‘Dirty soda’ is taking TikTok by storm. What is it, and why is it so popular?
A can of Coke, coconut cream and a splash of lime juice. Refreshing or revolting?
Don’t knock it ‘til you try it, TikTok has decided.
“The chokehold this now has on me — and I don’t even like soda,” TikToker Erin Queen said after trying her own recipe.
The trend has millions of views on TikTok, but it didn’t originate on social media. One of the original dirty soda shops opened in 2010 in Utah, The New York Times reported. The soda shop chain Swig spread across the West and became particularly popular among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
“Some people say, ‘Oh well, it’s just a Utah trend,’ and we kind of proved that wrong when we went to Oklahoma, and proved people like their soda everywhere,” Swig co-founder Nicole Tanner told the Times.
With the help of social media, the soda has taken off. Many people have followed Swig’s entrepreneurial spirit and created new dirty soda recipes on their own.
“Mountain Dew, peach syrup, raspberry syrup, and coconut cream,” someone recommended to Queen on her TikTok.
“Blue Powerade and coconut creamer,” another suggested.
“It’s happiness in a cup,” Tanner said about the dirty soda business. “I’ve always known from the start that this is something that can and should go everywhere.”
This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 6:59 PM with the headline "‘Dirty soda’ is taking TikTok by storm. What is it, and why is it so popular?."
