
Kofola, the Cold War Drink of Czechoslovakia - mprev
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190329-the-cold-war-era-drink-that-rivals-cola
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dandare
I always wondered what is the reason Kofola didn't gain market share all over
the world. It is noticeably less sweet and much more refreshing than Coke.
Maybe marketing a new soft drink worldwide is a hill too steep for whoever
owns the brand now. Or maybe it is not as good and we are all just used to it.

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tomashertus
\- Communism and its central planning of the production

\- Iron curtain - Inability of Czechoslovakian business to access Western
markets

\- Consequence of 30 years of communism in the Czechoslovakia

\- Trademark issues

\- Foreign competition (Kofola vs Coke vs Pepsi)

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smcl
The funny thing about the last part is that some soft drinks do manage to
compete with (but maybe not topple) Coke + Pepsi outside of their home country
(see Irn Bru).

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svacko
What's also interesting that the Kofola drink is distributed to the pubs in
barrels in the same way as a beer and served from the pipes that IMHO tastes
much better than the bottled one. And it's not only Kofola, during the times,
other vendors came with their own versions, so there are multiple other
variants, but usually, you can get piped version in many of the restaurants
and old-school pubs here in Slovakia (In Czechia, the beer nation, piped
Kofola is not available that widely..:-) )

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saiya-jin
That is also true for beers - the ones from 50l kegs taste much better
compared to bottle/can. And once you move to 200-400l 'tanks' which use
gravity to get beer out, instead of pressurized CO2 which alters the taste
(for the worse), you are in beer haven (at least for pilsner type of beer, we
don't do much of other types but its slowly changing)

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yread
Bio-gon is used (at least in Czech republic) a lot more than pure CO2. It's a
mix of N2 and CO2, 80:20. Pure CO2 affects the taste too much

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gbuk2013
I go to Slovakia a few times a year and always enjoy the Vinea and the Kofola.
Much better than Cola but not as good as Kvass. ;)

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass)

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ulzeraj
This. I find it strange that there was no mention of Kvass in the article.
I’ve bought some Kvass from Teremok so I’m curious if the homemade version
tastes the same.

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gbuk2013
I’m not sure if they know very much about Kvass over there - at least my
friends there did not.

I make the stuff at home and it’s at least way better than the rubbish Kvass I
can get here in London! ;)

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krn
I had a pint of homemade Kvass today at a local restaurant in the Baltics.
It's very different from what is sold in the supermarkets, and much heathier
than Coke.

To those who have never tasted Kvass: it's a natural drink, which stands
somewhere between Coke and beer. It's softer and a bit sweeter than beer, but
can still have up to 2-3% alcohol when made at home or bought from a local
brewery.

However, when bought from a supermarket, it's mostly just a carbonated water
with some sweeteners and artificial flavors, trying to recreate the original
taste at the lowest possible cost.

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int_19h
For store-bought kvass, it all depends on the brand. The cheaper ones are
exactly as you've described, but you can get the real thing, too.

I wouldn't compare it with Coke taste-wise though. I mean, it's basically a
fermented drink with rye bread as a base. Aside from the color and the
bubbles, it's not really similar.

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malkia
In Bulgaria we had drinks named "Etar", and "Altai" that were probably the
"Coca-Cola"/"Pepsi" meant to be cheap replacements. I loved them as a kid,
along with plenty other sugary drinks (Schweppes, "Швепс" was probably the
most popular brand)

As for "Tuzik" shops, we had Corecom shops -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corecom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corecom)
\- e.g. a way to spend your foreign (and "evil") currency with fancy things.
Getting Pez, Toblerone, or Kinder's Surpise egg was one of the best thing that
could happen to a kid. I must've been 4 or 5, asking friends & colleagues of
my grandma (at her work, she would pick me with her to be there) "Please, give
me some dovari" (dovari, my mis-pronounciation of "dolari"/долари - e.g.
dollars). She was a manager there, and one of her worker's husband used to be
a sailor, or maybe a truck driver (T.I.R.) - those folks would come with
"lots" of dollars, and we may even get bananas and oranges for Christmas, and
empty cans from Coke (I'm not kidding, these were valueable, as you could've
make a pencil holder, and was fancy to have anyway).

Then every house had this pretty cool looking book called Neckermann -
basically this - [https://www.neckermann.de/](https://www.neckermann.de/) \-
you go visit someone, and they'll show you the latest Neckermann - it's not
that you can buy, and even if you have the money to know how - but it was cool
way of showing off, and talking about things...

Gosh, I do miss, and then not these times...

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qwerty456127
Still much better than Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Once I tasted Kofola some years
ago I'm never buying Coca-Cola/Pepsi again. 2 other great colas I love are
Fentimans Curiosity Cola and Red Bull cola but these are more expensive.

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lubos
There is one more cold war drink still popular in Czechoslovakia - Vinea. It
tastes like desert wine but it's non-alcoholic.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinea_(soft_drink)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinea_\(soft_drink\))

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superted
In Sweden we have a similar drink called "julmust" or "påskmust" which many
people go for, over international beverages, during Christmas and Easter:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julmust](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julmust)

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saiya-jin
When hiking last summer in High Tatras, I asked for a glass of Kofola in one
of the mountain huts to replenish some energy and water. The warden suggested
to try 'citrus radler', 0% alcohol instead. I went for 0.5l of Kofola first
but still thirsty so I ordered that one too.

Oh boy what a difference - taste is _so_ much better, you don't feel
overwhelming sugary taste (even with citrus addition its still too much for
me), but rather like good quality beer flavor without any bitterness. Hard to
describe, but lets say I never ordered Kofola afterwards if there is a choice.

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miskin
Big advantage of Kofola compared to Coke or Pepsi is that it is less sweet -
you can drink few 0.5l glasses and enjoy it. As saiya-jin mentioned above, 0%
alcohol Radler Citrus is also great when hiking or riding bike. It's really
good alternative if you cannot or do not want to drink beer or other alcohol
beverages. In Slovakia there is 0% limit on alcohol when driving and this also
applies to bikes outside of town or bike paths.

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donnietb
I tasted kofola as a child and I did not liked it all. To me it tasted like a
weird mixture of tea and coca-cola and I found it disgusting. Coca-cola tasted
much better. Later as an adult i tried kofola couple of times and again did
not like it. As the time went by somehow I get used to it, and now i go for
kofola over coca-cola everytime. I dont expect anyone trying it for the first
time to like it.

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joshmarinacci
I'm from the US and tried Kofola back when I used to visit Prague for work. It
was... interesting. It definitely didn't fit my palate but I don't drink much
American soda either. It was certainly unique. My Czech friends told me that
it had been invented to use up left over coffee waste. I'm sorta sad to find
out that was an urban legend.

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daturkel
I'm also from the US and visited Prague last fall. The tour guide encouraged
us to try Kofola and also had a funny urban legend story about it's origin (I
forget what it was). I tried it and found it...not so great :p

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zrail
When I was in Prague last summer I tried Kofola and quite enjoyed it. Wish I
had tried Vinea too. Next time!

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strzibny
Yes, we Czechs, love our Kofola. Better than Coke!

Not sure why the article is more Slovakia focused when in fact the original
factory is in Krnov, CZ. Also it's widely served "on tap" in the Czech
Republic too, not just Bratislava. It's very common.

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smcl
I'm not really a fan of either on their own ... but kofola mixes well with
_tuzemák_ (local "rum"). One evening after a few drinks we started referring
to this as "kofuzemák" to the amusement of the staff at a local pub.

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dusted
I remember drinking this all the time when I visited the Czech republic som
(17?) years ago, nice spiced flavour.

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Daniel_sk
Funny, I have just opened a bottle of Kofola and hacker news :-)

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xn
Kofola also owns Vinea, which is a much better soft drink.

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bitL
I tasted Kofola, it's an interesting taste (like coke with a bit of lemon)
though I prefer Coke Zero instead. Also, don't ever mix it with fish or
mushroom meals or you might add another experience... Vinea on the other hand
tastes fantastic, like sparkling wine without the bitterness/moldy taste
present in wine. I wish I could buy it over here, preferably a zero sugar
variant. I'd replace champagne for kids with that.

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reasonablemann
Nice flavour. Way too sweet.

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michalskop
Kofola originated as a by-product of pharma industry.

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mlamat
You should also check out Cockta from Slovenia. It was introduced in 1953 in
Yugoslavia.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockta)

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zhrvoj
Yes, Cockta is in many ways much more interesting drink to me today, than Coke
or Pepsi. I can't drink cold cold Coke, it twists my throat.

