Ethnic Pop

[elfin]

Limonata!!! Also Schweppes Bitter Lemon. It might as well be foreign- It is really hard to find here in the states but readily available in Amsterdam-go figure!

[tennesseespice]

Vimto - from the middle east is one of my fav. ethnic pops. It's a tangy red bev - mabe pomegranate based? It's usually sold in cans but I was lucky enough to find a bottle of the syrup in a middle eastern market in Atlanta and made some great cocktails with it - Vimto Martini - yum!!

Why does coke taste so much better out of glass bottles? Any theories?

I've had arguments with people who simply refuse to believe this phenomenon...coke in the 6oz bottles is the best! I don't know the science behind it though.

[phaelon56]

San Pelligrino's Chino (Chinotto?) is great: bitters soda. To me it tastes like a fizzy version of Angostura Bitters. Yum.

Just curious - how does it differ from their Sansbitter product - the one that comes in little bottles? have you tried both?

[laurenmilan]

When I lived in Sweden we had something called "Pommac"(I think) that was mildly apple flavored and great.But the best were pear pop and apricot pop.Lord,they were good.

My Swedish fiancee got me addicted to that stuff too... I also love the Snaab syrups, in an Italian soda.

My personal favorite import, though, is Indian mango sodas (even comes bottled in a classic Coco-Cola longneck.)

[jpyvr]

Kinnie.  It's like root beer but worse.

I happen to be one of the very few non-Maltese who actually like Kinnie. I understand how someone might put it in the root beer family, but it's actually (I believe) a bitter orange soda, with added quinine (just as in tonic water). It's the bitterness that lots of people object to.

Incidentally, Italian chinotto (pronounced kinn-oto) is the same thing. Chinotto-Kinnie: even the names are the same. I'm not a linguist, but I think that both names come from the Italian word for quinine. Anyone who can confirm/correct?

[LJC]

Malta is a very popular soft drink among children in Latin America. The one found in Venezuela is my preference an other favorite for kids is frescolita sort of like a bubble gum flavor (way too sweet).

One that I like is Postobon's Manzana an apple-flavored soda from Colombia. Postobon also makes a bubble gum flavored soda (also too sweet for adults).

[kellycolorado]

I like...

1. Pelligrino Limonata (I'm still looking for the blood orange version I've seen Jason Perlow mention before!)

2. Afri cola (it's got a good punch to it)

3. Jarritos tamarindo

Oh, I'm definitely hunting down the "kosher for passover" Coke- thanks for the tip!

[Tracy K.]

Why does coke taste so much better out of glass bottles? Any theories?

I grew up in Toledo: "Glass Capitol of the World". Plus, my grandfather worked at a "pop shop" and Budweiser bottler. There was never any question in our house...my uncles would go ballistic with the comments if someone had a canned beverage. No theories, though, on why the taste would be different. Probably no chemical reaction with the metal in the can.

I will also add to the chorus on "Tangy, Tropical TING"

Plus, as regional favorites go: Vernor's Ginger Ale from Detroit. I used to drive back east or have a standing order for people who were visiting to bring cases of it, as well as Squirt. I guess I've got a ginger and grapefruit Jones.

[Mayhaw Man]

For those of you that are heading to Atlanta The World of Coca Cola is a great visiting stop. The displays are cool (the "flying coke dispenser" is worth the trip in itself. It kind of launches carbonated water and syrup out of a fountain several feet in the air and it lands in a cup for your enjoyment).

They also have a display of fountain dispensers set up that have every flavor that Coke makes around the world. They make some pretty interesting stuff, many of the flavors are very country specific. I highly reccomend the visit.

[lambretta76]

I know it's not ethnic, but the Vernor's ginger ale remark reminds me of my favorite soda of my youth - Tom Thumb Mint Ginger Ale. Love that stuff, and surely Pittsburghers are an ethic group in their own right? Yinz cin fill free ta back me up n'at....

[mongo_jones]

has anyone mentioned thums-up and the other indian colas? or limca--the indian lemon-lime?

thums up was the reigning heavyweight in the indian soft-drink market--after coke was thrown out of the country in the late 70s. it has a great sharp flavor, and is in my opinion the best cola for a rum and coke. in fact when pepsi entered post-liberalization india in the early 90s it had a tough going against thums up (like limca manufactured by parle). pepsi's far sweeter taste was roundly abused in the competitive advertising (one memorable ad had as its tagline the statement: "i asked for a cola not a gulab-jamun"). we wondered how coke would fare against thums up upon its inevitable return. the coca-cola corp. solved this dilemna by just buying parle. they still put thums-up out but no fashionable young metropolitan indian will be caught dead drinking it. (some indian grocery stores in the u.s carry it, by the way.)

there were lots of other indian colas through the 80s too--campa cola, double 7, cola-lite etc.

[phaelon56]

Two more. Moka is coffee flavored and not too sweet or too bitter. I finally got to try the Chinotto. It's nicely bitter but not as bitter as Stappj or Sansbitter (two Italian non-alcoholic apertif products). It's a bitter orange flavor but more like an orange zest essence - not a hint of artificial flavor. All three of the bitter drinks have that a sort of Campari related bitterness (I'm working from memory on this one - it's been twenty years since I tasted Campari).

[Stigand]

San Pelligrino's Chino (Chinotto?) is great: bitters soda. To me it tastes like a fizzy version of Angostura Bitters. Yum.

Just curious - how does it differ from their Sansbitter product - the one that comes in little bottles? have you tried both?

Owen,

Afraid I haven't tried (or even seen) Sansbitter. San Pelligrino Chino is sweet as well as bitter, and quite dark in colour. There is a website, but it seems to be down at the moment. It describes Chino as a type of chinotto, so I wouldn't be surprised if the flavour is similar to the Chinotto you photographed in your recent post.

What does Sansbitter taste like? I dimly remember seeing virulent red bitter soft drinks in Spain many years ago that tasted like non-alcoholic Campari: was it like this?

[Jeffy Boy]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned Fanta Shokata!

[johnnyd]

GUARANA

...hands down favourite!

Find it in your closest Brazilian store

[herbacidal]

1. Pelligrino Limonata (I'm still looking for the blood orange version I've seen Jason Perlow mention before!)

That blood orange Pellegrino is tasty.

No clue as to where it's available in Colorado.

I assume you've tried getting from wholesalers.

[tryska]

i can't believe i forgot about limca. i like that one as well.

because of this thread i had my first jarritos this weekend. i chose the tamarind flavor. yum.

i'm no longer going to drink US sodas. If the option for an import is available i'm choosing that.

this decision is for one reason and one reaosn only. high fructose corn syrup. it's not my friend.

[phaelon56]

Damn.... the great things I learn on eGullet. Went to my favorite mexican influenced restaurant last night for a Cinco de Mayo meal and spotted Jarillos in the cooler. They had stopped carryign the ginger beer I liked and I hadn't ordered a beverage there since then. Tried the Jarillos grapefruit and it was excellent - no match for Ting but it was pretty darn good and I"m ready to try the other flavors now.

[tryska]

btw does Coco du Jugo coconut juice count? or Jumex quanabana? they have no fizzies but they are really good.

[enrevanche]

Another happy Ting drinker here. By the way, you haven't lived until you've experienced Ting mixed with Cane Spirit Rothschild (CSR) - an extraordinarily emphatic (read: tooth-enamel-dissolving) sugar-cane liqueur distilled in St. Kitts. A friend who often traveled to St. Kitts introduced me to this magic combo years ago, saying it was in essence the official cocktail of St. Kitts and Nevis.

For regional/domestic soft drinks, I'm very partial to Blenheim's Old #3 Hot Ginger Ale. I have problems with chronic heartburn, usually but not always well-controlled with medication, and paradoxically when my stomach gets roiled a bottle of this very spicy ginger ale always calms it down. I like it even for non-medicinal reasons, though. It's the absolute perfect accompaniment to spicy Szechuan food or a takeout curry (speaking of heartburn...)

Edited May 6, 2004 by enrevanche (log)

[fiftydollars]

Sangria Senorial from Mexico...

[cbarre02]

Colombiana, Pony Malta (Colombia)

Faygo Rock n Rye

[cjs]

aqualibra

[Richie111]

Be sure the Mexican sodas are Mexican before you buy them. I accidentally bought a bottle of "Stuart's Key Lime Soda" that was deceptively hanging out with the Mexican soda bottles at a deli in Spanish Harlem the other day and it was not good.

[Ms Neato]

I'm in New Zealand, and over here there is a company called phoenix which makes fantastic cola, lemonade and ginger beer which is sweetened with honey (And comes in both "standard" and organic variations; but I can't tell the difference). It's extremely nice; but I suspect it is also extremely difficult to get outside NZ.