Golden Kola · The Soda That Beat Coca-Cola
Inca Kola
Photo: Markus Leupold-Löwenthal / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Its golden colour and bubblegum-like flavour are usually traced to hierba luisa (lemon verbena), and through the 1990s it was outselling Coca-Cola in Peru, one of very few markets where that happened.
Inca Kola is a bubblegum-yellow, lemon-verbena-flavored soda created in Lima in 1935 by a British immigrant family. It's sold from every street cart and corner shop in Peru, often poured over ice alongside anticuchos or a plate of ceviche.
Why it's made this way: Its dominance over Coca-Cola in the local market became such a threat that Coca-Cola eventually bought a large stake in the company rather than keep losing to it, and Inca Kola remains a point of national pride.
More from Peru
Ceviche
Papa Rellena (Stuffed Potato)
Anticuchos (Grilled Beef Heart Skewers)
Pan con Chicharrón
Picarones
Rocoto Relleno (Stuffed Spicy Pepper)
Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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