The team at Cape Cola have created a fizzy drink that was recommended to me as an alternative to Coca-Cola.
It failed to live up to those expectations, mainly because it has no added sugar and high caffeine content.
If you're looking for a local vegan cola flavoured carbonated soft drink then this is the drink for you.
According to the Cape Cola website, the key ingredients in the drink are limes, honeybush, ginger, mate and of course Kola Nut and they add: "five ingredients are part of the unique flavour of Cape Cola. Fresh from local suppliers into the bottle."
These are all 100 percent natural ingredients, which is unique for a fizzy drink. They do use xylitol syrup and 15mg/100ml of caffeine to get that cola taste though.
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A post shared by Cape Cola(@capecola) on Jan 31, 2019 at 12:48am PST
Cape Cola is a vegan drink with no added sugar. Picture by Nathan Adams
When I tasted it came across as a bit medicinal and because of the colour of the drink, I was expecting a bit more sweetness. Sharing the drink with my colleagues the responses were quite telling.
"It tastes like a diluted Iron Brew and "It's like they added Beetroot to this," was just some of the feedback.
If you're not sold on the taste though the causes that the brand supports is really notable. They want to make a positive impact with their cola and state on their website: " We want to give opportunities to those which are usually called “undesirable” for the labour market. Furthermore, our vision is that we want to support others to follow their visions and passions to achieve their goals. Our plan is, with each bottle sold we will donate a percentage to a good cause."
Overall though there is a place for Cape Cola on the shelves but it is a taste you need to get accustomed to. I was actually quite keen to use it as a mixer, possibly with a rum, even though I'm well aware that the spirit might just ruin the intention of the soft drink makers.