Fentimans Reviews 

So disappointed with Fentimans who have clearly sold out to the trend for sweeteners. Just opened a bottle of their ginger beer and instantly tasted that horrible artificial stevia taste. Thought I was being paranoid but checked the ingredients and there it is. I support the cause to reduce sugar intake, that’s great. Reduce it but don’t wreck it by artificially sweetening it. Give me all sugar or no sugar. Don’t give me fake sugar.

Thought I’d treat myself to a bottle of Curiosity Cola today, not knowing they’d changed the recipe. The refreshing, sweet taste of old fashioned cola has been replaced by the cheap, bitter taste of sweeteners. How will they justify the higher price now? It reminds me of budget/own brand supermarket Diet Coke. I had to throw the whole thing away and drink something else to get rid of the awful lingering aftertaste. Such a waste, but nobody else in my house could stand it either! They should remove the word traditional from the label, and add a warning, as sweeteners give me headaches and stomach problems. I am so disappointed. I wish they’d bring the old recipes back. Another customer lost.

So bad. I used to love the rose lemonade but alas sweeteners make me sick and taste nasty. I wrote to fentimans about it and they lied to me and were very rude. Never again. And Fentimans sales have plummeted and they are left scratching their heads. Are they that dumb?

It used to be a real treat buying a bottle of Fentimans. Such delicious, strong, unique flavours. The cola was great. Just opened a bottle and what a disappointment! Flavor has all gone. Tastes weak and watery. I hope people stop buying this until they change the recipe back to what it was.

Nothing compared to what it used to be

Please don't buy this. It's not what it was even 5 years ago. Hard to drink.

What have you done to the cola?

I can't believe I'm writing a bad review about fentimans soft drinks. I've been away for a while. Tropical soda has been discounted and you've managed to destroy the best two cola products in the world. The curiosity cola and the cherry cola. With the added sweetener these now taste like cheap alternatives and reminds me of the cheap knock off cola brands from the early 90's. I know using less sugar is probably in the pursuit of profits over customer satisfaction but I'd have happily paid the extra tax to keep the original recipes.
I used to love the fact its produced up North, supporting a local brand but unfortunately they've sold out and I'm so disappointed. This used to be a very welcomed treat for me.
Fentimans if you ever read this please consider bringing back the full sugar versions and the tropical.

I wish I read these reviews before buying the cola, as it looks like it had a lot of fans but something drastic has changed with the taste.

For me, it was a random purchase on the shelf of a supermarket. I was curious, I like cola. It looked premium and for £2 (most I spend on bottles large or small is £1 or less) I thought it'll be a nice treat for a good dinner.

It tasted so bad. I couldn't go through it after about 3 sips. Feel like I'm owed a refund for this experience.

Just awful. I hadn't had this cola in 20 years and was so excited to pick it up after seeing it in Sainsbury's. First sip was nothing like it was. Truly vile flavour now. Never buying it again!

Bought a pack of the ginger beer and had to throw them away after a few mouthfuls. They taste awful with sweeteners. You're basically paying a premium price for a cheap tasting drink, I won't be buying any of their products again.

Haven't had for a while but tasted different and had dry mouth. They started using Steviol. Won't be buying again. It would be fair enough if they offered with or without.

Moving to 100% Fever Tree.

Used to be our go to brand for drinks. Now they have added sweeteners we can not drink them, causes pain and stomach problems. " If it ain't broke don't fix it," bring back sugar and remove the toxic chemicals

Please give the consumer a choice to continue with natural sugar sweeteners - steviol glycosides are not the same. So disappointed to lose a fine local company

Bought a Fentimans thinking they hadn't jumped on the stevia band wagon. Utterly, utterly vile flavour. Tasted the stevia in the first sip. Lord knows who they use to try their products. Can't have any functioning taste buds. Now a premium artificial brew. Wonder if there is anyone who understands that those of us who can't drink alcohol can be sensitive to artificial sweetener too. Tap water sure as heck won't help their profits so maybe karma will play it's part.

Tried it again, no change, still awful.
Customer service is nonexistent.

They used to be great and brought back my childhood.
However after changing the recipe to the sweetener one, it became subpar.

They also don't react/reply to customer feedback, which is bad.
I don't think they really care about the future of their products or name.

Time to move on for real, I guess.

I used to be a regular drinker of Curiosity Cola until the first time I tried the new recipe last year (which they did unannounced, replacing much of the sugar with Stevia) and it was awful. The difference in mouthfeel is vast and obvious and checking the ingredients label the reason was clear. I haven't purchased any of their products since and not will I again unless they change the recipe back.

Give customers a choice, we're grown up enough to decide if we want sugar or not.

Really foul after taste from Stevia in this drink. No warning on the bottle that they changed the recipe

What was once a nice traditional drink, that was traditionally made has been spoilt with the addition of the bad tasting sweeteners. It's now now better than a supermarket diet soda.

Fentimans Dandelion and Burdock was my absolute favourite drink but the recipe across all the Fentimans range has been changed with steviol glycosides replacing sugar. Now tastes awful - just a nasty taste like saccharine has been added. Will no longer be buying Fentimans. Contacted customer services to let them know and they just said that feedback from consumers said that they liked the new taste. I don’t know where Fentimans are looking but they haven’t been looking on Trustpilot or on other reviews for their products. All say the same thing - the new recipe tastes awful! Change it back to sugar as what you have now is undrinkable!

Tastes like Peter Kay's "Rola Cola" nasty, watery and cheap tasting. Unfortunately looks like the sugar nazis have got to what was the best cola. Now awful and undrinkable

Absolutely terrible product in the pursuit of profit they have changed the recipe from what was a premium drink into something that tastes worse than the budget sodas for less than 50p a can.