I did the taste test, mine was rigged. The Coca-Cola was warm and flat, the Pepsi was chilled and recently opened.

The people who picked pepsi got swag, the people who picked coke did not. They didn't hide this at all, they would yell that pepsi was the winner every time someone picked it, and gave them cool stuff in front of everyone.

I've done the Coca-Cola vs Pepsi blind taste test. I could tell the difference. I've also seen other people fail the test when they swore they could tell the difference.

The fact is some people can tell the difference and some people can't. Part of it is training if you devote some time to learning the differences in taste then you will gain some skill. I drink both of those colas roughly about the same amount so I've become acquainted with the taste differences.

Part of it is genetics some people just have more sensitive palates than other. I do in general have a more sensitive nose than many of the others I know so that may be part of it as well.

I would wager though that the majority of the population have neither trained nor have the sensitivity to tell the difference between a lot of things.

I meant my comment more as "as someone who can taste the difference between certain things, it's really hard to imagine what it is like for people who can't" than a general "I can't believe some people can't tell the difference between how some things taste!" I don't think people are lying or stupid or anything else, just that it's hard to imagine. The color-blindness analogy in another comment is apt I think - if you can see color differentiation, it's really hard to imagine not being able to.

Ahhh I totally misread that then. :-)

No, I think I actually mis-wrote.

I probably couldn't consistently tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi in a blind test either, although I generally prefer Coke. However, I will immediately reject any diet soda as the taste of aspartame, which so many say is tasteless, is obvious and disgusting. Other sugar-free sweeteners are less offending, but I can generally taste the difference between HFCS/sugar and an artificial sweetener on the first sip.

I suspect something similar is going on with other taste tests. Different people are sensitive to different flavor profiles.

Not sure what it is, but I have the same reaction when it comes to diet sodas -- with the exception of Dr. Pepper. Not sure if it is the additional spices in it or not, but a number of times I didn't realize I was drinking the diet version.

Dr. Pepper seems to have less aspartame. It's the only diet soda I can drink without gagging (though I'd still normally avoid it). I can still taste it, but it doesn't bother me as much.

Pretty much a moot point since I don't drink much pop to begin with...

There's a couple of things going on.

Those taste trsts normally give small sips of the drink. That changes the way you drink it, and that affects the flavour.

They also tend to use colder drinks which also affects flavour.