What is Simple 7UP?
7UP has employed the KISS principle (“Keep It Simple, Stupid”) and brought us all a pared down version of its lemon-lime soft drink. Simple 7UP is as uncomplicated as possible with only six real ingredients: filtered carbonated water, sugar, citric acid, lemon extract, lime extract, and stevia leaf extract.
How is it?
I was optimistic about this soda as I smelled it in the can since it had a much more distinct lemon and lime scent than I’m used to from 7UP. When I took a sip, it initially excited me with its exceptionally light and crisp flavor, reminding me of a sparkling citrus juice beverage. Unlike regular 7UP, which encases blended lemon-lime flavor in a rounded syrupiness, Simple 7UP had noticeably separate flavors of lemon and lime that were lightly sweetened and incredibly fresh in the carbonated water. And despite using extracts instead of juice, the taste of each managed to shine without being too strong.
But then the stevia had to go and complicate things. The sip that started off so strong quickly turned bitter yet off-puttingly sweet, then had the audacity to finish on that terrible note. And so it went for each sip until I’d had enough about half of a can in.
The highs were so high and the lows were so low, I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this soda.
Anything else you need to know?
It seems like 7UP isn’t sure how they feel about it either, since there’s barely any mention of the beverage from the brand online; it’s conspicuously absent from the product section of its website. I found one article saying Simple 7UP was being test-marketed about a year ago, but couldn’t find any information about this rollout.
Additionally, I was surprised to learn the original 7UP also only contains six ingredients. So, keep in mind the simplicity here lies in the “real”ness of the ingredients themselves, not their quantity.
Conclusion:
Simply said, I’m torn. I loved how five of the six ingredients worked together, but the inclusion of stevia caused each sip to end on a flavor repellent enough for me to decide to not purchase again. Anyone who’s ever seen how much sugar is in a lemonade recipe can understand the hesitation to make sugar the only sweetener in a citrus soda, but it’s hard to not imagine how spectacular Simple 7UP could have tasted if they had kept it even simpler.
Purchased Price: $6.49
Size: 12 pack (12 oz cans)
Purchased at: Ralphs
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 40 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of total carbohydrates, 28 grams of total sugars, and 0 grams of protein.