37 ms·

Kofola, the Cold War Drink of Czechoslovakia

130 points by mprev 8y ago

qwerty456127 8y ago
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.
xn 8y ago
Kofola also owns Vinea, which is a much better soft drink.
- bitL 8y ago
  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.
lubos 8y ago
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)
gbuk2013 8y ago
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
- ulzeraj 8y ago
  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.
  - gbuk2013 8y ago
    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! ;)
    - krn 8y ago
      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.
      - int_19h 8y ago
        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.
  - michalskop 8y ago
    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)
  - pilsetnieks 8y ago
    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.
- crehn 8y ago
  And the Finnish have sima: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_(mead) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_(mead)
- malkia 8y ago
  Well now we have Boza in Bulgaria - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boza 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 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 :)
  - iuguy 8y ago
    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!
    - malkia 8y ago
      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!)
zrail 8y ago
When I was in Prague last summer I tried Kofola and quite enjoyed it. Wish I had tried Vinea too. Next time!
michalskop 8y ago
Kofola originated as a by-product of pharma industry.
joshmarinacci 8y ago
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.
- daturkel 8y ago
  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
mlamat 8y ago
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
- zhrvoj 8y ago
  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.
dandare 8y ago
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.
- tomashertus 8y ago
  - 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)
  - smcl 8y ago
    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).
- 52-6F-62 8y ago
  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://drinkbriosoda.ca/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brio_(soft_drink) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brio_(soft_drink) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinotto_(drink) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinotto_(drink)
- mateuszf 8y ago
  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.
- psynapse 8y ago
  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.
reasonablemann 8y ago
Nice flavour. Way too sweet.
donnietb 8y ago
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.
svacko 8y ago
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..:-) )
- psynapse 8y ago
  Yes; I have a Kofola from the tap once in a while with a Langos at the nearby market. It does taste better.
- saiya-jin 8y ago
  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)
  - yread 8y ago
    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
superted 8y ago
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
malkia 8y ago
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...
dusted 8y ago
I remember drinking this all the time when I visited the Czech republic som (17?) years ago, nice spiced flavour.
saiya-jin 8y ago
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.
smcl 8y ago
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.
Daniel_sk 8y ago
Funny, I have just opened a bottle of Kofola and hacker news :-)
miskin 8y ago
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.
strzibny 8y ago
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.

130 points by mprev 8y ago

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.

xn 8y ago

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

bitL 8y ago
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.

lubos 8y ago

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)

gbuk2013 8y ago

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

ulzeraj 8y ago
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.
- gbuk2013 8y ago
  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! ;)
  - krn 8y ago
    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.
    - int_19h 8y ago
      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.
- michalskop 8y ago
  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)
- pilsetnieks 8y ago
  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.
crehn 8y ago
And the Finnish have sima: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_(mead) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_(mead)
malkia 8y ago
Well now we have Boza in Bulgaria - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boza 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 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 :)
- iuguy 8y ago
  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!
  - malkia 8y ago
    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!)

zrail 8y ago

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

michalskop 8y ago

Kofola originated as a by-product of pharma industry.

joshmarinacci 8y ago

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.

daturkel 8y ago
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

mlamat 8y ago

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

zhrvoj 8y ago
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.

dandare 8y ago

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.

tomashertus 8y ago
- 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)
- smcl 8y ago
  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).
52-6F-62 8y ago
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://drinkbriosoda.ca/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brio_(soft_drink) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brio_(soft_drink) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinotto_(drink) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinotto_(drink)
mateuszf 8y ago
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.
psynapse 8y ago
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.

reasonablemann 8y ago

Nice flavour. Way too sweet.

donnietb 8y ago

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.

svacko 8y ago

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..:-) )

psynapse 8y ago
Yes; I have a Kofola from the tap once in a while with a Langos at the nearby market. It does taste better.
saiya-jin 8y ago
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)
- yread 8y ago
  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

superted 8y ago

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

malkia 8y ago

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...

dusted 8y ago

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

saiya-jin 8y ago

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.

smcl 8y ago

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.

Daniel_sk 8y ago

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

miskin 8y ago

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.

strzibny 8y ago

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.