Avoid This Prebiotic Cola Unless You Like Overpriced And Overly Sweet Drinks

While classic soda flavors like cherry and cream have long won over soft drink sippers, the 2020s saw the rise of a new option on shelves: prebiotic cola. Typically containing less sugar, as well as a dose of plant fiber, these beverages are marketed with a nutritional spin. As witnessed by the Poppi lawsuit controversy, some of their wellness benefits remain contested. Still, it's an exciting new option to sip on, defined by a pleasant flavor often derived from less-processed ingredients.

So, to see what these soft drinks are all about, our own Food Republic reviewer sampled and ranked several prebiotic colas. The brand that doesn't hit the spot? The Cove Classic Cola. Despite an inviting retro-inspired label, and visible USDA Organic and Zero Sugar stickers, this canned option tastes saccharine. Our reporter noted that stevia dominated the tongue, leading to an artificial sweetness that warded off another sip. Few other flavors appeared alongside it, establishing a taste best described as one-dimensional. To make matters worse, it was the priciest of the group at nearly $3, not winning any points in the value department, either.

The sentiment is shared by many consumers. "Cove soda is flat and left a bad aftertaste. It was the first soda I ever poured out," noted a Reddit user. "Easily the worst soda I've ever tasted," chimed in another commenter on the same thread. Such sharp reactions make this a cola brand to avoid.

Navigating the booming world of prebiotic sodas is tricky. Opposed to the relatively standardized composition of diet sodas, which employ a sugar alternative like stevia alongside natural flavors and caffeine, prebiotic pop reaches for a wide array of ingredients. The drink category contains varying quantities of sugar, tea or fruit additions, and prebiotics or probiotics sourced from ingredients like artichoke and cactus. Even among such varied options, Cove's Classic Cola features a unique composition.

This beverage stands out as a probiotic rather than a prebiotic soda, meaning that the beverage contains billions of microorganisms like yeast or bacteria, rather than the fiber that fuels them. This aligns the drink more with what's in your kombucha, as opposed to the inulin composition of many prebiotic sodas. Furthermore, despite green tea extract appearing in the ingredient list, Cove's soda contains no caffeine, a source of disappointment to our reviewer.

Other than the aforementioned stevia sweetener, plus Himalayan salt, and phosphoric acid, Cove doesn't divulge many ingredients in the flavor department. The brand outlines an intended palate of "hints of vanilla AND nostalgia." Among wellness-conscious soft drinks, that's a quality difficult to achieve. "In my experience with the prebiotic stevia sodas, none of the 'cola' flavors hit right," noted a Reddit user. Prebiotic drinks are a new, experimental market, and unfortunately, Cove's attempt didn't stick.