Est Cola was something I discovered on Cola Quest many years ago while in Shenzhen. At the time I was shocked by how similar the color packing and flavor were to Pepsi, after some investigation I was to find this was not exactly an accident.
So, what is the Est Cola story, where can you get it and is it any good? Lets go ColaQuest!
What is Est Cola?
Est Cola is a Thai cola that looks a hell of a lot like Pepsi. The reason for this is that Sermsuk Public Company Limited had contract to distribute Pepsi from PepsiCo in Thailand from 1952. And it would appear that everything was great between Sermsuk Public Company Limited and PepsiCo until 2012.
For whatever reason the two fell out and on November 2nd 2012 Est Cola was launched in Thailand using the same color schemes, the same bottling plant and from the taste at least one would assume the same recipe…….
Nowadays Pepsi is the biggest selling cola in Thailand followed by Coke and then Est. Est have also since introduced other flavours such as orange, strawberry, grape berry, lychee-pear, cream soda and lemon-lime versions.
Est is also available by the half liter glass bottle, with me proudly knocking back a whole one in Hua Hin, which you will be able to see on the video.
Currently I can attest that Est is available in Cambodia, as well as in Shenzhen, which was the first place that I tried it.
Est Cola Quest Challenge….
When I first tried this I found it indistinguishable from Pepsi and while the quality has dropped slightly it is not only “not bad”, but is something I will pick intentionally if I need a change sometimes. This is something I would not do with North Korean cola for example.
BUT, the big question, does it go with liquor. Principally I have chiefly drank this as a chaser for soju, rather than directly mixed with rum, or vodka, but I have to say it works really well.
This was something recently reiterated when I got to try Smirnoff Soju in Thailand.
So, the ColaQuest grade for Est Cola? A good solid 8/10.
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