Once upon a (high) time, Coca Cola used to contain actual coca, the plant that’s used to make cocaine. But it’s been a long time since the coca was removed from the formula, and now (a century later) Bolivians have something to say about it. They’ve gone and created a coca-carrying cola called “Coca-Colla.”
I don’t know what took them so long, because I know an endless sea of bankers on Wall Street that have been asking Coca Cola to do exactly that for ages.
The drink, made from the coca leaf and named after the indigenous Colla people from Bolivia’s highlands, went on sale this week across the South American country. It is black, sweet and comes in a bottle with a red label – but similarities to Coca-Cola end there. One is a symbol of US-led globalisation and corporate might; the other could be considered a socialist-tinged affront to western imperialism. […]
It is made from the coca leaf, a mild stimulant that wards off fatigue and hunger, and has been used in the Andes for thousands of years in cooking, medicine and religious rites. […]
Bolivia tried to wipe out the leaf at Washington’s behest. But that was before Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian and coca grower, was elected president, championing coca as a crop with legitimate uses.
Via, image credit AP
