Inca Kola Review

On a train trip from Ollantaytambo, Peru to Aguas Calientes, Peru to see the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu, I got to try Inca Kola for the first time. My tour director Mauricio told me it's the national soft drink of Peru. I found it different. To those of us in the United States (U.S.), Inca Kola is VERY different from what we're used to cola drink wise. All colas in the U.S. are black in color. Inca Kola is bright yellow. Also, Inca Kola has a some what sweet taste and, folks in the U.S. would say it tastes like bubble gum or club soda. To me, it tastes like bubble gum.

After my Peru tour ended and, I returned to the U.S., I stumbled upon Inca Kola at a Shopper's Food Warehouse (SFW) supermarket. As I'd an awesome time in Peru, I decided to get a bottle of the soft drink. I found I still like the stuff. Price wise, Wegmans sells a 2 liter bottle of it for $1.79 while SFW sells the 2 liter bottle for $1.89. However, SFW offers a greater range of the product. They have it in glass bottles, cans, plastic bottles and the diet version. Wegmans only offers it in the 20 ounce and 2 liter plastic bottles in the regular flavor i.e. no diet version. Inca Kola isn't found in the normal soda section of either store. You'll find it in the International Foods sections of each chain.

In preparation for this post, I did a little further research into the soda and, I discovered some interesting facts about the soda. The reason it is so popular in Peru is because it originated there and, the company based a lot of its appeal on Peruvian nationalism. Inca Kola is interesting in another way in that they are one example where the local brand beat out the International brand. Coca Cola tried to beat Inca Kola in Peru and lost due to better marketing on the part of Inca Kola Corporation and its parent company Jose R. Lindley Corporation (source: http://marketing.blogs.ie.edu/archives/2008/09/inca_kola_the_s.php). Sadly, Inca Kola decided to sell out to Coca Cola in 1997 for $300 million dollars though they got to keep the rights to the product in Peru as well as take over the distribution of all Coca Cola products there. Coca Cola in turn promised to promote the soda throughout the world and apparently has done so some what as it is available in the U.S. One last note though on the downside is that the U.S. version of Inca Kola may have more caffeine that its Peruvian version. According to a poster on the source webpage, the U.S. version may have 2 or 3 times the amount of caffeine than Coke (shades of Mountain Dew Batman). I wonder if Coca Cola decided to try to have the product compete with Mountain Dew in that way as they are close in color.

Overall, I like Inca Kola though others may not. I'm not crazy about the high level of caffeine in it but, I do like the taste and, it reminds me a lot of Peru when I enjoy a glass of the soda. Also, it isn't that much more expensive and than other name brands in the U.S. If you haven't tried Inca Kola and, you think you might like a soda that tastes like bubble gum, you might want to give it a try if you can find it. Happy drinking all!