From the land of Birkenstocks comes Premium Cola, a soft drink of which I’m not sure whether it still classifies as an over the counter product or needs prescription. The soft drink kept in a rather unembellished yet classy bottle is said to contain 250mg of caffeine per liter – plenty enough to make it dangerous for kids and people with weak hearts I guess. Regular Cola derivatives contain much less, well, kids stuff.

To put things into perspective, we had two [bottles] each the other evening and had a good night sleep, too. So I’m not totally sure if this is partially marketing hype or I’m already a caffeine junky.

What’s most refreshing – besides its taste – is the fact that the recipe of the brew is based on the old Afri Cola drink – which in the late 90’ies was bought up by Mineralbrunnen AG, a multicorporate enterprise, which changed the original Afri Cola recipe (had a more distinct taste and more caffeine) and made it to just another so-so drink – turning the underdog of Colas into an indistinctive super soft drink.

Rescue came in the form of Uwe Lübbermann from Hamburg who, with basically no marketing budget and loads of enthusiasm revived the traditional brew, somehow getting his hands around the true original recipe and ever since is producing Premium Cola. Small scale, about 15 thousand bottles a month. It doesn’t sound much like a lucrative business, but that’s apparently what these guys aren’t looking for anyway – although the whole undertaking is based on a collective business model, it is their hobby in the first place – strongly connected to the basic idea of reviving what once had the guts to be different. Cult potential – maybe; an alternative to any other Cola drink, absolutely!

Where can you get it? I’m not sure you can actually get it outside of Germany, and even here only Premium Shops, verified and authorized by Premium Checker (their lingo!), carry it. Side note: Every third bottle has a motif/design of an artist on the backside of its label, the entire collection can be looked at here.
O.