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Photo by: PATRICK T. FALLON/Getty Images

PATRICK T. FALLON/Getty Images

Whether you call it soda, pop, soda pop, or simply refer to all carbonated beverages as “a Coke,” you may have a preference for fountain drinks over the stuff you find at the grocery store. If so, that might be because automatic soda dispenser drinks can vary from their pre-packaged counterparts, or even from restaurant to restaurant and convenience store to convenience store. And while it’s never pleasant to grab a drink from a soda fountain to find its overly watered down, apparently some people online are singing the praises of the opposite effect: Overly-syrupped soft drinks known as “heavy soda.”

What is heavy soda?

When you get your cola or root beer or lemon lime carbonated beverage from a can or bottle, the product inside is whatever the soda company has deemed it should taste like. But fountain soda is a bit more finicky and fine-tuneable.

For example, you might have heard that McDonald’s, for example, has such craveable Coca-Cola because it uses more syrup in its mix, and that’s partially true. The brand admitted in 2021 that, among other factors like using filtered water and chilling its syrup before mixing, the ratio used in its restaurants accounts for ice melt.

But according to viral posts on social media, some businesses with soda fountains are offering “heavy soda” which contains a greater amount of syrup or flavoring than is generally in the recommended ratio.

The result is an ultra-concentrated soda that, in addition to satisfying those with a stronger sweet tooth, may also allow frugal fizzy drink fans to keep adding ice and water to their cups to extend the time between the first and last sip.

Where can you find heavy soda?

We’ve seen this “trend” attributed to “the Midwest” and more specifically “southern Missouri,” though according to local news outlets even Missourians aren’t aware of heavy soda being sold in their state. As yet, the only confirmed sightings of heavy soda being offered on the regular are at a Missouri-based convenience chain C-Barn, which has, itself, actually posted on Facebook touting its specifically labeled “heavy” offerings of Pepsi products.

How do you make heavy soda?

Behind the individual nozzle covers of most soda dispensers are a set of screws that can be adjusted to control the flow of the carbonated water and the flavoring syrup. The ratio of these two elements is measured using a Brix Cup — a set of attached graduated cylinders — and a syrup separator attachment, which directs the flow of soda water into one cylinder and syrup into another. As seen in this video on reddit, the standardized ratio is 5.5 parts carbonated water to 1 part syrup.

So, if a business wishes, they can crank up the syrup, though doing so would cost more as the syrup is the spendier part of the soda mix.

According to some anecdotal claims, it might be possible to engage a soda dispenser lever only part of the way to allow for only (or mostly) the syrup to be released, however my attempts to do so at a fast food restaurant and convenience store were unsuccessful. This may come down to the type of machine you’re using, as those with push button operation won’t work the same way.

But for the most part, making “heavy soda” isn’t up to the customer. Except when it is …

If you own one of those at-home carbonated water-making machines, you already know that you can mix the available flavoring syrups to whatever strength your heart desires. Of course, this tends to exclude the brand-name sodas we’ve come to know and love in most fast food and gas station soda dispensers.

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Photo by: Steven Gottlieb/Getty Images

Steven Gottlieb/Getty Images

However, also anecdotally, I have a relative of the Baby Boomer generation and who my sibling and I would chastise for swirling Coke or Sprite in a can or glass to “get rid of the bubbles.” The explanation for this odd behavior was that, as this relative recalls, when they were a child they would (get ready to time travel) ask thesoda jerkat thesoda fountainto mix more syrup into their glass before adding the bubbly water and stirring. Yes, back in the old days you, the customer, actually could request a “heavy soda” if not by that same name. These days, old-fashioned soda fountains are few and far between, but they do still exist as nostalgic nods to the past.

As they say, everything old is new again. So even if “heavy soda” is a relatively localized trend, it may have been a similarly small-scale phenomenon even before the rise of self-service soft drinks.

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