Dr Pepper
I have an extremely strong memory of the first time I tried Dr Pepper.
Dawn broke at the scout campsite.
With the smell of smoke still softly rising from last nights fires, me and my best friend Sam took a walk.
The ground was endlessly dew-covered and we were the only humans awake.
Amid the dank trees there was a beacon glowing. A vending machine.
I chose a curiously named drink I’d heard of but never tasted: Dr Pepper.
Looking out over the campsite, I took a sip. It was magic. It tasted unlike anything I’d ever had.
And standing there with Sam, watching mist hover above the grass and curl around the trees, the moment was perfect.
It was a ‘high’ I’ve tried to chase ever since. But every time I camped or had a Dr Pepper it was so… ordinary. It wasn’t the same as that day when I was a boy.
Until yesterday.
I tried the new Dr Pepper ‘Cherry Crush’.
And when I took a sip I was transported back to that morning. This was it. This was what I’d tasted.
I don’t even know if I actually had the cherry flavoured one that fateful morning. But either way, the cherry one of 2025 tastes the same as that Dr Pepper did all those years ago. And I’m going to buy a million of them.
It’s usually foolish trying to chase nostalgia. But just sometimes, it pays off.
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