Note: This is NOT paid content for Sparkling Ice
Previously, I wrote a post definitively determining the number 1 Spindrift flavor to be Lime. I have this same data available for Sparkling Ice flavors, which can be found at places like Wal Mart and Publix, and aim to calculate an explicitly scientific rating like I did for Spindrift.
Compiling the ratings of 4 different people, I've calculated a robust, indisputable ranking of all flavors.
Everyone was asked to rate each flavor on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, and 5 being the average, and the average ratings result in the following expansive ranking set, including Classic flavors, the Caffeine flavors, and even limited edition flavors:
| OrdinalRank | CardinalRank | Item | Brand | Notes |
| 1 | 9.1 | Triple Citrus | Ice Caffiene | |
| 1 | 9.1 | Black Cherry | Ice | |
| 3 | 8.3 | Lemonade | Ice | |
| 4 | 8.1 | Strawberry Lemonade | Ice | |
| 4 | 8.1 | Cherry Limeade | Ice | |
| 6 | 8.0 | Blue Raspberry | Ice Caffiene | |
| 7 | 7.9 | Lemon Lime | Ice | |
| 8 | 7.6 | Black Raspberry | Ice | |
| 9 | 7.1 | Pink Grapefruit | Ice | |
| 10 | 7.0 | Black Raspberry | Ice Caffiene | |
| 11 | 6.9 | Pomegrante Blueberry | Ice | |
| 12 | 6.8 | Kiwi Strawberry | Ice | |
| 13 | 6.6 | Strawberry Citrus | Ice Caffiene | |
| 13 | 6.6 | Mandarin | Ice | |
| 15 | 6.5 | Coconut Pineapple | Ice | |
| 16 | 5.6 | Orange Passion Fruit | Ice Caffiene | |
| 17 | 5.5 | Fruit Punch | Ice | |
| 18 | 5.3 | Cranberry Frost | Ice | Limited Edition |
| 19 | 5.1 | Grape Raspberry | Ice | |
| 20 | 4.0 | Coconut Limeade | Ice | |
| 21 | 3.8 | Ginger Lime | Ice | |
| 22 | 3.3 | Orange Mango | Ice | |
| 23 | 3.1 | Peach Nectarine | Ice | |
| 24 | 3.0 | Mystery - Passion | Ice | Limited Edition |
| 25 | 1.0 | Crisp Apple | Ice |
Once again though, we need to go a step further - human bias definitely exists in this cardinal rating. My ratings don't have a mean, median, OR mode of 5. And with the median higher than the mean, my ratings are very negatively-skewed:
| *Scale relative to all ICES, out of 10 | Count | Mean | Median | Mode |
| MS | 25 | 6.22 | 6.5 | 8 |
As I did with Spindrift to adjust for this, former guest poster Jason Laso used the technique of calculating each individual's percentile on each rating, which normalizes each person's rating set to be from 0 to 10 and centered around 5.
Doing this on all ratings provides a better assessment over all preferences, and gives a definitive ranking of:
| OrdinalRank | AdjustRating | Item | Brand | Notes |
| 1 | 9.5 | Triple Citrus | Ice Caffiene | |
| 1 | 9.5 | Black Cherry | Ice | |
| 3 | 7.9 | Strawberry Lemonade | Ice | |
| 4 | 7.8 | Cherry Limeade | Ice | |
| 5 | 7.6 | Lemonade | Ice | |
| 6 | 7.6 | Blue Raspberry | Ice Caffiene | |
| 7 | 7.3 | Lemon Lime | Ice | |
| 8 | 6.9 | Black Raspberry | Ice | |
| 9 | 5.9 | Pink Grapefruit | Ice | |
| 10 | 5.8 | Black Raspberry | Ice Caffiene | |
| 11 | 5.5 | Pomegrante Blueberry | Ice | |
| 12 | 5.3 | Kiwi Strawberry | Ice | |
| 13 | 5.1 | Coconut Pineapple | Ice | |
| 14 | 5.0 | Mandarin | Ice | |
| 15 | 4.7 | Strawberry Citrus | Ice Caffiene | |
| 16 | 3.0 | Orange Passion Fruit | Ice Caffiene | |
| 17 | 2.8 | Fruit Punch | Ice | |
| 17 | 2.8 | Grape Raspberry | Ice | |
| 19 | 2.6 | Cranberry Frost | Ice | Limited Edition |
| 20 | 1.8 | Coconut Limeade | Ice | |
| 21 | 1.4 | Ginger Lime | Ice | |
| 22 | 1.3 | Orange Mango | Ice | |
| 23 | 1.0 | Peach Nectarine | Ice | |
| 24 | 0.8 | Mystery - Passion | Ice | Limited Edition |
| 25 | 0.0 | Crisp Apple | Ice |
There's a tie at the top! Triple Citrus (Caffeine) and Black Cherry. Since it's one of the OGs, we'll give the tiebreaker to Black Cherry, with the exact same 4 scores - 10, 9.6, 9.6, and 8.8.
However, if we look at the data further, we come to a far more important, concrete conclusion - Crisp Apple is definitively the worst flavor ever created. A perfect straight 0 score - every single entrant's worst flavor.
