We’ll find it or we’ll make it.
In 2013 my high school friend Jonathan and I set out on a very serious mission: to taste and rate every cream soda in the universe. We wrote ten rules, built a five-part rating system, made a website and a YouTube channel, and recorded our reviews. This is what’s left of it, rescued from the old site — bubbles and all.
We are in search of the Perfect Cream Soda. We’d love to have you along for the journey.
In Search of The Perfect Cream Soda
Travis and Jonathan meet in a high school gymnasium and become quick friends.
Travis shares his love for cream soda with Jonathan.
On a road trip to Florida, the two decide to taste and rate every cream soda they can find on the trip.
On a second Florida road trip their ambition grew to buy every cream soda possible and have a taste test, forcing their friends and family to partake. Their enthusiasm spread so they decided to share their passion with even more people and the idea for “Perfect Cream Soda” was born.
Living in Mongolia, Jonathan finds the 1st cream soda he’s seen in the country. Believing fate is trying to send a message he urges Travis move ahead on “Perfect Cream Soda.”
Travis and Jonathan make “Perfect Cream Soda” a reality!
The obsession is older than the website. In May 2008, just before leaving for Peace Corps, I ranked the six cream sodas I’d tried so far on my blog in Best Soda Ever Made (Jones was in the lead) — using the star system I laid out a few days earlier in Five Stars.
On our journey we will:
We give each soda a simple rating from 1 to 5 stars in five categories. No half stars.
One of the most prominent characteristics of cream soda (and one of the many reasons we love it so much) is the vanilla flavor. Is it prominent, overwhelming or artificial tasting?
How much can we comfortably drink? Did we finish it? Did we even want to? Did we want a second mug full?
We’re looking for a rich, smooth texture that slides down easily.
Does the taste match the price tag? That could be a deal breaker.
Sometimes the average score of the other 4 categories don’t properly reflect our final impression.
A rating between 0 and 5 mugs is given as a final score. Marks for each category will be provided in each review along with the overall score, which is calculated by the average of the above 5 categories.
Reviews came in two flavors: Filtered and Unfiltered.
Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Perfect Review! Today we do a bubble breakdown of two different cream sodas; one found in Mongolia and the other a popular staple for any cream soda lover. Watch and find out which one floated to the top and which sank like a rock.
That’s how the old site billed it, and it was still marked “Coming Soon!” when the site went quiet.
Everything we did record lives on the Perfect Cream Soda YouTube channel.
The 97 cream sodas on our to-taste list, from A-Treat to Zubefizz. The 55 from the U.S. come first; the other 42, from El Salvador to Sri Lanka, are one button away. Tick off every one you’ve tried. The ones tagged reviewed made it on camera.
19 of 55 U.S. sodas tried
A quarter of the way there!
The ones already ticked are the ones we’ve tried. Your own ticks are saved in this browser.
19 countries, from El Salvador to Sri Lanka.
We never made it through the whole list on camera. But Creamandment #10 still stands: if we cannot find “The Perfect Cream Soda,” we will make it ourselves.
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