Colombian Indians create new soft drink made from coca

<p>A group of Indians in southern Colombia have created a new soft drink made from coca leaf extract and plan to market their product as an alternative to Coca-Cola.</p><p>Coca Sek, a golden, carbonated drink, will go on sale this week in parts of Colombia, but its makers expect they won't be able to export to the U.S. due to rules blocking the entry of coca, the main ingredient in cocaine.</p><p>"Six years ago we took on the job of trying re-establish the good name of the coca leaf, which is a plant with enormous medicinal properties," said David Curtidor, a Nasa Indian who heads the small community company producing the drink.</p><p>The soda looks like apple cider, has a tea-like fragrance and a flavor somewhere between 7-Up and ginger ale.</p><p>Aside from being refreshing, the drink also is intended to make a political statement against transnational companies such as the Coca-Cola Co., which Curtidor said "symbolizes imperialist domination" and does not buy its raw ingredients in Colombia.</p><p>People in the tiny southwestern town of Calderas where the soft drink was created prefer not to drink Coca-Cola, Curtidor said. "So now we're offering them a substitute."</p><p>A group of Nasa Indians in the area began to sell coca tea, which is common in the Andes, to Colombian supermarkets several years ago. A year and a half ago, they began experimenting by adding ingredients and cooling the drink, Curtidor said.</p><p>They decided to call it Coca Sek, which in their indigenous language means "Coca of the Sun."</p><p>Other similar drinks have appeared on the market in Peru using a formula made from coca leaves. But with the notable exception of Coca-Cola, products using coca leaves are banned in most nations beyond the Andes by strict U.S. and U.N. import regulations.</p><p>Coca-Cola dropped cocaine from its ingredients around 1900, although the soda maker's secret formula still calls for a cocaine-free coca extract produced by the New Jersey-based Stepan Co., which Peruvian officials have said buys dried Peruvian coca leaves.</p><p>Colombia is the world's No. 1 producer of cocaine, and the United States is the top buyer. But the leaf also has other uses.</p><p>Coca tea is a common drink in various parts of the Andes. For centuries, Indians in the region have chewed coca to ward off hunger and fatigue.</p><p>Some among the Nasa Indians now are trying out other uses of the leaf in wines, cookies and even soaps.</p><p>Curtidor said his group has sold small amounts of coca tea in Canada, France and the United States. But he said it would likely be impossible to export the soda on a larger scale due to import restrictions.</p><p>For now, Coca Sek remains a local product backed with small amounts of capital. The clear, petit bottles with blue plastic caps went on display at a crafts fair in Bogota this month.</p><p>The drink is scheduled to go on sale in supermarkets starting Friday in the southern Colombian states of Cauca and Valle, and Curtidor said he hopes to eventually be selling it nationwide.</p><p>The soft drink's makers say it already has been sampled by many Colombians and has won wide approval.</p><p>"We have a very big market," Curtidor said. "People are going to prefer it out of solidarity and for the delicious flavor it has."</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/12/133617