11 Dr. Pepper Flavors, Ranked

Though Coke and Pepsi are considered the classic cola kings, one soda brand is long-beloved for breaking the rules of cola, so much so that it isn't technically considered a cola at all. Instead, Dr. Pepper is a drink of its own, notorious for its range of 23 unique flavors. It's long been speculated that the soda is made up of fruity flavors like cherry and citrus as well as spices like allspice and vanilla, though part of the fun of the drink is the mystery behind the formula. Whatever Dr. Pepper is made up of, it's always been the thirst-quenching treat we long to see at soda fountains, even more so than the cola classics. Some home chefs even like to use Dr. Pepper as a cooking ingredient.

Any drink with 23 flavors has hardly any need to add any more, but with Coca-Cola's futuristic soda fountain machines proving flavor variety to be a whopping success, it was only a matter of time until Dr. Pepper followed suit. The brand now releases both exclusive and permanent flavors sparingly, often with great public excitement for the meticulously chosen flavors. Dr. Pepper currently lists nearly 20 permanent flavors on its website, most available in bottles or cans nationwide. To find out which ones are worth seeking out, I rounded up 11 of Dr. Pepper's flavors and ranked them worst to best, considering the flavor, fizziness, drinkability, and sweetness of the sugar. Though which ones ended up on top surprised me, one thing was certain: Dr. Pepper is a master of flavor, whether in the newest additions or the original 23.

First, some transparency: I don't like artificial strawberry flavoring. Knowing this bias, I invited a secondary tester and strawberry-lover to try the flavors, too, just to be sure my ranking wasn't skewed too heavily by my own opinion. Objectively, the strawberries and cream flavor is accurate, tasting somewhat like a strawberry shortcake or a really good strawberry pop tart. The flavor is fairly strong, but not overwhelming so — unless you don't like strawberry, in which case I'd highly recommend a different flavor.

If you do like strawberries, though, how does Zero Sugar Strawberries & Cream compare? Zero-sugar sodas are made with different flavorings to achieve the syrupy, sugary taste we are familiar with in sodas, without the added sugar or calories. For some flavors, this works really well, with the faux-sugar barely noticeable behind the crisp taste of the drink. For others, like Zero Sugar Strawberries & Cream, the lack of real sugar is more noticeable, and the result is watery and artificial. Neither I nor my secondary tester thought this version of strawberries and cream was drinkable for more than a few sips, especially compared to its regular version, which tasted fresher. Since this flavor is already such a treat, we'd skip this one in favor of a different flavor.

Cream soda is such a nostalgic, classic drink that, before this ranking, I thought cream soda was like root beer in that it could do no wrong. Just to be clear, not one of these flavors is unbearable, undrinkable, or even bad, but my job is to rank them, and some have to fall to the bottom of the list. Stunningly, one of the flavors I enjoyed the least wasn't a zero-sugar or even the regular strawberries and cream, but the trusty, beloved cream soda. What went wrong?

Zero sugar artificially replicates the flavor of sugar using sweeteners like aspartame and acesulfame potassium, which, for many flavors on the list, causes a slightly watery, less-sweet version of the original. For cream soda, though, the artificial sweetener tastes better, with the original tasting overly sweet and sugary. The best cream sodas are smooth and creamy, which isn't quite achieved by the Dr. Pepper & Cream Soda regular version. It could be that the real sugar used causes the taste to be too sharp and sweet when mixed with the Dr. Pepper formula, making this one a little less drinkable than other flavors on the list.

Even with a bias against artificial strawberry flavoring (I like the actual fruit, I promise), I have to admit that the Dr. Pepper Strawberries & Cream regular flavor executes creamy, smooth flavor better than Cream Soda does. The strawberry flavor is stronger in the regular version than in the zero sugar of the same, making this the better version between the two strawberry options, too. My secondary tester thought so also, admitting he'd likely buy this flavor again, if only for a once-in-a-while treat.

Whether you like Dr. Pepper Strawberries & Cream or not is likely to depend on two things: How much you like strawberry flavoring, and how much you want to drink a Dr. Pepper. The strawberry flavoring is strong, so much so that the original flavor of Dr. Pepper is muted behind the creamy taste. If you like strawberries enough, this might be a good thing, but if you're craving a Dr. Pepper, you might be better off going with a different flavor.

The sole sugar-free version to rank ahead of its regular counterpart, the Zero Sugar Dr. Pepper & Cream Soda is a mystery in a can. Unlike the other zero-sugar options that lacked in flavor due to the artificial sweeteners, this cream soda actually tastes better; the sweetness here is cut in half in a way that mellows it to a perfect, smooth, creamy flavor. While ranking ahead of its own real sugar version, it still falls behind other flavors, ranking nearer to the bottom of the list.

It makes a lot of sense to mix cream soda with Dr. Pepper. The two flavors are seemingly made for blending with one another to create one ultimate sugary-sweet drink. Don't get me wrong, this is a good drink, and one I'd happily grab when I'm in the mood for a sweeter, richer (but not fruity) version of a Dr. Pepper. When compared with strong flavors like blackberry, cherry, and the beloved original, though, it just doesn't taste as special, nostalgic, or even as sweet, making it lower on the list for flavor alone.

Dr. Pepper Blackberry is one of Dr. Pepper's newest and most sought-after flavors, being closely compared to one of the brand's most popular limited releases ever: Dark Berry. You can imagine, from the name, that the blackberry is likely to be similar enough to be a dupe, though it may not be exactly the same. Since blackberry is a permanent flavor, it comes in regular and zero sugar, both of which are easier to find a few months into the release. While one is good enough to rank close to the top tiers of the Dr. Pepper flavor list, the zero sugar falls just a little bit short, but only by a hair.

A common complaint with Dr. Pepper flavor additions is that they tend to taste like cough syrup. This may entirely depend on your taste buds (and the brand of cough syrup you grew up with), more than whether or not a flavor has sugar or not. In the case of Blackberry Zero Sugar, though, the chemicals used to replicate the sugary sweetness of the berry lean syrupy in a medicinal way, which is why this flavor may get a more consistent reputation for being too close to cough syrup. If you do like blackberry, the real sugar version is a little more crisp, avoiding any medicinal elements altogether, and ranking it a little bit higher.

Diet colas have had a little bit of a resurgence lately — not that they ever went away, but their popularity has increased greatly with younger generations thanks to apps like TikTok. With certain celebs even opting to name their newest singles after the health-conscious sugar-free drinks, the low-calorie option seems to dominate over sugary, sweeter versions. Still, it seems that everyone falls into one of two categories: Preferring either diet or regular, but rarely both.

If you, like me, prefer regular sodas to diet, it's likely because of an ingredient called aspartame. Used to artificially sweeten drinks without adding calories or sugar content, this chemical can also cause a tinny, aluminum-forward flavor that may be unappetizing to some (while being crisp and delicious to others). Dr. Pepper does a good job of disguising the aspartame, tasting less distinct than brands like Coke or Pepsi's diet sodas, and making Dr. Pepper one of the best diet sodas of them all. Still, it's enough to drop the drink well below other options — unless, of course, you like the taste of diet soda, in which case this might be the winner for you.

You wouldn't guess it, but one of Dr. Pepper's 23 famous flavors is speculated to be blackberry. Distinct from raspberry in a rich, juicy way, the fruit's flavor is sweet, fruity, and sophisticated, making it a great addition to Dr. Pepper's flavored lineup. Like Dr. Pepper Cherry, blackberry is an enhancement of an existing flavor within the drink, which makes it easy to drink but not overthought or overdone. The reason it falls to number five is simply because it isn't as effortlessly delicious as the classics and the cherry.

Dr. Pepper Blackberry tastes like a richer, sweeter Dr. Pepper with a tart blackberry flavor. It's a great option for summertime, or simply a flavor worth buying when you're in the mood for something a little different, being that it's so distinct from regular Dr. Pepper. Blackberry only falls below the remaining four flavors because of its drinkability: Unlike the cherry, zero sugar, and regular, I wasn't able to finish a bottle of blackberry in one try. For me, the flavor is a little too dessert-like to have in large doses or on multiple occasions. It's the flavor I'd most likely grab for a sweet treat, but not one I'd reach for every single time.

I'll admit, I was afraid all of the zero-sugar flavors would fall to the bottom of the pack, especially after ranking the first few so low. For many of the flavors, zero sugar proved to be good-but-watery versions of their original, full-sugar counterparts, especially when compared directly side-by-side. Zero sugar cherry is no different, but this time, it stood out among the zero sugars, with the rich and syrupy cherry flavor saving it from being doomed to the bottom. It's so close to the original cherry Dr. Pepper that it lands at number four, among the best of the whole lineup.

Zero Sugar Cherry tastes so similar to the regular-flavored cherry that I nearly ranked them one after the other. The reason it falls just out of the top tiers is because, side-by-side, it tastes more watery and less craveable than the regular Dr. Pepper and its very, very similar-tasting zero sugar version. Though I'd be happy grabbing any of the top four, zero-sugar cherry is just a little less flavorful, making it the one I'd reach for last.

Before looking at the bottles, I assumed that the difference between Dr. Pepper Zero Sugar and Diet Dr. Pepper was the sugar content, being that one was named specifically for its lack of sugar. But after examining both, I noticed something strange: Neither had sugar, and neither had any calories. So what, then, makes the two different — and further, how would I rank the seemingly identical drinks against each other?

Without letting any research sway my opinion, I tasted both drinks side by side. The Diet, as mentioned previously, has a tinny taste I've long associated with aspartame. The Zero Sugar, on the other hand, doesn't have that taste at all; in fact, it tastes nearly identical to regular Dr. Pepper, with perhaps the slightest hint of wateryness that I tasted in so many of the other sugarless versions. The difference, it turns out, is a flavoring called acesulfame potassium, which works with aspartame to disguise the tinny taste and enhance the syrupy flavors of the drink. While it's still not as crisp, sweet, and syrupy as the original, it's nearly as good, and with way less sugar and calories.

As I showed in my ranking of Liquid I.V. flavors, I'm pretty consistent in believing that the best flavors are often the originals. After all, brands like Dr. Pepper don't become as popular as they are because of their limited edition flavors — they're popular because their original formula was a delicious success. Regular Dr. Pepper is a good example of this, with the crisp, syrupy flavor being altogether familiar and straightforward. It's distinct from a Coke. The vanilla and cherry notes are more pronounced, and are ultimately what make the drink so beloved.

What, though, makes the regular Dr. Pepper stand out among its own flavorful competitors? It's simple. The original blend is effortlessly drinkable and thirst-quenching, without being too sugary, fruity, or artificial. It doesn't have the tinny, watery taste of the diet or zero-sugar flavors, either, making it stand out even among the other versions of the original. This is the flavor you can't go wrong with, which is what makes it nearly the best — just behind one last flavor that stands out as my absolute favorite.

When was the first time you tried Cherry Vanilla Coke? You probably remember it like it was yesterday, right? Rarely do specialty flavors make a lasting impression, but when they do, they tend to be fondly remembered forever. Cherry makes a particularly good companion to cola, and it's rumored to be one of the 23 famous flavors that Dr. Pepper is known for, and it's speculated that it's a prominent one. What the other 22 flavors are is a mystery, but still, it's no wonder that a cherry-flavored Dr. Pepper would be a little bit better than the original.

The cherry Dr. Pepper is essentially an enhanced version of the original, with the notes of cherry coming through more syrupy and sweet. Unlike other flavors, though, cherry isn't overly sweet, instead simply tasting like a regular Dr. Pepper with more flavorful cherry notes. The best part is that it's very drinkable — it's perfectly sweet enough to sip again and again. The drinkability, combined with the classic flavor and enhanced sweetness, lands cherry Dr. Pepper in the #1 spot as the one I'd pick up again, and possibly as the one I'd remember forever.

Dr. Pepper has a strong lineup of permanent flavors that work in tandem with the original recipe. I was glad to find that none of the 11 I tried were particularly bad, even with personal bias considered. I'd drink them all if given the chance, and would find almost all of them thirst-quenching and delicious. How I ranked 11 great flavors had to depend on more than flavor alone, then: I determined the ranking by how carbonated each drink felt, whether or not the sweetener was watery or overly sweet, how well the added flavor worked with Dr. Pepper's original recipe, and how drinkable the flavor was overall. I gave lower rankings to the flavors that tasted tinny or watery, thanks to aspartame, and gave higher places to flavors that were just sweet enough to drink repeatedly, but not so sweet as to taste syrupy or dessert-like.