It is always nice to see another country's national drinks on the supermarket shelves (even if they are non-alcoholic) and any product that can challenge the hegemony of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in any market demands maximum respect. So with all this in mind, we are delighted to welcome Kofola to Hungary. Sightings by napi.hu confirm that the brown, sugary Czech-o-Slovak water - originally developed in 1962 as a use for excess caffeine produce during the roasting of coffee beans - made its first appearance in Cora stores last week. Rejoice, Coke slaves!

According to the drink's extensive Wikipedia entry, "Kofo syrup, the main ingredient of Kofola, consists of 14 natural ingredients (such as extracts from apple, cherry, currant, or herbal aroma), sugar, and caramel. In comparison with Pepsi or Coca-Cola it contains 30% less sugar, 50% less caffeine and does not contain phosphoric acid." All of which sounds very promising.

So what does it taste like? Well, given that our first and only time was atop a mountain in the Low Tatras, it's hard to say. From what we can remember, Kofola went down easy enough, but, without the healthy dash of national pride we reserve for Túró Rudi, it lacked that bit of mouth-rotting zing you get from more established cola brands. That's to say, we wouldn't write home about it - unless, of course, we were writing home to Krnov.