Coffee is healthier than soda if you take your coffee black. Black coffee is basically just water. Soda will have either sugar or artificial sweeteners in additional to sodium and other additives that make it a less healthy option.

Coffee with milk would still be better for you than soda, but you've got a good point about coffee with sweeteners essentially being just as bad as soda. Maybe the reason people treat coffee differently is because there is a healthy way to drink it and they incorrectly extrapolate that fact to any type of coffee (no, your coffee with eight sugars is not healthier than a can of Coke). Add in the fact that coffee is an acquired taste and now you've got one drink that only adults tend to drink (coffee) and one drink that kids love (soda) and people incorrectly assume that coffee is a more "grown up" thing to drink.

Basically the same drink? How?

Cup of black coffee and a cup of cola look similar, I guess..

Because people aren’t pouring 30-40 grams of sugar into their coffee. Also artificial sweeteners taste like shit and haven’t been proven to not cause other health issues.

Drink water.

Sodas have high fructose corn syrup which is a type of sugar. One soda contains 18 packets of sugar [1]. This is far more than coffee for the average person. Now if you consider diet sodas those use aspertame as a sweetener and so it’s basically sweet’n’low packets. So on a pure sugar content perspective coffee is healthier.

Soda has been known to eat away teeth [2]. While coffee does so as well, it’s to a lesser degree[3]. So long-term physically, coffee is better.

If you consider nutritional benefits and ignore the antioxidants like you said, coffee is still mostly water and therefore can count to your water intake [4]. Soda is also water as you might imagine, it being a drink, but again, to a lesser degree.

That said, if you drink diet soda in the morning you do you. You shouldn’t feel judged for wanting to eat something in moderation. But know that coffee has proven health benefits and soda has proven health detriments. These things apply to sodas at whatever time of day.

People care? Do what you want to do, it's your life. Have fun.

Sugar.

Corn syrup and chemicals but I’m not sure why people are downvoting your reasonable question

I don't think they're the same. One is warm, one is cold, one is sweet, one is bitter.

20oz of Coke contains like 15 tablespoons of sugar. Sweet coffee is healthier.

Edit: it's teaspoons not tablespoons. I am wrong.

1. I am usually cold in the morning, and thus prefer a hot drink.
2. Soda is carbonated, and too much carbonation can cause esophageal issues (I have actually had this from too many carbonated drinks, it's not just a fabricated boogeyman).
3. Coffee with a modest amount of creamer (I do half a shot of coffeemate vanilla bean) is definitely healthier than soda, whether regular, diet, zero etc.

All that said, I will have a soda instead if we run out of either coffee or creamer. Vanilla Coke zero sugar is my go-to in that instance.

Most sugar alternatives used in soda really messes with your guts.

They're both completely wrong. Hot chocolate is the sacred beverage of the morning, the holy breakfast.

[basically the same drink]

soda is gross. coffee is excellent. that is all.

Maybe a bit of context would be in order because I don't know anyone who would even blink if you started your day at work with soda.

Though I think if you started your average morning with drinking a soda first thing would be a bit weird. But it's the same kind of weird that having hamburger meal or a full roast as breakfast is. It's just not customary.

Black coffee and tea are considered the healthiest options because no sugar, no sugar substitutes, no preservatives or other additives, and they've been used long enough that the health implications are well researched.

Diet sodas have ingredients that are considered safe in moderation by the FDA, but we are still learning about the long term effects of artificial sugars and different additives. There are caffeinated seltzers out there with just natural flavoring and caffeine. That would probably be a better comparison to black coffee and tea.

Carbonated anything is bad for your bones and teeth, long term. That's not avoidable by drinking diet soda. Artificial sweeteners have been shown to still cause simular effects in the body to actual sugar in some cases, and other health issues over time.

Coffee drinks as typically ordered at Starbucks are also filled with unhealthy additions and should be treats, not daily staples. Plain drip coffee taken black is healthier, but rather gross, yet I know people who drink it

I'm team tea, myself. Definitely the superior drink. Actually strengthens your teeth (stains them yet makes them stronger) if you dont add sugar. Just don't carbonate it or add too much other stuff to it if you're after health.

People love their social norms. You wouldn’t believe the shit I got when I stopped eating breakfast. “Most important meal of the day!” I feel great fasting and don’t miss it at all. I’ll eat cereal for dinner. You have a fucking diet soda in the morning if you want.

Carbonated drinks are not good for your teeth. Even if they are of the zero sugar variant. The CO2 basically increases the acidity in the drink. They add a shit ton of sweetener or sugar to hide the sour taste. Drinking sodas right after brushing your teeth just negates the positive effects toothpaste will have on your teeth. Even worse if you brush your teeth after drinking a soda. The acidity of a soda makes your teeth softer then when you brush you basically scrape the enamel away.

And yes this is also true for fruit juice like orange juice.

It's not the same drink, your premise is flawed. Coffee has way more caffeine, is generally served hot, and most importantly, tastes completely different.

Diet soda is also still not good for you.

Although switching from regular soda to diet soda may save you calories, it's not yet clear if it's effective for preventing obesity and related health problems in the long term.

Healthier low-calorie choices abound, including water, skim milk, and unsweetened tea or coffee.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/diet-soda/faq-20057855

Basically, black coffee tastes better (subjective), has more caffeine, and is less bad for your health. Alternatively you could go the tea route but personally I prefer coffee.

I like my coffee like I like my women.

Hot, strong, and a little bitter.

Sugar

Coffee helps me poop.

Diet sodas are fine!

https://youtu.be/iIAFe7zaCRU?si=Zxkdo6cnHEOaK_kP

I really don’t care about how people feel about something I drink and I don’t care what they drink. I think coffee tastes nasty so I stick to sodas and tea for breakfast

The main risk of sugar isn't the calories themselves, but rather their effect on our fullness perception. That is, the more sugar we eat, the harder it is to feel full after eating something. This in return cases a vicious cycle, one that can easily lead into obesity. I don't know if that same issue can happen with sweeteners but I don't generally trust anything that tricks our senses to such a degree. I don't consider coffee the holy grail either, it's just that its negative health effects have been tested for ages and are acceptable for its overall benefits. But that's my own risk assessment, with only my health in the line.

It's hard to get a good grip on the health neutrality of diet soda when the companies who make them have lied to us about sugar for decades. Maybe sweeteners are just their next lie, who knows. Much of the research done on sweeteners is funded by the ones who profit from it. The food industry have far more power than anyone should be comfortable with them having.

i drink diet soda so it’s no calories, no sugar. versus the stereotype starbucks order, why is soda

Lol if you think diet soda is healthy, I wanna try to scam you because you're completely gullible.

drinkin drinkin drinkin

drinkin coka coka cola

I can feel it Rollin right on down

a'Right on down my throat

If you ain't chugging the glass of water off your night stand as the very first drink of the morning, y'all are missing out.

After that, I have a NOS. Energy Drinks are the socially acceptable morning beverage that isn't coffee. Or orange juice. Or milk.