Instead of just proposing replacements, what are some unique soft drinks from your country? This is chinotto, an Italian soda made with a citrus similar to bitter orange called chinotto
We have Irn Bru and it's made from girders.
It also has some of the most amazing Adverts
Scotland also has Buckfast. It's not from there (it's from Devon I think) but only the Scottish will drink it.
Dandelion and Burdock, originating in the British Isles. Traditionally made from fermented dandelion, and burdock roots.
I think it tastes sort of similar to root beer.
All the fentimans stuff is tasty, tbh
Their cola is awesome! Vastly superior to Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
orange jigger ftw
In Austria we have Almdudler
Olmdudla honn i Geschto kopp, Olmdudla honn i haint, Olmdudla honn i jeidn Toug sollong mis gfrait. xD
Trocadero, a soda with orange and apple flavour from Sweden. They released a zero sugar version which is now called Trocazero.
Guess I'll piggyback and rep our local apple and grape soda. Fun fact, Champis was created as an alternative to champagne during the era when Sweden discussed prohibition.
My girlfriend is Swedish and I make sure to always drink a bunch of this before I leave. I love it ❤️
Trocazero and pucko are staples whenever I visit Sweden
Surprised that Club-Mate hasn't been mentioned yet, I'm not German so I didn't discover it till more recently but I quite like it, not as sugary as other drinks
Australia has bundaberg ginger beer which is good shit. Nice and spicy.
I'm in the US (California) and can often get Bundaberg in the grocery store here. I do like their ginger beer. Their root beer is good, but a little too heavy on the licorice for me.
Seen it in Europe as well. It's good stuff, can confirm! (Altho I guess you're German and you know that already, but still)
We get it here in canada and it's good stuff.
[Slavs trampling each other in order to be the first one to yell "kvass"]
It looks and reads disgusting. I wanna try it!!
It looks and reads disgusting
see, I'm not a fan of it, but now we'll have to throw hands
It's delicious
It does not taste like wet bread if that's what you are afraid of. Also not like nonalcoholic beer. It's kind of hard to describe it, but it is a normal / not too weird tasting drink. Quality and taste varies quite a bit between different brands.
There are also many that are not true kvass, but drinks with kvass flavouring so that's another thing to keep in mind.
I drank it straight from an old soviet tank sold in a parking lot. It tasted exactly like I expected.
Rivella, a Swiss soda produced from milk whey.
And nothing special about the Migros Ice Tea, it is an Ice tea, but it is the best tasting one in the world and a casus belli for war in Switzerland (yeah, the only reason we have to fight).
Since moving to Switzerland a year ago I fell in love with ice tea. But I just buy the cold brew tea from Aldi and add a bit of sirup, mint and lemon rind.
True people drank Mivella. It tasted way better.
The new thing in Switzerland is El Tony Mate. It's so popular that Lidl and Aldi introduced their own versions.
I do drink a lot of El Tony Mate in bars that have very few non alcoholic choices. It is very nice.
I was wondering what it tastes like. It's 35% whey according to Wikipedia, so I'm guessing that for "original" /"plain", it's watered down whey flavored? Seems like there are lots of flavors of it too.
Red, Blue, Green, Refresh, Grapefruit, Mint (Switzerland); Yellow, CLIQ Peach, CLIQ Rhubarb, Elderflower (Switzerland, discontinued); Original, Green tea, Cranberry, Pineapple, Raspberry (Netherlands)
I honestly cannot describe the taste, except that "it’s good"
I only drink the red one (and pretty rarely) so I can’t tell for the others.
I love Rivella, they now make a vegan one too. Switzerland also has Cswiss which is a lot nicer than the CBD infused drinks they are making over here in the UK.
Tasted when in switzerland. Very tasty indeed
Kofola from the Czech Republic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofola
I think way more exciting for me since I moved here is the fact that every bar has at least 3 different kinds of custom lemonades made with raspberry, elderflower, etc.
I managed to forget about Kofola until now 🤢 I visited Slovakia as a kid, wanted Coca-Cola, they gave me Kofola and it tasted horrible 😅 (probably didn't help that I was expecting a coca-cola flavour)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz-kola
Had some in Hamburg visiting friends , haven't seen it in Spain but it's exported to the rest of the EU.
Coffee-Cola was/is awesome!
Fritz Honey Melon and Paulaner Spezi are both absolutely goated
Paulaner.
this is the best drink
I am Swiss and Scottish, we have Rivella and Irn Bru respectively. In the UK we also have a drink called Lucozade which was interestingly designed as a medicine but was saved from liquidation (no pun intended) by the rave scene as they needed something that would keep you hydrated, not get you too drunk and helped with comedowns.
Zelita. It's a banana flavored soda from Crete, Greece
From Germany, i would recommend https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club-Mate
Poland has oranżada, soft drink of orange taste. Its also available in a powder form. Also this photo from Wikipedia goes hard:
that sandwich! holy shit that's where chick fil a stole their recipe from
The Austrians have Almdudler, the Suisse have Rivella and the French have Orangina. I am chugging that stuff whenever I can get my hands on it.
Then there's Japan, with too many to list. Calpis is one of my favourites.
I thought Frucade was Austrian too, but it's bavarian. I connotated it with Austria because of Hermes Phettberg Nette Leit Show.
Litteraly translates to "Thirst extinguisher", which is also a general german term.
Slovenian Cockta is pretty good. Also, lots of opportunities for dick jokes.
Japan has Pocari Sweat inspired by a doctor drinking IV fluid.
I love chinotto so much. They used to sell the San Pellegrino one here in the UK, but it got discontinued.
It's great. Like a Campari and soda without the booze.
I personally can't stand it, but chinotto is either you love it or you hate it.
Fun fact: the picture is for chinotto Neri, with the motto: chi beve neri, neri beve. (Literally "who drinks Neri, Neri drinks" but "Neri beve" sounds like ne ribeve "drinks it again").
Water from the tap. Healthier, cheaper, local and better for the environment(no shipping)
Julmust/Påskmust from Sweden. Soda thats derived from malt and hops. Only availible around jul(christmas) and påsk(easter) and stands for half of the total soda consumption around that period.
Also Cedevita from Croatia. Vitamin enriched powder, originally in orange flavour. When mixed with water it's like a soda
Would Traubisoda count as unique?
Very pleased to see must mentioned. That shit is awesome.
Here in The Netherlands we have a drink called Cassis. It's a soda made from fermented blueberries. It sounds more delicious than it is in reality, in my opinion.
Nah, it's the best! Even the zero calories version tastes great! Hero Cassis ftw.
I love this shit so much that I bought the trees and grew the fruit. like little grapefruit/mandarin orange cross. trees died from scale bug though so I never got to try making it from scratch
As an American, this post has only reinforced for me how shitty it is here.
Yeah, I know we used to have a lot of local drinks and culture, but it's essentially all been killed by capitalism. Switchel is one that I'm aware of, but I know there are plenty of others.
A lot of the current drinks are evolved from local drinks though, but now they seem boring and generic because they're common everywhere.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faxe_Kondi
Faxe Kondi in Denmark. It is citrus, less sweet than Sprite and available sugar free. I like it and will miss it when I move out of Denmark.
I accidentally took the sugar free once. Why don't they make them easier to distinguish?
I adore chinotto its absolutely delicious
(Not european) South Africa: granadilla twist/lemon twist - both just a passion fruit/lemon flavoured soda but they're delicious
UK: Irn Bru, a Scottish drink with a secret recipe that tastes like flavour (honourable mention for Iron Brew, a South African drink that is also delicious but does not taste remotely like Irn Bru)
Tastes like licking a girder 😋🤤
That tetanus that just can't stop
Finland has (vappu)sima, but it is only produced and sold around 1st of May. Or you can make your own at home with white sugar, molasses, lemon and baking yeast.
Beer is everywhere. It's one of the most "local" products pretty much everywhere in the world.
San pellegrino makes chinnoto as well, had it at a really good thin crust pizza place called Emilio Finnati's
Sadly they don't often have it in stock anymore, but I've found a bunch of it from various makers now that i know it exists.
Is not for everyone for sure but it's absolutely worth trying just to see if you are one of the people that find it really great.
I think anyone who likes or isnt bothered by the bitterness marmalade would be likely to enjoy this
Unfortunately San Pellegrino is owned by Nestle, arguably one of the most evil companies in the world.
Fuuuuuuuuuck I missed that. Thank you for letting me know. Fuck Nestle
Hungary has Traubi soda which is made of grape juice.
In Soviet times we also had the Bambi (yes, like the deer) soft drinks in various fruit flavours, which also had a characteristic tar flavour, that (as I just learnt), contrary to popular belief wasn't because tar was one of the ingredients, but because they used expired orange oil. When the drink was reintroduced in recent times, some older customers said they missed that nostalgic tar flavour O.o (+ Bonus racist vintage ad poster from the '40s-'50s in that article.)
In my new home in Scotland we have Irn Bru, which has a strong metallic tutti-frutti flavour which I personally hate, but the locals love it 😬
Iszonyú szar az Irn Bru, nem értettem én se miért szeretik.
Dont know if Norway have that much unique sodas, but two of my favourites are Flux Soda. Vanilla with a citrus hint, and a cool name. And Pink Panter Special a fruit soda with mostly pear taste and a pink color.
We have Solo! IMO a better than Fanta alternative.
A Czech friend likes Kofola, a cola created in Communist Czechoslovakia, when Coca Cola wasn't available there. Nowadays, Coca Cola is available, but Kofola still reigns supreme — when I visited her, I discovered that the majority of pubs that I visited had Kofola as their "house cola" on the tap. Coca Cola was often available, but in comparatively expensive bottles, because it was not the default
Kofola is life! ;-)
Birch beer. It's like root beer but a bit of a different taste.
Brit here.
Chinotto is goddamn awesome. Pls export more.
Uk. Dandelion and Burdock.
It's closest equivalent would be root beer, but it's quite distinct from that.
Sadly, almost all UK soft drinks taste like shit now because of the Sugar Tax, where they've been reformulated to use more artificial sweeteners to avoid being taxed more heavily.
I like Estonian Kelluke, a local carbonated lemonade. Probably mostly meant for kids, but hey...
Scotland: Irn Bru. Has outsold all others for over a century. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irn-Bru
A personal favourite of Michael Gorbachev if the old urban legend is to be believed.
Irn-Bru has long been the most popularly consumed soft drink in Scotland, consistently beating rivals such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Fanta, and reportedly sells 20 cans every second throughout Scotland.
Holy cow! That's impressive. Man, I wish I could try it!
Finnish store with a Chinese Swiss ccTLD????
Norway has Solo
Like an orange flavored soda, apparently it predates Fanta by a few years
I love chinotto but so far italy was the only place i could get it consistently from. When i lived in hungary i had to go to a special import shop, in spain as well and in sweden right now i even asked a person whos from italy, and i couldnt even find it in one of those import places. From what i heard its because most people hate the taste of it so its only sustainable to sell it italy - shame.
Some italian restaurants have it. And those that do have consistently been good!
You mean in sweden? Ive looked in two of them but havent found them anywhere yet...
Not in Europe, but in Canada every supermarket seems to have Brio at least.
Years ago I had some imported drink called Jul Must. Haven't seen it since. Came from somewhere Scandinavian. Weird flavor, probably an acquired taste, and I WANT MORE!
That's Swedish. Check your local Ikea around christmas and easter.
Thank you!
Iceland has Appelsin, which is like Tango before they took all the sugar out.
I have no idea how Icelandic folks feel about it, but while there on vacation my wife and I loved it.
In Portugal, we have a few drinks like: ::: spoiler Sumol A fruity carbonated drink, more popular in the summer ::: ::: spoiler Compal Closer to natural juice ::: ::: spoiler Kima (only available in the Azores) Soft fruity taste and lightly carbonated. Very refreshing :::
If I'm not mistaken they're all produced in Portugal
Edit: I forgot a couple!
The Portuguese bakery in my neighborhood got me addicted to Sumol. Also pairs nicely with some dark rum...
Now I'll have to try Rum-Sumol! XD
You also have Brisa (passion fruit soda, similar to Lima) and Laranjada (orange soda) from Madeira
Ah yes, how could I forget, I love brisa. Laranjada isn't really my cup of tea, still worth mentioning though
@Sunshine
Regina - very special lemonade. You can mix it with beer to "Tango". :mastogrin:
I’m not from Malta but when I used to go as a kid I always looked forward to drinking Kinnie. It had a weird, but nice, taste. For a time you could get it in the UK, but it’s not the same without the sun.
