Fresca vs Bubly: Difference and Comparison

Beverages are important for one of the most important functions, i.e. thirst. Besides that, it is very important for humans and their culture. It includes drinking water, tea, hot chocolate, milk, coffee, juice and soft drinks. Beverages have been part of human civilization for more than 8000 years. Two such beverages are Fresca and Bubly. One is known for soft drinks, and the other for sparkling water.

Key Takeaways

1. Fresca is a grapefruit-flavored citrus soda, while Bubly is a carbonated flavored water.
2. Bubly is marketed as a healthier alternative to soda due to its zero-calorie and sugar-free nature, while Fresca contains sugar and calories.
3. Bubly is available in a wider range of flavors than Fresca, which has limited flavors and is primarily available in grapefruit.

Fresca vs Bubly

The difference between Fresca and Bubly is that Fresca is a soft drink that consists of different fruit flavours. In contrast, Bubly is sparkling water that doesn’t have any flavours. Fresca is owned and created by the Coca-Cola company. Bubly is owned and created by Pepsico. Fresca was started very early in the 1970s, whereas Bubly was started recently in the year 2018.

Fresca was introduced in America in the year 1966. The word ‘Fresca’ means Fresh. Fresca was originally launched as a sugar-free diet soda, and then a sweetener was added artificially. The first flavour was grapefruit flavoured soft drink. From its introduction till now, it has gone through several changes. In the year the 2010s, Fresca launched various flavours Citrus Blackberry, Citrus Strawberry, Citrus Original Citrus (lime & grapefruit blend) and Black Cherry Peach.

Bubly Sparkling Water is a brand launched by Pepsico in 2018. It consists of caffeinated water, which is named Bubly Bounce. Bubly Bounce doesn’t contain any artificial sweeteners or flavours. It has five different flavours: triple berry, blood orange grapefruit, mango passion fruit, citrus cherry, and blueberry pomegranate. It is available in America across all retail stores.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Fresca	Bubly
Brand	Fresca is a brand of Coco-Cola Company.	Bubly is a brand owned by Pepsico.
Ingredients	Citric Acid Carbonated, Grapefruit Juice, Potassium Sorbate etc., are its ingredients.	Carbonated water and natural flavour are the only ingredients.
Flavours	It has five flavours.	It has fifteen flavours.
Taste	It has a strong citrus taste.	It has a smooth and subtle taste.
pH	It has a pH of 2.5 to 3.5	It has a pH of 3 to 4.

What is Fresca?

Fresca is manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Initially, it was launched as a sugar-free diet soda. But later, it began to create soft drink-flavoured juices. The first juice, which Fresca created, was grape flavoured drink. It was introduced in America in 1966. It has no caffeine, calorie, or sugar and comes with a unique taste. It didn’t include any sweetener at first, but then there was a change in the ingredients of Fresca.

Fresca had a very similar taste to Citra. Citra was also a grape-flavoured soft drink that Coco-Cola launched. Fresca became more popular in Latin America. First, Fresca used cyclamates as a sweetener, but it was banned in 1969. Then it began to use saccharine as sweeteners. Then it got replaced by aspartame. A secondary sweetener was also added in Fresca, which was acesulfame potassium.

Fresca was also launched in South Africa in the 1990s with the slogan ‘Nothing tastes like Fresca’. But it was discontinued for a few years because of less sales. Then in 2005, it was redesigned, and two new flavours were also launched, i.e., Sparkling Peach Citrus and Sparkling Black Cherry Citrus. The original Grapefruit flavour was launched as Original Citrus. It was again revamped in 2018 to make younger generations familiarize with Fresca. Currently, Fresca has five flavours operating in the market. It faces tough competition from Izze and La Croix.

What is Bubly?

Bubly is a sparkling water company that sells carbonated water with natural flavours. It has zero sugar but uses some preservatives. The sparkling water industry is booming every year, so much so that in the USA, it has become a million-dollar business. People are nowadays concerned with nutritional values, so they are attracted to Bubly. It has no calories and no sweeteners. 

Bubly’s logo has an emoji-like face representing a smile that means all smiles. Its cans are very colourful, which are very attractive and eye-catching. Bubly cans also represent small messages like “Hey u,” “yo,” and hiii.” The benefit of taking bubbly sparkling water is that it keeps you hydrated. Bubly launched very fun and funky flavours. 

It launched eight flavours: Apple, lemon, lime, mango, cherry, grapefruit, orange, and strawberry in 2018. In 2019, it added four new flavours: cranberry, raspberry, blackberry, and peach. It has a very strong fragrance smooth and subtle taste. The most famous flavour of bubbly is orange, which has a tangy taste. It comes in a pack of 8 with 360 ml. It has become the first plastic-free beverage in the world.

Main Differences Between Fresca and Bubly

1. Fresca is a brand of the Coca-Cola Company that started in the year 1966. Bubly Sparkling Water is a brand owned by Pepsico in the year 2018.
2. Citric Acid Carbonated, Grapefruit Juice, Potassium Sorbate, Natural Flavours, Potassium Benzoate, Acacia Gum, Glycerol Ester of Rosin, Acesulfame Potassium etc. are some of the ingredients of Fresca. Carbonated water and Natural flavour are the only ingredients of Bubly Sparkling Water.
3. Fresca has five basic flavours Citrus Blackberry, Citrus Strawberry, Citrus Original Citrus (lime & grapefruit blend) and Black Cherry Peach. Bubly Sparkling water has fifteen flavours in total. Earlier, eight flavours were introduced.
4. Fresca has a strong citrus taste. Bubly has a smooth and subtle taste and a strong fragrance.
5. Fresca has a pH value of 2.5 to 3.5. Bubly has a pH value of 3 to 4, which is acidic.

References

1. https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2125.2005.02519.x