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Comment by dandare | Hacker News Reader

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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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.

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)

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.

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.

- 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).

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