Fritz-kola (stylized as fritz-kola) is a
soft drink
A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...
made in
north Germany and shipped to many nations in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. It has a relatively high
caffeine
Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine t ...
content and is sold in glass bottles with labels which were originally black and white, using the faces of the two founders in the logo.
History
Two students from Hamburg, Lorenz Hampl and Mirco Wiegert, started selling Fritz-kola in 2003.
They had a brewery help them develop a
cola recipe, choosing to use less sugar and more caffeine (25mg of caffeine per 100ml
[) than Coke or ]Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961.
History
Pepsi was ...
, and adding lemon flavour.[ They polled people outside a shopping centre to choose the company name. To save money, they used black and white labels and a photoshopped version of pictures of their heads as a logo; they sold the first crates to bars on a returnable basis, and did not establish an office for three years.][
Hampl left the business in 2016. , Wiegert heads the company and owns two-thirds of it. The company employs 280 people. Five bottling plants produce the cola, which is sold in a number of European countries; in 2019 its 330ml bottles outsold all brands except Coke, and its other major markets are the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, and Austria.][ Sales in 2015 were €7.4 million.
]
Varieties
Through the years Fritz-kola has offered many variants of its cola as well as different kinds of soft drinks, including:
*Fritz-kola:
**Fritz-kola
**Fritz-kola kola-coffee-lemonade
**Fritz-kola sugarfree
*Fritz-limo:
**Fritz-limo orangeade
**Fritz-limo melon
**Fritz-limo lemonade
**Fritz-limo apple, cherry and elderberry
*mischmasch kola-orange-lemonade
*Fritz-spritz:
**Fritz-spritz organic cloudy sparkling apple
**Fritz-spritz organic sparkling grape
**Fritz-spritz organic sparkling rhubarb
See also
* Craft soda
Craft soda is a soft drink that is produced in small quantities from natural ingredients. Craft soda is in most cases made with sweeteners other than sucrose (sugar) or high-fructose corn syrup and contains sparing amounts of preservatives. Craf ...
References
Cola brands
German brands
German drinks
Soft drinks
{{Germany-stub