Motivational speaker and football champ Joel Penton spoke to the incoming freshman at Amherst High School today.

Impulse buy of the day: Pepsi Natural.

My Mom and I went to Target to pick up a few things, and I saw Pepsi Natural sitting on the shelf. I’ve heard of the Pepsi Throwback and the Mountain Dew Throwback (which was excellent, and I heard it is coming back for 8 weeks in December!), but this was the first I’ve heard of Pepsi Natural. I decided to buy a pack of four bottles. The minimalist label instantly pulled me in, then the ingredients set the hook: all natural cola made with sparkling water, natural sugar, and kola nut extract. Also, it is in a glass bottle! I am a sucker for things like this. I am normally not a big Pepsi fan (besides for the occasional Mountain Dew and Sierra Mist Ruby Splash), but I decided to give this a try.

The taste test: It is a lot smoother than regular Pepsi–no bite like the regular variety. The color is a lot lighter, too, so there is less carmel coloring. In fact, there is apple extract and carmel for coloring instead of just carmel. If someone put Pepsi Natural in a glass and asked me to identify what major soft drink it is a variety of, I definitely would not pick Pepsi. It actually reminds me a lot of a diluted Coca-Cola Blāk, Coca-Cola’s coffee flavored cola. Pepsi Natural has hints of coffee and a slight nutty flavor mixed with other spices, which I can’t put my finger on. It is pretty good, though.

According to Pepsi, it is only available in ten regional markets: Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas and New York. If you want to try some, order it online, or take a road trip!