Milkis versus Milky Pop taste taste comparison - Milk sodas from Korea

Over the summer, while visiting California, the family and I were walking through the local Korean grocer and found something we just had to try! 
A year before, we had taste tested all 6 flavors of Milkis (by Lotte), Korea's Number 1 Cream Soda. But this is something new! A competitor! 

Sitting on the same shelves beside our favorite Milkis is Milky Pop from Ilhwa. How will it taste? Will it be better? We must know! 

And since it's always fun to do these sorts of things with friends, I brought them along as we were invited to Scott and Karla's for dinner! The Flowers family might be biased, having tasted Milkis before, but everyone else is going into this with no prior preferences. 

The two certainly look the same. A very pale white color to both of them. 

It's 120 calories for the can of Milky Pop and 130 calories for the Milkis. We won't go into the ingredients quite yet. Let's taste them and see. 

Theresa - This is Alli and Ian's favorite drink in Korea. Any time we go to an Asian market, they want to get it. 

First, we'll try the Milky Pop. 

Karla - It's like a creamsicle! 

Joe - It is! 

Theresa - It tastes different!

Joe - It is different. Is it more... orangey? 

Ian - A little bit. 

Theresa - It's a citrus flavor. 

And now we'll move on to the Milkis. 

Scott - It's like an orangesicle versus a creamsicle. They even smell different. 

Joe - What are you smelling? 

Scott - Milky Pop smells more orangey. 

Karla - It's a melted creamsicle meets seltzer water. 

Scott - The Milky Pop is definitely more sweet. 

Dominic - I like it! 

Joe - Do they taste that much different? Why do you like one over the other? 

Dominic - I like the second one better (Milkis). 

Joe - Do you normally get to have soda? 

Karla - Sprite, on special occasions. 

Joe - Is this better than Sprite? 

Dominic - Yes! 

Scott - They're both very similar. Just different. But I think I like the Milky Pop best. The other one taste like diet (less sweet). 

Joe - I will also say I liked the Milky Pop better, with the stronger orange flavor. 

Karla - I liked the Milkis better. The difference is minimal though. 

Alli - I like Milkis better. 

Ian - (keeps going back and forth between the two cans) I like the original better. 

Theresa - I like Milkis. 

So, between the 7 of us who tried it, that was just 2 who preferred the Milky Pop, while 5 chose the original Milkis. 

Looking at the ingredients for the Milky Pop, it starts with water and 2 kinds of sweetener. Then there's skimmed milk powder, carbon dioxide (weird, I'm used to seeing carbonated water instead and not carbon dioxide as an ingredient), and further down the list you'll find artificial yogurt flavor and natural lemon-lime flavor.  

And for the Milkis. They're proud of the fact that they don't use corn syrup. They have yogurt flavor as well, but no additional flavors. Could that be why it tastes less orangey? 

Alli - This is milk right? And we have cookies...

Joe - Oh boy...

Sure enough, off she goes to dunk the cookies into the Milk Soda. Cookies and Milky Pop. Mmm mmm mmm.

Joe - That's gross. 

Theresa - You would so do that too!

Joe - I would. 

Alli - It just moistens it. 

Joe - It is different. Not quite the same as dunking it in milk. 

A few days later, while we were in San Diego, my brother Jon happened to be flying by! We met up at our hotel and I still had a couple of cans left! Let's see what he thinks too! 

Jon - I'm not so sure about that one. (Milky Pop). I'm not getting the same yogurt flavor. The carbonation is way more than it needs to be. I prefer the original. It's much smoother flavor than the Milky Pop. 

That's one more vote for Milkis!