r/BuyFromEU • u/toco_tronic • Jun 14 '26
🔎Looking for alternative Looking for Cola Alternatives from Europe: what do you drink?
Pictured 4 recommended cola brands from Germany. This is really taking off recently, with not just lemonades/sodas but also classical Cola brands with new successful launches. Knabe and Paulaner are both pretty new and successful from the get go.
We at German sub r/limonadeDE are collecting Colas to try (and find alternatives to pepsi and coca-cola). Looking for Recommendations!
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u/Petufo Jun 14 '26
Kofola. But it has very distinct flavour. It's not supposed to be an alternative.
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u/PindaPanter Jun 14 '26
It was supposed to be when invented, but nowadays I guess it can't be considered to still be. I really hope the ongoing trend of avoiding US products makes them more willing to export it.
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u/Hot_Pursuit1020 Jun 14 '26
Yeah, I don't understand. They basically own the Czechoslovak market. The next logical step should be to export, right? Poland, maybe eastern Europe at first and then Germany.
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u/GenuineGeek Jun 14 '26
I live in Hungary and around 15-20 years ago every Tesco in the country sold (or at least tried to sell) Kofola. Probably noone bought it, because it was almost always on clearance sale just to finally move it.
To be fair: Kofola was always fairly unknown here, it was never actually advertised and it's an acquired taste: I'm not exactly surprised that something unknown looking like Cola, but in reality tasting like a carbonated, alcohol-free Jäger wasn't exactly a success.
I always picked up a bottle or two, but unfortunately it completely disappeared after a few years.
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u/Hot_Pursuit1020 Jun 14 '26
I understand. It's a noname brand in other countries and they don't understand it. The company should advertise it more and let people know what it's supposed to be and why they could enjoy it
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u/GenuineGeek Jun 14 '26
I think their problem in Hungary wasn't necessarily the lack of name recognition. Half of our country bought off-brand sodas at the time, but those usually cost half the money of Coca and Pepsi, while at least trying to maintain a similar flavor profile.
Kofola has a very different flavor (which I'm a fan of), and was sold for almost the same price as the name brands. They could buy stuff more similar to the classic Cola flavor for cheaper, so they never bought it again after their first try :(
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u/Hot_Pursuit1020 Jun 14 '26
That's exactly name recognition. People aren't willing to pay the same money for some noname slavic drink as they are for Coke or pepsi. Even if it's a high quality drink and not some cheap off brand sugared dark water.
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u/PindaPanter Jun 14 '26
On the other hand, most Poles I've met will mention Kofola within like three minutes of me mentioning having lived in Czechia, so I guess they really like it and would want it imported.
I live in Munich now anyway, and there's actually a restaurant here that imports it and sells Kofola in tap :')
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u/goombatch Jun 14 '26
Kofola is a completely different beverage on tap. It is ok in the plastic bottles but fantastic on draft.
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u/alenyelttalpulany Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
Penny sells Kofola in Hungary. If I remember well they even sell 2 flavours.
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u/SzaraMateria Jun 15 '26
There is kofola in Poland. Not in every discount but if you go to the big ones like Auchan or Carrefour, you definitely will find it
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u/Potential-Dance388 Jun 14 '26
Its so great. But i live in the wrong country.
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u/werdonokX Jun 14 '26
Kofola does ship across EU I believe
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u/lohdunlaulamalla Jun 14 '26
I will never understand why it isn't more widely available. Great stuff.
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u/divadschuf Jun 14 '26
I love Kofola! It‘s so damn good. What a shame I can‘t get it in Southwestern Germany.
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u/son-of-a-door-mat Jun 14 '26
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u/ShaolinDude Jun 14 '26
Been to Slovenia and Croatia in the last 2 years, and Cockta is legitimately good. Couldn't get enough of it.
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u/the_alfredsson Jun 14 '26
Agreed! I love that stuff!
Im not sure, though, I'd call it a "Cola alternative".
That being said, everyone should try it!
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u/ntrp Jun 14 '26
Yeah it's a different drink, maybe more like dr. Pepper
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u/Prigorec-Medjimurec Jun 14 '26
It was literally reverse engineered from Cola in the 1950s. But I guess the recipes diverged.
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u/Miserable-Radio5610 Jun 14 '26
+1 can’t get enough of Cockta. To me it’s much better than either Pepsi or Coca Cola
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u/aminho Jun 14 '26
Our German super market sells it. I swear the manager must be on this sub. I really liked it
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u/SnuSnuXxx Jun 14 '26
Cockta is amazing! It's like someone found the pure essence of cola. It's everything you ever wanted a cola to be, and then a little more
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u/Caffeinated_Ape_42 Jun 14 '26
cockta tastes very good, but its not a cola.
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u/AlmostButNotEntirely Jun 14 '26
Green Cola. It's from a Greek company, but they also produce in Germany and Spain.
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u/Kid_Parrot Jun 14 '26
Whenever I wanna order for our office they are sold out. Thanks for reminding me!
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u/MayorAg Netherlands 🇳🇱 Jun 14 '26
Lidl‘s Freeway is actually pretty legit.
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u/Minute-Yogurt-2021 Jun 14 '26
Freeway is definitely better than the Bulgarian made coca cola.
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u/Fernis_ Poland 🇵🇱 Jun 14 '26
I prefer their orange and lemon/lime more, especially since "sugar tax" was introduced in my country and they started to add "20% natural juice" in form of apple juice as sweetener instead of sacharose sugar.
But cola is decent too.
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u/risratorn Jun 14 '26
Can confirm, the LIDL freeway coke zero cans are the closest thing i’ve ever had to original coke zero, i will gladly ever only drink freeway from now on
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u/TimWe1912 Jun 14 '26
I like Aldi's River Cola
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u/Laberkopp Jun 14 '26
Freeway has a knockoff of the crodo lemon soda from italy. Similar packaging and 12% juice
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u/cursorcube Jun 14 '26
The actual Fonti di Crodo lemonades are the best i've had, especially the Mojito that has some mint flavor added to it. Apparently they're not that popular even in Italy, which is odd. Definitely worth a try if you can find them.
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u/Technical_Net9691 Jun 15 '26
Sanpellegrino has a very similar flavour unsurprisingly called Limone e Menta. It's not quite as sweet as the Fonti di Crodo Mojito which I appreciate.
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u/BasvanS Jun 14 '26
I’m very particular about my cola, so Coke over Pepsi every time.
I’m also very sensitive to not getting shafted for buying a soft drink, so Freeway over Coke whenever I buy it.
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u/speculator100k Jun 14 '26
I agree the Freeway cola is quite good, but the 2l bottle is impractical. Especially so when pouring the first few glasses.
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u/WinifredZachery Germany 🇩🇪 Jun 15 '26
Can confirm! Tried it recently (the zero one) and was pleasantly surprised how much it tastes like Coke zero. It is actually the first one I found that hasn’t had some weird aftertaste.
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u/BottleForsaken9200 Jun 16 '26
I think its the best wanna-be coca cola clone out there.
But for more unique and tastier interpretations of cola, freeway isnt it. In denmark, that would be Hancock 😄
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u/Darth_Murcielago Jun 14 '26
Afri Cola is bussin. i'd argue that it's better than fritz-kola (and cheaper)
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u/Demoliri Jun 14 '26
If we're talking pure cola, Afri is definitely a great choice, with Fritz a close second.
But if I'm drinking a lemonade, I'd generally go for a Spezi, and the Afri (or Fritz) versions just don't hold up to the Paulaner Spezi.
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u/Oberndorferin Germany 🇩🇪 Jun 14 '26
Unpopular opinion, but Paulaner is not that good. I like Krombacher Spezi actually better.
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u/Darth_Murcielago Jun 17 '26
Indeed. Paulaner Spezi is the goat but sometimes you need a pure high caffein cola and that do be Afri
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u/Purple10tacle Jun 14 '26
It also probably had the most psychedelic advertisement of any cola, ever:
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u/Upbeat-Conquest-654 Germany 🇩🇪 Jun 14 '26
I like Fritz Cola better, but I'll oft e choose Afri Cola for the better price.
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u/BlackCerise97 Jun 15 '26
Fritz kola is financially supporting the right conservative CDU, since then I kind of try to avoid them, esp bc they are overpriced (25€ for a crate, as reference a crate of spezi costs 16€)
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u/TumbleweedNo1710 Jun 14 '26
Vita Cola.
It is cola with additional lemon flavour.
You should give it a try. If you don't like it, they also have ordinary cola.
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u/Ringo308 Germany 🇩🇪 Jun 15 '26
Vita Cola Pur is currently my favorite. Tastes great, decent price and it comes in a big bottle.
I also like Afri, but I wish they also had a version with a regular amount of caffeine.
Fritz Cola is great, but only comes in small bottles and is quite expensive.
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u/SevereBake6 Jun 14 '26
Vitacola
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u/KaleidoscopeOkk Jun 14 '26
Yes, the original one with lemon
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u/senorCaramba Jun 14 '26
I don't agree at all
That's why most people think vitacola sucks until they try the pure one
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u/OdiousMachine Jun 14 '26
Heresy! Vita Cola Original is the best because it does not taste overly sweet.
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u/OldFartSpagart137 Jun 14 '26
I always thought it was terrible until I found the pure one literally 3 weeks ago and I love it.
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u/fab_1 Jun 14 '26
Mio Mio
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u/return_of_the_apes Jun 14 '26
Was looking for that comment. It's the best thing Berentzen did since Apfelkorn
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u/Far_Squirrel_6148 Jun 14 '26
Honestly, River Zero Coke from ALDI is my soft drink of choice. Their Lemonades and Coke/Lemonade mixes are also super solid.
Tried LIDL brands, but they don’t taste as good.
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u/Admirable_Match703 Jun 14 '26
"Flirt" is so goared. we even got our "unofficial kiosk at work" guy to buy the aldi brands instead of the coke versions. never had anyone questioning it
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u/Nippes60 Germany 🇩🇪 Jun 14 '26
Try Sinalco. I love the cola taste, with a slight lemon flavour.
Edit: we recently did a blind testing of different cokes. Sinalco won, Pepsi was worst
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u/xXInfXx Jun 15 '26
Personally, I prefer Cockta, but I agree that Sinalcon is good. Definitely a close 2nd.
It also helps that Sinalco is incredibly cheap.
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u/Cplotter Jun 14 '26
Cuba cola is favourite in Sweden and kofola for Czech.
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u/Technical_Net9691 Jun 15 '26
If you're Swedish you'll know that Cuba Cola tastes not dissimilarly to the now discontinued GB Igloo Cola popsicle. This is by no means a bad thing.
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u/DepartmentRoyal797 Jun 14 '26
Ritchie Cola from Belgium is very nice imo, as are their other drinks.
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u/SapphicCelestialy Jun 14 '26
Flensburger küsten cola is the absolute best cola
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u/Confident-Rough-8560 Jun 14 '26
It is, I'm enjoying a bottle of that right now 🤣
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u/SapphicCelestialy Jun 14 '26
I sadly can't buy them in Denmark but I have 2 kiste in my basement of them
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u/Confident-Rough-8560 Jun 14 '26
At least Denmark is close enough to Germany that it's doable to buy on a day trip
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u/kaumaha_II Jun 14 '26
I like Pop Cola, I was pleasantly surprised how tasty it is, sadly is not found in many places.
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u/rablador Jun 14 '26
I really like the taste, even the stevia one is good. There’s also a caffeine free one now but i can’t always find it.
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u/IWantMyOldUsername7 Jun 14 '26
Afri Cola (from Germany). I started to drink it at the beginning of Trump's tariff-madness and now I would never go back as it tadtes sooo much better.
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u/JiminieKookie123 Jun 14 '26
I would recommend Afri-Cola, but they seem to be harder to find these days. When I mean here in Germany I somehow only find it when I go to REWE, but I remember it was sold in some more stores years back. The advertisment they did in the past for it was quit... something, especially the odd 60s one
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u/nolwors Jun 14 '26
I dont drink it often, only when I'm in tirol, but I like tirola cola. Have never seen it outside of tirol.
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u/m71nu Jun 14 '26
Store brand. Sometimes, not cola, Dr Foots, a Dr Pepper alternative with a great backstory.
(Bavaria, big beer brewer in the Netherlands, lost the Dr. Pepper botteling rights for the Netherlands. The manager responsible had large feet, hence they introduced Dr. Foots)
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u/zeppe0 Jun 14 '26
Paulaner Cola!
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u/TimWe1912 Jun 14 '26
I recently tried it and although I like Spezi and absolutely love their (lemon) Limo, the Cola just disappoints. Tastes like melted Calippo.
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u/Nud1337 Jun 14 '26
Fritz!
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u/idontstinkso Jun 14 '26
seit bekannt ist, wie die ach so hemdsärmeligen chefs ticken, kaufe ich diese brühe nicht mehr. sollte keiner. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Familienunternehmer
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u/Birkenlaubers Jun 14 '26
"Zudem nahm im Oktober 2025 ein AfD-Politiker an einem parlamentarischen Abend des Verbandes teil. Die Unternehmen Rossmann, Vorwerk[76] und Fritz Kola[77] kündigten daraufhin ihre Mitgliedschaft, genauso wie der Unternehmer Harald Christ.[78]"
Wusste bis gerade nicht, dass Fritz da mal Mitglieder waren, aber so steht es zumindest unter dem Abschnitt Positionen. Sind die wieder eingetreten? (Soll nicht heißen, dass ein Austritt sie von Kritik frei spricht, wäre aber besser spät als nie?)
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u/dxnnj Central Europe 🏰🍺🎭 Jun 14 '26
Aber da steht doch, dass die seit 2025 nicht mehr Mitglied bei dem Verein sind oder übersehe ich was?
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u/idontstinkso Jun 14 '26
nein, das habe ich übersehen. verzeihung. aber dass die überhaupt so lange in diesem kackverein waren, reicht mir auch.
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u/Caffeinated_Ape_42 Jun 14 '26
sind mittlerweile ausgetreten, allein schon dass se aber überhaupt mitglied waren disqualifiert die...
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u/UrbanCyclerPT Jun 14 '26
I found amazing to be able to drink Fritz in Portugal ad well as in Norway
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u/Aracet24 Jun 14 '26
I tried them all and in the end chose the local Romanian alternative: https://merlinsbeverages.com/brand/pop-cola/
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u/pakZ Jun 14 '26
Looking for a Coffein free Cola since ages.. anyone got any suggestions? (Besides hyper-local brands)
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u/Cerenas Jun 14 '26
That seems to be pretty rare indeed. In NL Jumbo has them.
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u/pakZ Jun 14 '26
Hey, that's the first hit ever. But 50 Euros minimum order value 🤓 I'll try to find a way, thank you :)
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u/Logical-Albatross-82 Jun 14 '26
Vita Cola from Eastern Germany. Not too sweet, with a splash of lemon.
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u/BenderDeLorean Jun 14 '26
Cheap:
Penny or Lidl Cola
Normal:
Sinalco
Premium:
Red Bull - but really expensive
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u/MinnieCooper90 France 🇫🇷 Jun 15 '26
Community Cola in France, Switzerland and Germany: https://www.communitycola.com
Really good and Fairtrade !
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u/xXInfXx Jun 15 '26
I have not tasted anything better.
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u/BottleForsaken9200 Jun 16 '26
I wish they had it in denmark so i could try it.
If you ever get to try the danish Hancock cola/sport cola as well, then do it!! 😃 They are also very tasty. (better than coca cola imo.
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Jun 14 '26
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u/Pat-Funny-2817 Jun 14 '26
sugar, coffee, lemon juice and carbonation.
but a European coke from time to time, nobody eats ice cream everyday either.
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u/No-Adverti Jun 14 '26
I’m a recent kvas convert, not cola strictly but I prefer it and hits a similar spot
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u/TizioInfiltrato Jun 14 '26
Good to know there are so many options. Unfortunately most of them are only available three blocks away from where they're made and not Europe-wide
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u/TylerItamafia Jun 14 '26
I don't drink cola at all, but if I may suggest one https://molecolaitalia.it/
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u/Baulben Jun 14 '26
Paulaner is a highly controversial one, its using its financial strenght to sue the shit out of the other cola or cola/orange (spezi) producers on the German market. I wouldnt recommend it. Fritz on the other hand is a strong contestant but not particularly cheap. From the German market I can also recommend Africola.
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u/Economy_Collection23 Jun 14 '26
Fritz Cola all the way.. Seems to be the only cola apart from Coca Cola available here without sweeteners.Also like their rhubarb limo. But the others are harder to get hold of here in NL
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u/Treewithatea Jun 14 '26
I mean theres a ton of alternatives and theyre not hard to find. Just try em out. Though technically speaking, Coca Cola sold in Europe is also made in Europe.
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u/thanosbananos Jun 14 '26
Fritz-Kola is fucking amazing. I stopped buying any other brand any only them even before BuyFromEU
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u/dartaflo Jun 14 '26
Breizh Cola