13 Sodas Americans Drank Growing Up That Are Totally Extinct 

There was a time when soda wasn’t trying to be “clean” or “functional.” It just wanted to taste good and surprise Americans with a little flair.

Are you ready to dive into the lost world of extinct American sodas?

If you ever sipped a fizzy drink that made your tongue turn blue, you’re in the right place.

Tab

If you grew up in the 1960s or ’70s, there’s a good chance Tab was in your mom’s fridge. It was Coca-Cola’s first big diet soda and had a unique, slightly metallic flavor that people either loved or hated.

Sweetened with saccharin, Tab was known for its slim pink can and its reputation as a soda for the health-conscious, or at least those pretending to be.

Even when Diet Coke came around in the 1980s, Tab held on with a loyal fanbase. Some people swore nothing else came close to its taste.

But by 2020, the company quietly pulled the plug. The era of Tab officially ended, leaving behind decades of fizzy nostalgia.

Crystal Pepsi

In the early 1990s, Pepsi made a bold move: they released a clear cola. Crystal Pepsi looked like Sprite but claimed to taste like regular Pepsi.

It was part of a bigger trend where “clear” meant “pure” or “clean.”

Everything from soap to beer was going transparent. Soda was no exception.

The taste? It was Pepsi-ish, but with something… missing. People couldn’t quite put their finger on it, and that mystery worked for a while.

Then sales tanked. The novelty wore off, and Crystal Pepsi disappeared almost as fast as it arrived.

Still, it lives on in retro commercials and throwback blog posts.

7Up Gold

7Up is famous for being light, crisp, and lemon-limey. So when the company launched 7Up Gold in the late 1980s, fans were confused.

This new version had a dark color and was flavored with cinnamon and spice. It tasted more like a holiday punch than a refreshing soda.

People expecting a citrusy drink were caught off guard. The name didn’t help. Nothing about it said “spicy cola.”

It didn’t last long.

7Up Gold vanished almost overnight, becoming one of those sodas you had to explain to younger relatives with a shrug.

Josta

Before Monster or Red Bull, there was Josta. Released in 1995 by PepsiCo, it was America’s first real energy soda.

It had guarana, a plant-based stimulant from Brazil, and it gave your average cola a caffeine-fueled punch.

Teenagers loved it. Parents weren’t always thrilled.

Josta’s can looked edgy, and the flavor was bold. Kind of berry, kind of cola, with an herbal twist. It stood out.

But Josta couldn’t survive the energy drink wave that followed. By the end of the decade, it was gone.

Nevertheless, its memory lives on in online petitions and collector cans.

OK Soda

In the mid-1990s, Coca-Cola tried something new. OK Soda was marketed to skeptical, grunge-loving teens who didn’t want to be sold to.

The branding was intentionally plain, the ads were weird, and the whole thing felt like a giant inside joke. Even the name was meant to feel underwhelming.

The soda itself had a citrus-cola flavor that wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t amazing either. It was just… okay.

That might’ve been the point, but it didn’t make people want to keep buying it.

The product flopped and vanished within two years.

Pepsi Blue

In the early 2000s, Pepsi rolled out a soda that looked like something from a science lab. Pepsi Blue had a bold, electric color that practically glowed.

The flavor was supposed to be berry, but many people said it tasted more like melted cotton candy or bubble gum.

It was sweet, syrupy, and very artificial.

Some kids loved it. Some adults hated it. Most people were simply curious enough to try it once.

Pepsi Blue didn’t last long on the shelves. After a couple of years, it disappeared, leaving only stained tongues and confused taste buds behind.

Slice

Before there were a dozen citrus sodas competing for shelf space, there was Slice. Introduced in the 1980s, it was Pepsi’s answer to drinks like 7Up and Fanta.

What made Slice stand out at first was that it actually contained real fruit juice. That gave it a different taste and a little more credibility.

Over time, the juice content dropped, the branding changed, and so did public interest. It began to feel like a copy instead of an original.

By the early 2000s, Slice had quietly vanished.

Some flavors still pop up now and then overseas. But for most Americans, it’s a memory.

Coca-Cola BlāK

In 2006, Coca-Cola launched a soda that was part soft drink, part coffee. It was called Coca-Cola BlāK, and it came in a sleek glass bottle.

The drink combined cola flavor with coffee extract. Some people found it fascinating. Others found it confusing.

It had a slightly bitter, roasted aftertaste that didn’t appeal to traditional soda fans. Coffee lovers didn’t really latch onto it either.

After just a couple of years, it was pulled from shelves. It remains one of Coca-Cola’s more curious experiments.

New Coke

In 1985, Coca-Cola did something unthinkable. They changed their classic recipe and introduced New Coke.

The idea was to compete with Pepsi, which had been gaining popularity. New Coke was sweeter and smoother.

The reaction was instant and intense.

People wrote angry letters, started protests, and demanded the original formula back.

Coca-Cola quickly reversed course. Within months, they reintroduced the old recipe as Coca-Cola Classic. New Coke simply became a footnote in branding history.

Aspen Soda

If you were shopping for soda in the late 1970s, you might have spotted Aspen. It was a crisp apple-flavored soda made by Pepsi.

The drink had a clear appearance and a surprisingly strong green apple taste.

It wasn’t bad; it just wasn’t what most people expected from a soda.

Aspen didn’t last long. It came and went in just a few years, replaced by other fruit sodas with wider appeal.

Still, those who remember it swear it was one of the more refreshing sodas of the decade.

Dr. Slice

Most people remember Slice as a fruity soda line. But in the late ’80s, Pepsi tried something unexpected: Dr. Slice. It was a spinoff of the original formula, blending the familiar spiced flavor of Dr Pepper with citrus notes.

It was a bold move.

The result was a soda that confused some drinkers and delighted a few others. It wasn’t quite a clone of anything else on the market.

But Dr. Slice never really found its audience. People loyal to Dr Pepper didn’t want it messed with, and citrus fans preferred the cleaner flavors.

It faded fast, and today, even diehard soda fans sometimes forget it ever existed.

Citra

Citra came along in the mid-1990s as Coca-Cola’s take on a sharper, more citrus-forward lemon-lime soda.

It was clear, crisp, and had a noticeable grapefruit tang.

Many people said it was like a cross between Sprite and Fresca, but with more bite. It had loyal fans for a while, especially among those who liked a stronger citrus flavor.

But Citra never quite became a top seller. It was rebranded as Fanta Citrus for a short time before disappearing altogether.

If you ever drank one on a summer afternoon, you probably remember it better than most.

Fruitopia

In the mid-1990s, Fruitopia arrived with psychedelic packaging, dreamy names, and a whole lot of fruit flavor. It was Coca-Cola’s answer to the growing demand for “healthier” drinks.

Flavors like Strawberry Passion Awareness and Raspberry Psychic Lemonade were found in vending machines and lunchrooms across the country.