Save your 17p! (Tesco Value Cola)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Tesco Value Cola
Date:	17/07/09 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes great ice lollies!

Disadvantages: Tastes foul, chemically, goes flat far too quickly

Last week my twelve year old granddaughter was set a challenge at school, they are raising money for a local children's hospice and the challenge was for the pupils to work in groups and create an edible snack that can be made in school and then sold to help with their charity efforts. The girls' were to provide all items needed and would be reimbursed from any money their group made, the idea being to show just how difficult it is to support worthwhile causes during a recession. Obviously they wanted to make as much money for the hospice as possible so the snacks needed to be made as cheaply as possible in the first place.

They had the bright idea of making various flavoured ice lollies as I already have a multitude of lolly moulds which I was happy to donate to the cause, and after all water is relatively free, so the only outlay for this little enterprise would be flavouring.

Tesco Value Cola proved to be the perfect ingredient. At just 17p a bottle they would make a vast profit on their ice lollies as they were planning on selling them for 35p each, with each bottle making around 15 lollies. It's sugar free so they were able to market them as a healthy snack (very important in an all girls' school!) although they were obliged to mention that the Cola contains Aspartame, a sweetener that various bodies have concerns about.

Well, they make excellent ice lollies is all I can say because as a drink this is appalling. I had bought one too many bottles on my shopping trip so decided to keep the other one as I do like a drink of Coke now and again, unfortunately after two small glasses the remainder went down the sink as it's absolutely horrible.

If you remember Panda Pops you'll probably know the Cola flavour, it's a very poor imitation of the more expensive Coca Cola drink - and actually a very poor imitation of Panda Pops Cola too, and that was pretty bad! The drink fizzes like mad as you open the bottle for the first time, but once this initial fizziness has gone then you'll be left with a flat drink which has the odd solitary bubble floating around in it. As the bubbles disappear the cheapness of the Cola is brought out and it takes on a watery syrup consistency which left a coating of fur on my tongue afterwards.

I could detect the sweeteners as they made the Cola taste even more artificial than I thought was possible, any brand of Cola is obviously artificial but this one is beyond artificial! It has a strong chemical taste to it and hardly any substance or body whatsoever. I enjoy Cola because I find it so much more refreshing that fruit flavoured fizzy drinks but this one is not at all refreshing and actually left me feeling more thirsty afterwards which in part was down to how furry my teeth and tongue felt.

I shall never buy this again, it's as cheap as you'd expect it to be for 17p for 2 litres - personally I'm all for saving money but would much rather spend the £1.89 on a 'proper' bottle of Diet Coca Cola.

In case you're interested, my granddaughters' team have raised £42 so far for the hospice and in this warm weather they are hoping to have made £70 by the time the school breaks up for summer. Apparently it's these Cola ones which are selling better than anything else - which just goes to prove that youngsters today have absolutely no taste at all!

Summary: Not great Value this time!