The Worst Sugar-Free Vanilla Syrup Comes From This Iconic Sweetener Brand

It's not uncommon to want a splash of sweetness in your morning brew. While there are plenty of sugar substitutes for your coffee that don't involve pouring straight liquid cane sugar into your mug, modern innovations also mean you can reach directly for a bottle of sugar-free syrups and sweeteners. We recently sat down to test nine sugar-free vanilla syrups and determined that Splenda's French vanilla sugar-free syrup was the worst of the bunch.

Considering it's the brand that supplies the ingredient (sucralose) to dozens of other sugar-free products, you'd think it would know how to make a decent sugar-free syrup ... but you'd be wrong. One sip of this French vanilla syrup and we knew that the unpleasant aftertaste would linger for the rest of the day. We found that it didn't have much of a vanilla taste at all, but more of a sweet, astringent flavor that was extremely unpleasant. Somehow, it managed to be overwhelmingly sweet yet disturbingly bitter at the same time. We sampled the syrup on its own and in a cup of coffee and found that it deserved to be ranked last.

Splenda was invented in 1976 entirely by accident. Well, sucralose wasn't an accident, but the discovery that it was edible and tasted sweet (600x sweeter than regular sugar) was a happy mistake. Since then, the ingredient and the Splenda brand have boomed, launching in Canada in 1991 and following in America after receiving FDA approval for general-purpose usage in 1998. By 2000, Splenda was popping up in those tiny, yellow packets at restaurants and coffee shops around the nation, even lending a hand in the creation of popular sugar-free beverages like Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi. Splenda made its way into major coffee chains, too, now a regular ingredient in Starbucks' sugar-free syrups.

Splenda's French vanilla sugar-free syrup is a recent addition to the brand's line of products, as evidenced by the "NEW!" exclamation on the website. It contains that classic sucralose, but also erythritol, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preservative), xanthan gum, and sodium citrate, among other additives. The erythritol is often used alongside Splenda in its liquid form to add "volume and texture to the stevia leaf extract so it sweetens like sugar," according to an article from Splenda. There are other Splenda syrup flavors available, such as hazelnut, salted caramel, and brown sugar cinnamon, which might very well taste amazing, but we'd advise you skip the French vanilla flavor entirely if you value your taste buds.