This Ingredient Is The Only Difference Between Pepsi And Coke

    It's all in the citric content.

    The world is basically divided into people who like Pepsi and those who prefer Coke.

    beyonce drinking pepsi vs selena gomez drinking coke

    Pepsi lovers SWEAR their soda is more refreshing, while Coke fans stand by their soda's classically sweet taste.

    an old tweet of james charles saying pepsi is better than coke, and someone in his replies disagreeing

    And despite all the debate, no one's really nailed down what's so different about the two flavors.

    Well, it actually turns out author Malcolm Gladwell's already done just that.

    malcolm gladwell on stage

    In a passage from his 2005 book Blink, recently resurfaced by Foodbeast, Gladwell explains the difference between the cola rivals in a single sentence: "Pepsi is characterized by a citrusy flavor burst, unlike the more raisiny-vanilla taste of Coke."

    the blink book cover

    In fact, if you look up each soda's ingredients, you'll notice that while Pepsi includes citric acid in its list...

    citric acid listed among pepsi's ingredients

    ...Coke is made up of the same ingredients, minus the citric acid and added sugar.

    Citric acid not listed among coke's ingredients

    Not that the explanation settles which flavor is better... that's up to you.