Then in a modern Klaus Schwabian way, she stated, "You will drink TAB and like it, case closed."
God bless my passed Mother, but I will never understand her obsession with TAB in the 70's.
Mods pull if you wish.
I didn’t realize it was still around.
My grandmother was the same. I used to drink it with her but I didn’t really like it.
Oh man, memories of the 70s are just swarming in. Nothing as vom-inducing in me as that acrid taste of whatever it was that was “Just one calorie” and a warm tuna salad sandwich pulled from the depths of my Scooby Doo lunch box. Sometimes paired with a small pack of Fritos, or Chee-Tohs.
I was never a big soda drinker because of it. But then diet Coke came along and I was hooked, not sure why. It tasted better than Tab, that was for dang sure.
I tried it and didn’t care for it in the least.
I never knew what people saw in it.
Same for Mountain Dew. Nasty taste.
My dad drank the saccharin-based Diet Rite. It tasted just as nasty. I actually drank Tab a bit in the ‘80s, when I could get it in those great leaded glass heavy refillable bottles in Chicago. I liked the Tab commercial with Willie Mays. “Tab, for beautiful people”.
I saw Diet Rite at the grocery store yesterday, I was surprised they still make/sell it.
Tab was the perfect creation to get people with working tastebuds to stop drinking soda.
You think Tab is bad, you should try Moxie.
That stuff was nasty. Even mixing it with rum didn’t take the horrible taste away.
I only drank Diet Coke because TAB, with its pink can and popularity with women, seemed effeminate.
My SIL still drinks it to this day. I thought she was the only one left.
The original Diet Doctor Pepper was terrible too. It was in a blue can. Much better now.
Oh my, I’m watching daytime TV back in 1982 with this ad, lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DnsgmmTwvw&ab_channel=NYRetroVault
It was the ultimate housewife drink. Just one calorie!
My mother would buy it by the case. I remember having to go to the car to lug the cases in. About once a week, we'd have to load one of those cases into the refrigerator.
I’ll kinda miss it.
Tab was always pretty awful.
Pepsi had a diet drink called Patio before Diet Pepsi.
For a while in the 70s Pepsi offered a reduced (not zero) calorie drink with a lemon flavoring. I think it was called Pepsi Light.
Of all the ones on the market today Diet Coke is the worst. Has the most aftertaste.
I will drink either diet Pepsi or Coke Zero which is so much better than diet Coke I can’t belief it survives.
And I don’t do coffee. I have a strong negative reaction to bitter (don’t even really like chocolate ice cream). I get my morning caffeine from a single can of Diet Mt Dew.
My one and only near-experience with Tab was when we visited my grandmother’s cousin in Bishop, California in 1968. She offered us Tab or Fresca. She said Fresca was similar to Squirt, which I liked. Mom had a Tab. After we left, I mentioned to Mom that Fresca was a pretty poor substitute for Squirt and she said that Tab must be an even worse substitute for Coke or Pepsi, so neither Tab not Fresca ever entered our house.
My memories from the 70’s are exactly the same as yours. “Vile” doesn’t quite capture how awful it is. As for switching to Diet Coke, unfortunately it would appear that the Tab permanently injured you. Pass the Diet Pepsi!