This recipe is based on Czechoslovakian drink Kofola. It is designed to be much less sweet however. Their flavor is mildly different, but very similar. I have gathered various sources to get to starting point and from there I have experimented and have done very few A/B comparisons. In the end the recipe is tailored to my preferences. Main reason to create this recipe is to control what I consume. I like the drink, but apart from being too sweet, I wanted to remove caffeine from it.
For flavors I am using commercially available essential oils, but these can be prepared from raw material if you have time and equipment.
- 54g water
- 12g arabic gum
- 8dr orange
- 4dr lemon
- 1.3g kardamom (yes, a lot of it)
- 16dr anise
- 8dr cinnamon
- 2dr levander
- 11g liquorice
- It is hard to quantify exactly concentration, since I have prepared my own extract from plant. It's very thick, hardly flowing liquid. Viscosity is similar to egg white.
- If you prepare your own extract, kepp in mind, that viscosity goes up when temperature goes dowm.
1dr = 1 drop or ~0.2g.
I am using commercial syrups branded Redmax. It's quite possible, that this deviates from Kofola, I haven't tried much of other syrups. But I am pretty sure, that many different fruits would work well with my flavor. Keep in mind, that commercial syrups will contain sweeteners and acids to regulate flavor.
To make fruit syrup, mix:
- 300ml apple syrup
- 200ml raspberry syrup
- 100ml black currant syrup
- 50ml (black) cherry syrup
Because I have started with much higher sugar content, this syrup can be probably concentrated 2 times.
- 15g flavor
- 65g fruit syrup
- 30-40g caramel
- 800-600g sugar
- I would start with 700g or more. I am used to lower sweetness so it's hard to judge.
- Original Kofola uses much more sugar - 160g/2l
- Could be mixed, I used 250g glucose and 350g sucrose
- 13g citric acid
- 14g salt
- Rest is water
- 200g syrup
- Rest is water
- The flavor is definitely best prepared with mechanical stirrer. Other than that, things mix well.
- I recommend to start with smaller amounts to check if taste is OK. Keep in mind, that 90g of flavor is enough for 120l of soda.
- It is realtively hard to manipulate such complex flavors even if you can do A/B comparisons.
- If flavor seems to be harsh, it's probably caused by some of essential oils. Reduce one of them to 1 drop and re-check. If none in particular is responsible for harshness, decrease overall flavor concentration.
- Liquorice is very sweet, but has weird after taste. If drink tastes good, but then not so much, this is the suspect.
- Salt does regulate harshness of flavor a bit. It really is necessary.
- Acidity and sweetness should be in balance. If you change one of them, you will have to compensate the other. It's possible you may need to chang flavor concentration a bit too.
- It is good idea to carbonate this drink. You can use commercial solutions for this, but the soda can be quite foamy.
- I suspect the quality of arabic gum can mitigate this issue.
- If you carbonate with your own system, I suggest to saturate ~8°C mix at 2.5bar. I think this gives about 4-6g of CO2 per liter.
- Kofola is in "premium" price range. This recipe is 10x cheaper than buying original. It's cheaper than any water you can buy in store, lol.
- If you prepare this drink a lot, I think you can pre-mix flavor, salt, citric acid and caramell into fruit syrup to save time.
- There are few different cola recipes documented, if you have trouble, I would suggest to look at them too.