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Sprite is one of the most popular soda drinks in the United States due to its refreshing citrus taste. Sales are in the billions, and you can easily spot a bottle sitting in coolers everywhere around the world. However, many may also wonder if Sprite contains caffeine, like Cola-Cola.
Sprite does not have caffeine added deliberately to it. It only contains water, lemon, and lime flavors, sweeteners, and preservatives. This means you can drink Sprite without worrying about overdosing on caffeine, which may give you caffeine jitters.
This post explores Sprite and if the drink has caffeine. We also look at caffeine and see if there are alternatives to Sprite as a soda.
What Is Sprite?
Sprite is a lemon and lime-flavored soft drink made and marketed by the Coca-Cola Company. Its formulation was adopted from Fanta’s Fanta Klare Zitrone (Fanta Clear Lemon). The name itself was acquired from T.C. Evans, a Houston-based bottler, in 1960. It is the best-selling lemon and lime soda, selling over $6 billion in 2021.
Sprite is a soft drink created by the Coca-Cola company. It is clear in color and carries a lemon and lime flavor. Sprite does come in multiple flavors, such as cherry, grape, cranberry, ginger, vanilla, and orange. Newer versions of Sprite are not being sweetened with artificial sweeteners, instead of regular cane sugar.
Sprite was originally an amalgamation of ideas and formulations from different places. In fact, Sprite also came about as a way to respond to Dr. Pepper’s success in selling 7-Up, another lemon and lime-based soft drink.
The name Sprite itself originated from T.C. Evans, a Houston-based bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products. In 1955 T.C. Evans also sold its own line of soda drinks called Sprite, with flavors such as strawberry and orange. Coca-Cola eventually acquired the name in 1960.
The formulation for Sprite is also not in-house to Coca-Cola either. It originated in West Germany. Fanta, Germany’s own soft drink company, developed and sold a type of citrus soda drink called the Fanta Klare Zitrone (Fanta Clear Lemon).
The formulation was later brought into the United States, and the name Sprite was used for marketing it instead. This means the Coca-Cola company now has a lemon-lime-based soda similar to 7-Up to compete in the market.
As of 2021, Sprite is the 6th largest soda brand in the United States, with over $6 billion in sales. This makes Sprite the most popular lemon and lime soda drink, beating 7-up ($1 billion) and Sierra Mist ($1 billion) by miles.
Sprite has always been recognized for its green plastic bottles in fridges and coolers. However, in July 2022, Sprite announced they would start bottling Sprite in clear plastic bottles. This is because the green dyes used in its current green bottles make the plastics less recyclable.
What Is Caffeine?
Caffeine is a natural stimulant drug found in coffee, tea, and cacao. It is also added to soft and energy drinks. Once consumed, it increases the brain’s activity and blocks adenosine’s effect. This causes you to feel less tired and mentally more alert and able to focus.
Caffeine is a natural drug found mostly in tea, coffee, and cacao plants. The drug is a stimulant that excites and increases activity in the brain and central nervous system.
Caffeine use in humans was traced back as early as 2737 BC in China when the first batch of tea was brewed. It was later consumed casually as coffee and cocoa drinks. Starting in the 1800s, soft drink makers in the United States also added caffeine to their drinks.
Caffeine is regularly consumed worldwide, with over 80% of the world’s population consuming a caffeinated product each day. The figure is even higher in North America, with over 90% doing so every day.
Caffeine generates its effects by blocking the effects of adenosine, a form of neurotransmitter that helps your brain relax and calm down. Naturally, adenosine builds up over the day. It helps to make you physically and mentally tired, making you want to go to sleep.
Caffeine also increases blood adrenaline levels and increases brain activity. This is achieved by increasing the activity of neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine.
This means caffeine can help you increase and sustain alertness and focus for longer. Caffeine can also be used to prevent and reduce physical fatigue and tiredness. In fact, caffeine’s effects could be felt as quickly as 20 minutes after ingestion and may take up to 1 hour to reach full effectiveness.
As a result, caffeine is popular with those working long hours or jobs that demand mental and physical exertion, such as truck drivers, computer-based work, etc. Students are also known to consume caffeine to help them focus while studying.
Does Sprite Have Caffeine?
Sprite does not have caffeine. Its main ingredient includes water, lemon, and lime flavors and sweeteners. It also contains preservatives such as citric acid, sodium citrate, and sodium benzoate. Sprite may be caffeine-free because its main competitor, the 7-Up, is also caffeine-free.
Many people know that Coca-Cola contains caffeine. Since it is the most popular soft drink on the planet, many people assume that soft drinks generally contain caffeine. However, this is not correct. There are many caffeine-free soft drinks, including Sprite.
Contrary to many people’s assumption, Sprite is caffeine free. This is likely because Sprite was brought into the states to compete against 7-Up, and the drink itself is caffeine-free. The Coca-Cola company likely tried to make Sprite taste similar to 7-Up and decided it was best not to add caffeine.
Another way to confirm whether Sprite has caffeine is to look at its product label. If you look at its ingredient listing, Sprite is made of the following:
Water
Soft drinks are a beverage, meaning their main ingredient will always be water. Regular Sprite in the US has around 88-90% water. In Europe, the water is higher, at around 95%. This is because less sweetener is added to European Sprite.
The water used for Sprite is carbonated. This means the water has some dissolved carbon dioxide added to it to create that bubbly, crispy texture in the mouth.
Natural Lemon and Lime Flavor
Soft drinks usually add flavorings to create a unique taste. For Sprite, it is lemon and lime flavoring. On Sprite’s label, they claim to be using natural lemon and lime flavors, which may mean Sprite uses natural juices from these fruits.
Sweetener
Soft drinks are also regularly sweetened to make them tastier. Depending on the regulation, different sweeteners may be used. In the United States, sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup may be used. In other countries, you may see natural cane sugars being used instead.
More recent Sprites are also using artificial sweeteners such as Sucralose and Aspartame. This is probably an attempt to support public health – high consumption of natural sugars is known to cause diabetes and many other health issues.
Citric Acid
Citric acid is added to Sprite to help create the gas and bubbly effect; this organic compound becomes reactive with the bicarbonate of soda to form carbon dioxide gas. As a result, your drinks become fizzy.
Once the citric acid has finished reacting to the bicarbonate, the fizzy effects disappear. This explains why your soft drink becomes stale after being left open for a while.
Sodium Citrate
Sodium Citrate is added in Sprite, likely as a flavoring agent. It helps to enhance the citrusy and tangy taste of the drink. It is a common ingredient used in soft drinks with citrus fruit flavors.
Sodium Benzoate
Sodium benzoate is added into Sprite likely for two reasons, flavoring and preserving it; this chemical also works similarly with sodium citrate to increase Sprite’s acidity, citrusy, and tanginess. On top of that, It also helps to preserve the drink, giving it a longer shelf life.
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What Soft Drinks Have Caffeine?
Popular soda drinks with caffeine include Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, Faygo, and many more. These drinks have different levels of caffeine, with some containing much more.
Caffeine can be a rather common ingredient in soft drinks since it helps to improve the drinks in many ways. In fact, many of the popular soft drinks contain caffeine. These drinks include:
| Soft Drink | Variant | Caffeine Per 12 fl oz (355ml approx.) |
| Coke | Regular Coke | 34 mg |
| Diet Coke | 46 mg | |
| Coke Zero | 34 mg | |
| Cherry Coke | 34 mg | |
| Vanilla Coke | 34 mg | |
| Diet Vanilla Coke | 46 mg | |
| Pepsi | Pepsi | 38 mg |
| Lime Pepsi | 38 mg | |
| Vanilla Pepsi | 38 mg | |
| Diet Pepsi | 35 mg | |
| Diet Vanilla Pepsi | 38 mg | |
| Mountain Dew | Mountain Dew | 55 mg |
| Mountain Dew Code Red | 55 mg | |
| Diet Mountain Dew | 55 mg | |
| Dr. Pepper | Dr. Pepper | 41 mg |
| Diet Dr. Pepper | 41 mg |
Coke
Coke is the world’s most popular soft drink, and it contains caffeine. It could be said that most of the variants of Coke also contain caffeine. However, the amount of caffeine within these Coke variants may differ. Surprisingly, regular Coke is the least caffeinated soft drink on the list, with only 34 mg per can.
Pepsi
Pepsi tries hard to challenge Coke, and most of the Pepsi variants in the market contain caffeine. Similar to Coke, the amount of caffeine in may differ, depending on the variant of Pepsi you are drinking. However, the caffeine count seems to be more consistent compared to Coke.
Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew is also caffeinated, and it generally contains a higher amount of it. Most of its variants also have higher caffeine counts than other popular soft drinks. This is something you may want to take note of if you are caffeine sensitive. All popular variants of Mountain Dew contain around 55 mg of caffeine.
Dr. Pepper
Dr. Pepper is also caffeinated. It contains more caffeine per serving than Coke or Pepsi but does not exceed those from Mountain Dew. Expect to ingest around 41 mg of caffeine per 12 fl oz can of Dr. Pepper. Diet Dr. Pepper contains the same amount of caffeine as the regular version as well.
What Soft Drinks Do Not Have Caffeine?
Some popular caffeine-free soft-drink types include fruit-flavored sodas, ginger ales, soda water, root beer, or cream soda. Clear-colored sodas should also be caffeine free, although you want to confirm this by looking at the ingredient list.
Generally, you can find many soft drink brands that do not contain caffeine. However, they are not as popular as Coke, Pepsi, or Dr. Pepper. These soft drinks generally may not need caffeine as they contain fewer ingredients. This may mean they may not need too much flavor balancing, compared to cola, for example.
Fruit-Based Soft Drink
Most fruit-flavored soft drinks are usually caffeine-free. Lemon-lime soft drinks such as Sprite, 7Up, or Sierra Mist are caffeine free. Many fruit-flavored soft drinks such as Sunkist, strawberry, Orangina, and many Fantas are also caffeine-free.
Ginger Ale
Ginger ales are generally carbonated soft drinks flavored with ginger. Despite the name Ale, it does not contain alcohol. Ginger ales are also generally caffeine free.
Some of the most popular ginger ales you can buy include those from Canada Dry, Blenheim, and Schweppes. These are all caffeine free.
Soda Water
Soda water is essentially carbonated drink at its most basic. Water, with carbon dioxide, and that’s it. The carbonation causes small bubbles, which gives the water a fizzy and bubbly taste. In this case, soft drink makers add flavorings and sugar to make soft drinks such as Sprite.
Which means most soda water brands are caffeine free. These include La Croix, Spindrift, Perrier, San Pellegrino, and Polar.
Root Beer
Root beet is a soft drink made using the root bark of Sassafras tree. Some also use the vine of Sarsaparilla. Similar to jingle ales, despite the word beer, it does not contain alcohol.
Similar to cola, root beer also has a thick and foamy head. It is commonly drunk with vanilla ice cream, a recipe commonly called root beer float. Most brands of root beer also do not contain caffeine.
Cream Soda
Cream soda is a sweet soft drink. It is generally flavored with vanilla and may be marketed as ice-cream soda. Popular brands include Dr. Brown’s, A&W, Faygo, and many more. Cream sodas are also caffeine free.
Why Do Some Soft Drinks Have Caffeine?
Caffeine is added to soft drinks to balance flavor profiles. It also provides some bitterness to the drink and suppresses off-flavors, such as preservatives and chemicals. It also helps to enhance the drink’s sweetness, reducing the need to add more sweeteners.
There may be several reasons why many soft drink brands have caffeine. These include improving desired taste, adding bitterness, suppressing off-putting taste, and also likely to bring in a little stimulating effect.
Add Bitterness
Caffeine naturally carries a bitter taste, which can be used to add bitterness to the soft drink. Some soft drink makers also see that bitterness can help balance differing flavor profiles.
Suppress Off-Putting Taste
Many soft drinks have chemicals added, such as sodium benzoate and citric acid as preservatives. Some soft drinks, such as Yellow No. 5 (Tartrazine) in Mountain Dew, may also have colorings. These chemicals may have an off-putting taste, which can be suppressed by caffeine’s bitter taste.
Some artificial sweeteners can also carry mild off-putting flavors, which caffeine can help neutralize.
Enhance Sweetness
Aside from suppressing off-putting taste, caffeine is also known to be able to enhance the sweetness of the drink. This allows soft drink makers to produce a good, sweet drink without adding too much sweetener to the point they may not pass regulation.
It also helps the soft drink makers reduce costs since they do not need so many sweeteners to make their drinks.
Stimulating Effect
Finally, soft drinks may have caffeine in them for that little stimulating effect. The amount of caffeine in the soft drink may not be as high as coffee, but it still can provide some stimulating effect.
Perhaps this explains the reason why Coca-Cola uses the slogan ‘The Pause That Refreshes’ to market its soft drinks.
Many people do mention the cold, gassy, and sweet drink that refreshes them. The caffeine in these drinks may have also contributed to the refreshing feeling.
Are There Any Drinks That Taste Like Sprite?
Many brands of lemon-lime flavored soft drinks are in the market, with similar tastes to Sprite. These include 7Up, Sierra Mist, Bubble Up, and Upper 10. These drink brands are attempts from major soft drink makers to produce lemon-lime soft drinks for sale.
Lemon-lime soft drink is a rather popular flavor of soft drink. It may be the second most popular soft drink flavor behind cola.
This resulted in many other major players in the soft drink markets developing their own offerings of lemon-lime soft drinks. As a result, many brands have emerged, giving consumers choices on which lemon-lime soft drink they prefer.
These brands include 7-Up, Sierra Mist, Bubble Up, and also Upper 10. These brands of lemon-lime soft drinks are also caffeine-free, similar to Sprite.
7Up
The earliest lemon-lime soft drink brand to achieve major success is 7Up. 7Up first emerged in 1929 and became popular in the United States soon after. The name 7Up is still under debate today, with many attempts to explain its origins.
7Up is currently part of the Keurig Dr. Pepper group, which means you can consider 7Up as Dr. Pepper’s version of a lemon-lime soft drink.
Sierra Mist
Sierra Mist is PepsiCo’s bet on the lemon-lime soft drink market. Originally introduced in 1999 to replace Slice, their lemon-flavored soft drink. Sierra Mist was briefly renamed Miss Twist in 2016 but reverted to the original name in 2018.
Sierra Mist has undergone some re-formulation in tastes, particularly in the choice of sweeteners. Its pivot to artificial sweeteners was not received well by its customers, forcing it to revert back to natural sugars.
Upper 10
Upper 10 debuted in 1933 as part of Nehi Corporation’s lineup of soft drinks and was their flagship soft drink for decades. It later lost popularity as the brand fell into the hands of Keurig Dr. Pepper through a series of mergers and acquisitions.
Keurig Dr. Pepper preferred to focus on bottling and marketing 7Up instead of Upper 10, as it has a higher market recognition and customer base. As a result, Upper 10 played second fiddle and could never compete with Sprite, 7Up, or Sierra Mist.
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Are There Healthier Alternatives To Sprite?
Healthier alternatives to Sprite include drinking Sprite Zero Sugar. You can also create your own Sprite by infusing water with lemon and lime and carbonating it. You can also drink lemonade mixed with some lime juice.
Despite being caffeine-free, Sprite is not a healthy choice either. This is because it may still be high in sweeteners, so if you drink the regular Sprite, you may likely be ingesting a large amount of sugar.
Excessive sugar consumption long term may result in diabetes and many other health complications as well. Sweeteners are also known to cause weight gain, resulting in you being overweight or, worse, obese.
However, if you really love the taste of Sprite and still want a citrusy treat on and off, here are some alternatives you can consider.
Sprite Zero Sugar
If you really love your Sprite and just cannot let go of it, then maybe you can consider trying out Sprite Zero Sugar. It is essentially similar to Sprite but contains no natural sugars. This means no table sugar or high-fructose corn syrup.
Instead, you get artificial sweeteners such as Sucralose, Aspartame, and Acesulfame Potassium. Some consumers have mentioned that these artificial sweeteners ended up making the drink taste rather off. Still, it may be a lower price to pay than ingesting large amounts of sugar daily.
Lemon And Lime Infused Seltzer Water
If you are really going to go healthy and have the time and energy to go DIY with it, consider creating your own Sprite at home.
Start by infusing lemon and lime with water for at least 24 hours. Once ready, pour out the water, and use a seltzer machine to carbonize the water. Take out the carbonated water, and put back slides of lemon and lime you used during the infusion process.
If you like it, feel free to add some sweeteners. The best thing about making your own Sprite is you control the amount of sugar you add to your drink. You also spare yourself from ingesting the additional chemicals in Sprite.
Lemonade
Suppose drinking Sprite Zero Sugar or making your own Sprite is not your choice. In this case, you can always opt for the middle ground: drinking a classic lemonade.
It provides the lemon, citrusy taste you are probably hunting for. It is also much easier to make as well since you do not have to carbonate it. You also do not have to do infusion work.
With your lemonade, you can always calibrate and formulate your own version for your taste buds. Just experiment and balance out the amount of lemon juice, lime juice, and sugar.
