We Tried to Guess Dr. Pepper's Mysterious New Flavor

Soda has been on a fruit flavor-filled hot streak lately. First Diet Coke rebranded with four (now six) fruit flavors in addition to its classic version. Then Coca-Cola announced an Orange Vanilla flavor in it's regular and Zero Sugar categories. And earlier this week, we covered the launch of three new Pepsi flavors in Lime, Blueberry, and Mango, each containing a splash of actual fruit juice. Then we got a mysterious package from Dr Pepper…

After opening an all-white box, I found a silver Dr Pepper can with a sticker label, behind which was the name of the brand's newest flavor. But I didn't peel it back right away. My colleagues and I played along with Dr Pepper's requested guessing game to try and decipher the flavor for ourselves with just a shot glass worth of the new product.

Needless to say by the preamble above, it was, at first sniff, definitely a fruit flavor. Our team's first impressions included blueberry, raspberry, black raspberry, black cherry, mixed berry, medicinal grape (like children's cough syrup), bubble gum, and cotton candy. And yet, almost everyone said there was still some flavor they couldn't quite put their finger on.

So what's the true new flavor?

Dark Berry, which the brand says incorporates blackberry, black currant, and black cherry flavors. Hey, we didn't do too bad! Perhaps it was the currant, which isn't a common flavor option in the U.S. but popular in Europe, that was giving us the trouble. While not a complete coup like our Mystery Flavor Oreos guess, we'll take this one as a win. The flavor is being released in conjunction with Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: Far From Home, the plot of which just so happens to take place during Peter Parker's vacation in Europe.

Dr Pepper Dark Berry is available for a limited time in 12-packs of 12-ounce cans and in 20-ounce bottles beginning May 1, 2019. Spider-Man: Far From Home will be released on July 2, 2019.