There is a group on Facebook that made me chuckle a few days ago, an event so rare that I thought of recording it for memory. The group’s title is “I’ll have Coke? I Pepsi okay? Sure, is monopoly money okay? “For someone who always prefers Coke over Pepsi ,it resonates with me very deeply.

We soda devotees are a special group, we don’t want our soda tampered with, and we are extremely loyal to the brand we enjoy the most. For some it is a Diet Coke, for others it is Mountain Dew, and for this lonely writer it is Dr Pepper.

            I don’t know when I started drinking Dr Pepper but I do know that I love it. It’s my mother’s favorite drink and my brother’s least. It is a drink that has been around since 1885 and it was created by Charles Alderton in a Waco store called Morrison’s Old Corner Store.

Yes, I know the history of Dr Pepper and I’ve even visited the original store. It’s bigger now and it’s become mainly a tourist attraction (ironic I know) however it did allow me to try out Double Up Dr Pepper (Dr Pepper made from cane sugar instead of corn syrup) which even furthered my love for the delicious drink. However, a few years after this experience I had an almost debilitating occurrence. I had Pibb Extra.

            It was after a tennis match when I was incredibly dehydrated. Ready for the sweet taste of Dr Pepper I asked where I could find a machine that could provide me with it. Another tennis player suggested to me that I go to the Coke machine and soothe my tongue with a Pibb Extra. In his own false words it was “just like Dr Pepper”.

The man was dead wrong. When that acidic ersatz mixture hit my mouth I wanted to spit it out. Someone wanting to make a clone of possibly the best soft drink ever made a disgusting doppelganger that took the worst characteristics of everything good about Dr. Pepper. 

            Perhaps that was a bit of hyperbole, but I was disgusted.  So I never had Pibb Extra again. And of course, I still enjoy Dr Pepper. Frankly, I’m not the only one. I discussed this with a man loading a Coke machine a few days ago. I asked him how often he drank sodas, he replied “about one a day”. And when he does drink what does he enjoy the most?  Dr Pepper. It may not make the world better, it’s sweet yet not overpowering taste is something that should be exalted.

 My devotion to Dr Pepper is such that when I visited a college in Minnesota, and I thought they did not have Dr Pepper, I almost crossed it off my list. However, I soon saw that the Dr Pepper was at a different machine and quickly filled my cup. Crisis averted.