What Are the 23 Flavors in Dr. Pepper?

It's hard to describe the taste of Dr. Pepper, because as cliche as it sounds, the taste really comes down to how you would personally classify it. We can all agree there's an element of spice to the taste (which comes from pepper, black licorice, and clove), but even with the spiciness, some still think Dr. Pepper is a "sweet drink." For me, I think the taste is a blend of the two (spicy and sweet), and I can detect a mixture of flavors it in like cherry and vanilla. Some have even said Dr. Pepper tastes a bit like prune juice! I personally don't taste that, but again that just goes back to how you would personally classify it.

This is where the mystery kicks in. For most people, when we hear "beverage flavors," we think these are actual flavors of the drink that either exist, or have existed in the past. For example, the Strawberries and Cream Dr. Pepper that you see in stores would be what most classify as a "flavor." This isn't what we're referring to here—we're referring to the actual flavors that are supposedly present in the Dr. Pepper drink. According to allrecipes, the only thing we have is a supposed leaked ingredients list that's supposed to be "official." Based on that leak the flavors are: Amaretto, almond, blackberry, black licorice, carrot, clove, cherry, caramel, Cola, ginger, juniper, lemon, molasses, nutmeg, orange, prune, plum, pepper, root beer, rum, raspberry, tomato, and vanilla.

That said, Dr. Pepper has never confirmed these are the actual 23 flavors used. In fact, they are still choosing to play coy as evidenced in this commercial from roughly a year ago where they tease "the 23 delicious flavors" in the drink, but make no mention of what those flavors might be. This leads us to our next question...

If we had to take a guess as to whether or not Dr. Pepper will ever announce the 23 flavors, we'd have to say... no. It's been over one hundred years since the original 23 flavors announcement, and seeing as though the formula itself has always remained top secret, the flavors will probably remain top secret as well because they are considered a part of the formula. Who knows? Dr. Pepper might shock us one day, but the odds of that happening are probably very small. In short—don't get your hopes up.