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American RC Jolt and TaB Colas from AmericanSodas.com
American RC Jolt and TaB Colas
When it comes to cola there really is no end of choices from the huge international names like Coca-cola and Pepsi, to smaller (yet still famous names) such as Jolt, TaB and RC cola to name just a few. This doesn't even count the hundreds of smaller brands that are produced in almost every corner of the world.
Overall most colas are pretty similar, taste may vary depending on the brand, but it's a safe bet that every brand contains soda, caramel colouring, caffeine and sugar (or HFCS).
After this the unique taste to each brand depends on what flavourings they add, most commonly citrus oils, vanilla and cinnamon. Strangely the Kola nuts, for which cola is named after, rarely appear as an ingredient and in the majority of cases Kola nuts are either non existent in the drink or are only in a minute amount.
The two biggest brands, Coca-cola and Pepsi, have competed against each other in what is famously known as the cola war. With Coca-cola being first made in 1886, and Pepsi being made in 1890, they have been toe-to-toe for over 100 years. This even shows today by the fact the most people claim to defiantly prefer one brand over the other. This rivalry extends beyond just cola to the extent they compete for sales in almost every drinks market, from root beet, to fruit juice and energy drinks. The actual recipe for Coca-cola (other than what is stated on the can) is a trade secret. Though its well known that the original drink contained cocaine, today the drink contains cocaine free coca leaves. Both brands also sell a diet version, a cherry version and in the past have both sold a vanilla version, a lime version and a lemon version. Pepsi even produced a cucumber version that was sold in the summer 07' in Japan.
Another well known brand is JOLT, this is known best in America and became an instant success with students, gamers and computer programmers, and anyone else that needed to stay up all night or work long hours. This targeted market led to the drink earning almost a cult symbol. Jolts main slogan was "all the sugar and twice the caffeine" this was changed to "all the flavor and twice the caffeine" when manufactures started using HFCD instead of cane sugar. From the beginning Jolt was meant to be a full-powered drink, with no diet versions or caffeine-free versions. It was created in 1985 and it has even been credited by some people as having helped towards the growth of the technology industry. Over the years they also release other flavors such as black cherry and lemon-lime. They were also the first soft drink to successfully break into the non-drinks market, selling Jolt sweets, gum, mints and even snowboards. However in September 2009 Jolt filed for bankruptcy, having let the market in high energy drinks for years it still remained a cola, then came the release of new "energy drinks" such as red bull and monster. Being behind on cola sales compared to bigger brand names Jolt decided to reinvent themselves as an energy drink and not a cola. However this move turned out to be a bad move at a bad time leaving the company with an unstable future.
Throughout all the different cola brands though adding different flavors to their drinks to has been a reoccurring theme. With cherry cola, vanilla cola and citrus flavors being the ones most people like. There have however been some slightly unusual ones such as greet tea, mint, cucumber and believe it or not bacon. Though in defense of the bacon flavor it was only ever trailed and, unsurprisingly, never truly went into production.
Considering all the different brands available and its huge popularity it cola is something in almost every cupboard and fridge today. Children grew up drinking it, became teen's living off it and eventually turning into adults that still love a good glass of cola ... it is only slightly more healthy for you now than a decade ago though ;)
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