Kofola, the Cold War Drink of Czechoslovakia | Hacker News Reader

Kofola, the Cold War Drink of Czechoslovakia

bbc.com

130 pointsmprev45 comments

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.

- 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)

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).

The description actually reminds me a lot of Brio which is sold here in Canada pretty regularly—though it's a Chinotto.

https://drinkbriosoda.ca/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brio_(soft_drink)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinotto_(drink)

Talking from my experience - I tried it but I just didn't like the taste. Obviously that's subjective, but maybe that's how most people perceive it.

Australian living in Slovakia here.

Definitely agree on the sweetness factor. It is also the same with Vinea, which others have mentioned here. I am not a soft-drink person really, but it is more refreshing by virtue of not having such a sweet syrupy vibe.

My kids like Vinea and I feel better about giving it to them now and then, than I would with Coke, which to me is mouth-puckeringly sweet.

I liken Kofola to a mix between sarsaparilla and cola.

I think the "when we were young" nostalgia might be an important part of the appeal - I rarely drink it now but when I do, it immediately brings back memories of those times when I was 12 and my grandmother managed to buy me smuggled "digitálky" on the black market - people from Western world can hardly imagine how cool that was, being a proud owner of a digital watch with 7 alarm melodies.

> It is noticeably less sweet and much more refreshing than Coke

BTW I like the taste of sugar-free stevia-sweeteed Kofola even better than ordinary Kofola with sugar. I don't really care about sugar in it as I'm very slim and don't drink it often anyway yet I still prefer to buy the diet version just because of the taste.

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..:-) )

Yes; I have a Kofola from the tap once in a while with a Langos at the nearby market. It does taste better.

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)

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

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

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.

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! ;)

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.

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.

Kvass is very uncommon in Slovakia or Czechia (it's only known as Ukrainian or Russian drink, one can buy it it shops with UA and RU products, which are oriented mainly on UA and RU expats)

Kvass isn't a single brand but a type of drink thus there is no single stakeholder that would be motivated to increase reach.

It's a bit like asking why lemonade isn't mentioned when discussing Coke and Pepsi branding.

as native to places discussed, this is literally the first time I've heard about it. Wikipedia says the same - it's east european drink apart from Czech republic / Slovakia

Western Europeans, and especially Americans, often lump Czechia and Slovakia into "Eastern Europe" these days, probably because of their history as part of the Warsaw Pact.

And the Finnish have sima: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_(mead)

Well now we have Boza in Bulgaria - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boza - no it ain't Kvass, but it was the "Bulgarian" kvass - e.g. the drink that defines a nation.... then again there is Ayran (lol, just found out by googling that it's also called "Doogh" or "tan") - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doogh

But boza was served to us, since kindergarten, and it has a little percentage of alcohol - not much, but still :)

Oh god, this brings back memories of Istanbul drinking Vefe Boza with nuts on winter evenings and Ayran in the summer when it's too hot. Thanks!

Hah! Now I learned about this product from you! Thank you!! (Can't drink boza right now, keeping the carbs down, but surely friends would appreciate it!)

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 - 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/ - 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...

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.

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)

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Nice flavour. Way too sweet.

Kofola originated as a by-product of pharma industry.

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockta

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.

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