Kofola

Kofola is a Czechoslovak carbonated soft drink produced in Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is the principal rival of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in these two markets.

History

Kofola originated in the Czechoslovak pharmaceutical company Galena, n.p. (located in Opava, now Czech Republic) in 1959 during research targeted at finding a possible use for surplus caffeine produced in the process of coffee roasting. The resulting dark-coloured, sweet-and-sour syrup Kofo became the main ingredient of a new soft drink named Kofola introduced in 1960. During the 1960s and 1970s Kofola became exceedingly popular in communist Czechoslovakia because it substituted for Western cola-based drinks like Coca-Cola or Pepsi, which were not generally available.

After the fall of the Communist regime in 1989, Kofola had to compete with many foreign brands that entered the attractive newly opened market. After a period of decline and trademark lawsuits (many companies produced their own similarly tasting "kofola" because the term became a genericized trademark), in 2000 the Santa nápoje company, based in Krnov and owned by the Greek-immigrant Samaras family, became the only producer and distributor of Kofola in Czech Republic and Slovakia. Other producers of similar drinks had to rename their products (most notable are Hejkola and Šofokola).