Talk:Inca Kola

The page says:

It is the only one local beverage in the world that outsells Coca Cola in its origin country.

but the Coca Cola page says:

Coca-Cola is the market leader for soft drinks in all countries of the world, except Scotland, where the locally produced Irn Bru is more popular, and Quebec, Canada, where Pepsi is the market leader.

Whichever is mistaken should be corrected.

-- Dominus 18:49, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)

On a totally unscientific basis, without sales figures, it isn't easy to say which sells more, they are both ubiquitous and seem to be consumed in roughly equal quantities by Peruvians. Inca Kola isn't the only local beverage that outsells Coca-Cola — they admit that this is how it is in at least two other parts of the world, so even if Inca Kola sells more than Coca-Cola in Peru, the article still needs correcting, preferably by someone who has the figures. Trilobite 16:36, 7 Jul 2004 (UTC)

On checking, Irn-Bru seems to have fallen a bit, and is now roughly neck-and-neck with Coke. -- John Fader (talk | contribs) 00:31, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I've removed that claim. The Irn-Bru suggests six products have a similar claim to outsell Coke in the domestic market. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.26.17.63 (talk) 22:29, 28 January 2008 (UTC)Reply

The image on the article is quite good, however this is a GFDL alternative in case we do not have the rights to use that one.

 

--Salimfadhley 23:04, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Inca Kola actually is not any kind of Cola drink. It has no Cola or Cola-related ingredients. It is only related to colas by virtue of being carbonated.

"Cola" in Lat Am Spanish has wider meaning than in English. It even includes lemonade. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.102.136.55 (talk) 22:37, 25 October 2007 (UTC)Reply

I live in Peru, and I know from personal experience selling soft drink products in my stores that the following facts are true:

1. The word "Cola" in Peru usually means "cola" (the dark colored soft drink made with cola beans often called "cola negra" in Spanish) by the classic English-language definition.
2. The word "Kola" with a "K" in Peru, and most other Spanish-speaking South American countries, means "soft drink" -- meaning any sort of non-alcoholic beverage.

Also "soft drink", by definition, includes lemonade. --Jeffrey Scott Maxwell (talk) 06:55, 20 December 2010 (UTC)Reply

Just wanted to add here what some of you have said on the history of the article: Inka Kola has been selling in the U.S. for various years now, even before 2000 here in California. So that date (2005) is erroneous. I tried to look it up at the coca cola site but I wasn't able to find what I looked for concerning the date. --Dynamax 07:50, 20 August 2005 (UTC)Reply

My local Cost Plus World Market carried Inca Kola in the DC-metro stores as far back as 2001. --BizMgr (talk) 07:40, 17 January 2008 (UTC)Reply

I think they may mean globally, not in certain areasPotatoTheThird (talk) 19:33, 16 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Is it just me, or does this article seem just a tad... smug? -Litefantastic 21:46, 25 January 2006 (UTC)Reply

• I agree. The tone of this article is not appropriate for Wikipedia. It is certainly fascinating that Inca Kola has retained such high popularity over the years, even in the face of competition. But the smug and nationalistic tone of the article makes it seem more like a marketing brochure than an encyclopedia article. Patiwat 16:37, 8 June 2006 (UTC)Reply

• Please explain what you mean by smug and nationalistic, preferably with examples, so that I can go in and edit the offending parts. I must admit, though, that while writing it I never tried to make it like you say so perhaps it is simply a difference of styles. Anyways, tell me what you think is inappropriate in tone. Hdezela 06:19, 21 June 2006 (UTC)Reply

• I agree with Litefantastic and Patiwat. For example, the paragraph mentioning Bembos says "practically drove out Burger King from Peru" instead of neutral "took market share from Burger King," which would need a citation. The phrase "offered better service and a flavor more in tune with national tastes" is entirely POV. While not a POV problem, the sentence beginning with "Bembos originally served Coca-Cola" is a run-on sentence. I picked that paragraph at random, but the whole article suffers from similar POV problems. --Goose1011a 22:08, 14 July 2006 (UTC)Reply

• I also agree with Litefantastic and Patiwat. Some particularly troublesome parts are:

(1) There isn't a single citation in this article, which DOES read like a nationalist advertisement for Inka Cola---what sources back up the author's or authors' claims? (2)These sentences are particularly nationalist in tone and inappropriate for a neutral article: "Its standing as the only national drink greatly helped to win over customers as more and more people converted for nationalistic, price and flavor reasons." "The combined marketing muscle of Coca-Cola and Pepsi could not unseat Inca Kola as the most popular drink." "In the 1980s, Pepsi's campaign "Pepsi Challenge" (El Reto Pepsi) backfired and helped to virtually destroy the Pepsi brand in Peru, due in large part to the fact that consumers did not enjoy being told they were wrong." "A "fact" that has been repeated many times in Lima, yet the only source is a television interview with an employee of a local polling firm, is that over 80% of the people who took the taste test chose Coca-Cola, this being attributed to the fact that Coca-Cola had long since changed the formula for Peru (one of only three countries with that privilege), adding more sweetener to the mix in order to better fit the local palate." "As a result of the Pepsi debacle, two rivals were left in Peru to battle in the soft drink wars, Coca-Cola, with a 21% market share, and Inca Kola with the lion's share of 35%"

After that, I stopped copying and pasting....

By the way, I've tasted Inca Kola many times...it's tasty and sweet, but I prefer the taste of Coca-Cola and Pepsi, which would be a completely biased statement in an informative article, just as the numerous statements of Peruvian preference for Inca Kola.Kemet 03:41, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

First, Bembos, a national fast-food chain that eventually bested McDonald's and practically drove out Burger King from Peru, switched from Coca Cola to Inca Kola after failing to reach an agreement. The restaurant offered better service and a flavor more in tune with national tastes. It forced Bembos to switch brands almost overnight. Later, when the two companies joined, Bembos began to sell both Coca-Cola and Inca Kola side-by-side.

It is not clear what the words in bold refer to (because of bad sentence structure/wording). As such the whole paragraph has no meaning and should be deleted or corrected by the original author.
138.243.228.52 05:42, 12 December 2006 (UTC)Reply

I came here to ask the same thing. What on earth does this mean? It seems that part of the paragraph got deleted at some point. The Wednesday Island (talk) 21:08, 22 November 2007 (UTC)Reply

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The article isn't clear about what Inca Kola is supposed to taste like. It suggests that the flavor is supposed to be that of Lemon Verbena, but is ultimately nonspecific. If that is in fact the flavor, perhaps that should be clarified? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.234.195.62 (talk) 06:25, 2 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

I noticed this as well. To me, it has a taste and scent similar to pink bubble gum. ~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 159.83.54.2 (talk) 22:10, 16 October 2009 (UTC)Reply

The first paragraph has said "... with a sweet fruity flavor sometimes compared to bubblegum" for many months now. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 02:01, 17 October 2009 (UTC)Reply

And it's in the first sentence too! I can't believe I missed that, yet, I did... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 159.83.54.2 (talk) 16:58, 17 October 2009 (UTC)Reply

Pink bubblegum is not an especially fruity flavor, but Inca Kola does indeed taste and smell like pink bubblegum. --Una Smith (talk) 16:48, 17 November 2009 (UTC)Reply

Inca Kola tastes like Irn Bru which also -- surprise, surprise -- tastes like pink bubblegum. -- 174.0.105.151 (talk) 18:47, 19 April 2012 (UTC)Reply

Ew no its like champain 2A02:9B0:404D:83C3:20C7:EB4F:9CF3:AF2C (talk) 12:12, 23 October 2024 (UTC)Reply

I changed the wording, because Inca Kola does not taste like lemon verbena, it is made with lemon verbena. There is a big difference. There are a lot of other flavors mixed in with it. Most people agree that Inca Kola does taste like bubblegum. I also tried to add sources to back up these statements. --Jeffrey Scott Maxwell (talk) 07:03, 20 December 2010 (UTC)Reply

The "marketing victory" section of this article indicates that Peru is one of three countries in which Coca-cola alters the content of its formula, as a direct result of national preference for sweetness (e.g., Inca Kola.). However, this is unreferenced in this article, and that section is tagged with an "original research" flag. Can someone provide evidence of this? If so, it should also be added to the Coca-Cola formula page. Migp (talk) 20:22, 29 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

The assertion is nonsense. I can assure you the formula is the same. I am currently in Peru. The so-called article was just another propaganda piece. That sort of thing is rampant here in Peru due to widespread nationalism.201.230.68.7 (talk) 01:57, 5 April 2010 (UTC)Reply

I have thrown out about half the article - all the stuff about Pepsi' taste test alienating Peruvians, and Coke's failed efforts to squash the noble local firm, and percentage data about which companies own what percent of the market - none of it was sourced, despite requests dating back years.

Note: This article has infiltrated the web (even Boing Boing quoted it), swamping most mentions of Inka Cola. So beware of identically-phrased items, with wording like this: "In the 1980s, Pepsi's infamous "Pepsi Challenge" (El Reto Pepsi) campaign helped to virtually destroy the Pepsi brand in Peru, due in large part to the fact that consumers do not enjoy being told they're wrong." That came from here, written back in 2007. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 00:18, 22 June 2010 (UTC)Reply

The internal link to wiki article "Corporación José R. Lindley S.A." was removed from the Inca Kola page. I have added it back. Corporación José R. Lindley S.A. is an important "See also" because it is the company that originally created Inca Kola (equally or more important than the internal links to competitor brands, which are also good links for "See also"). Thank you. --Jeffrey Scott Maxwell (talk) 17:30, 23 December 2010 (UTC)Reply

I changed the following sentence: "Inca Kola is exported to parts of South America, North America and Europe, and while it has not enjoyed major success outside of Peru, it can be found in Latin American specialty shops worldwide." from "exported to" to "available in", because "exported to" is too ambiguous, and in part wrong, and would take a whole article to explain all the questions the term raises. One point for example, Inca Kola is not exported from Peru to North America, because the Inca Kola sold in North America is owned and made there by The Coca-Cola Company. The Inca Kola made in Peru, as it states in the article, is owned by a different company arrangement in Peru. Thanks. --Jeffrey Scott Maxwell (talk) 18:38, 23 December 2010 (UTC)Reply

WoW! I can't believe that Wiki doesn't have the single most important fact of them all: the ingredients!!! Particularly it would be very interesting to know what changes Coca Cola made to the original Inca ingredients. I mean I doubt the Incas came back from battle at the Titicaca, sat back in their lazyboy in their cave and uncorked a glass bottle and enjoyed liquid toxins such as:

   * Carbonated water
   * high fructose corn syrup and/or sucrose
   * citric acid
   * sodium benzoate (to protect taste)
   * caffeine
   * artificial and natural flavors

^[1]

Surely there must have been a major change from lean and trim Incas/Andeans to obese/diabetes-ridden Peruvians after Coca-Cola messed with this drink! So it's important to know what the original formula was, when it originated and when it was changed to the above toxic brew. Igel B TyMaHe (talk) 01:35, 18 January 2012 (UTC)Lew SandersIgel B TyMaHe (talk) 01:35, 18 January 2012 (UTC)Reply

Thank you for the ingredients list. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 02:16, 18 January 2012 (UTC)Reply

The original Inca ingredients? It was invented in the 20th century! 181.91.61.217 (talk) 01:19, 21 March 2016 (UTC)Reply

Can we confirm that this is a variety of champagne kola? I've tried this and Bravo brand side by side, the flavour is barely distinguishable though neither article mentions the other. Are there any sources to confirm or deny that Inca is a variety of champagne cola? Atreem (talk) 09:21, 31 January 2016 (UTC)Reply

What do you mean by "variety"? Bravo Kolashampan and Inca Cola don't seem to be made by the same company, and their histories don't seem to overlap, so far as I can tell - that is, one wasn't created as a local variant of the other. Maybe they are both based on similar tastes, just as Coke and Pepsi are based on similar tastes, but I'm not sure how significant that is. Lots of global foods and drinks are similar to each other. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 14:26, 31 January 2016 (UTC)Reply

Exactly as you said about Coca-Cola and Pepsi, they have their own origins and differences but are both unquestionably "cola varieties". Would it be unreasonable to suggest that Inca and Kolashampan are both individual brands' versions of champagne kola? I suppose I'm just trying to fit it into a category here, they seem similar enough to me but I am ignorant of the topic. Of course if there are no sources to suggest the same, I'll leave out of it. Atreem (talk) 10:30, 7 February 2016 (UTC)Reply

Well, now that you mention it, Inca Kola is mentioned along with a bunch of other brands in the Champagne kola article, which does seem worthy of mention here. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 15:03, 7 February 2016 (UTC)Reply

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