Coke war: Kofola, another Czech national drink
Czech Republic is not only famous by its variety of beers and wines, but also a coke called Kofola.
I did not pay attention all this time, as I generally don’t like coke, for the taste and the unknown composition, but I read an article on Wikipedia that changed my mind.
Kofola was created during the 60’s by Czechoslovak laboratories to make a substitution to the “western” Coca-Cola; unlike the latter, the source is known as it consists of “14 natural ingredients (such as extracts from apple, cherry, currant, or herbal aroma), sugar, and caramel. In comparison with Pepsi or Coca-Cola it contains 30% less sugar, 50% less caffeine and it does not contain phosphoric acid.”
I tried it and I was not disappointed, it tastes herbal flavor and is soft. No wonder that it’s the most serious rival of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in both Czech and Slovak Republics.
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:05 pm
hey, not only that, but the main point as i see it, that you have it in many pubs (especially in moravia and eastern bohemia, but in some places in prague too) served on tap - no post-mix or bottles, a proper 50l keg of kofola, and that’s it! still i have the experience, that foreigners don’t like it at first and they have to get use to it, usually mixing it with czech rum, but after a while they like it just plain, too.
March 22nd, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Salut swobodin.ce post est trés intéressent a savoir que présque chaque pays,maintenant posséde sa propre boisson,pour conquerire coca cola,je ne sais si tu a entendu parler de corsica cola (corse),et breiz cola(breton) sans oubliér bien sure Mecca cola
March 22nd, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Salut swobodin.ce post est trés intéressent a savoir que présque chaque pays,maintenant posséde sa propre boisson,pour conquerire coca cola,je ne sais pas si tu a entendu parler de corsica cola (corse),et breiz cola(breton) sans oubliér bien sure Mecca cola (la fameuse arabe cola) crée en france par un industriel tunisien.
Greetings from paris.
March 23rd, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Brazilian guaraná is the most famous.
March 24th, 2007 at 1:13 am
I agree. Kofola is my favorite Czech drink.
March 24th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Yes, it’s wonderful that Coca Cola and Pepsi have competition, but this might end. Coca Cola is notorious for its ability of cutting out competitors - and not necessarily because it has a better taste. Other local markets, such as East / South Africa, so I read a few years ago (lost the source), also had popular rivals to Coke, but in the long run they lost out through the political and economic shenanigans of Coca Cola - the American drink - things go better with multinational capitalism.
March 26th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
The alternative cokes are, in my opinion, more national than commercial.
Their reason of surviving the influence of Cocal Cola is that they offer an alternative to the “evil” product, showing the composition which is issued of the plants of the land where they produce. In spite of a brief eclipse in the 90’s, Kofola reappeared and is gaining more market.
March 26th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
It’s fucking horrific. I’d rather drink my own piss, which unfortunately i already have.
March 31st, 2007 at 10:33 am
i believe kofola is in a very stroong position. no. 1 in slovakia in cola drinks, no. 2 in czech rep. also no. 1 in juices i guess, since the company has also many other drink brands, not only kofola. you can also see they’re very good in marketing and sponsors of many events. now i guess they’re trying to get on polish market, dunno really how successfully though.
September 12th, 2007 at 2:05 am
I just wish they would export it to the USA. Some of us would buy it by the case everytime we go to the store.