsi would replace a sugar-sweetened soda with a corn syrup-sweetened soda when everything on the market is trending natural is beyond me. I also recently had an opportunity to taste Sierra Mist (which we sourced from Amazon) alongside Starry, and I will say that we liked Sierra Mist better, although I still didn’t emerge from the experience thinking Starry was explicitly bad. It’s sweeter (too sweet for some) and slightly more caloric (150 cals and 39 grams of carbs per 12 ounce can to Sierra Mist’s 140 cals and 37 grams of carbs per can). I still think the branding is cuter than Sierra Mist’s was, but I’ve learned my lesson about making jokes about cannibalism (check the original Starry review to understand that reference).

But that’s all in the past now. Today I’m here to talk about Starry Zero, Pepsi’s new zero-calorie lemon-lime soda. Same bold branding as full-fat Starry, but sweetened with aspartame—same as Sierra Mist Zero Sugar. (I didn’t taste this alongside Sierra Mist Zero Sugar but I did taste it alongside Sprite Zero.)

New Product!

Starry Zero

Amazon

In my opinion, “Zero” sodas are better than “Diet” sodas. I know some people will go to hell and back for Diet Coke, but I think Coke Zero is a far superior product because it tastes more like Coca-Cola than Diet Coke does (although, obviously, Coca-Cola is more delicious than either). That’s why Starry Zero is such a letdown: It doesn’t taste like zero-sugar Starry; it tastes like a different soda altogether. For a lemon-lime soda, I find Starry to be very lime forward; you get lime on the nose and lime dominates the flavor profile. Starry Zero tastes more like lemon. It also has that unpleasant diet-soda saccharine sweetness that sort of lingers on your tongue after you take a sip.

That said, if you hate Starry (I know there’s PLENTY OF YOU), then maybe you’ll actually like this? Try it and let me know in a way that won’t hurt my feelings.

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

5/10

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