It was actually about 4 years ago that i discovered Est Cola and it was in Shenzhen. I purchased said cola from my local quickly mart and did an article on it. I had noted its similarity to Pepsi both in look and flavour, but it was the story that blew my mind,
To read about Pineapple Pepsi click here.
Table of Contents
The Story of Est Cola Drink
Est which looks like a bunch of funny letters when sold in Thailand is from what I can gather the third Cola in Thailand just above Big Cola and just below the bug two of Coke and Pepsi.
To read about when Pepsi had a navy click here.
The story though is quite amusing Sermsuk Public Company started to make Pepsi under linens from about 1952 and things were good. Then in 2012 things were bad. It is not cleat who dropped who, but Semsuk Public Company kept the plant, the colour and the flavour in an ultimate fuck you to PepsiCo.
Please remember PepsiCo are not some kind of plucky underdogs, but are in fact equal asshole corporate giants. To be fair though Semsuk Public Company (owners of Est) are not exactly modern day robin hoods either.
So how does Est Cola rank on #ColaQuest?
Well I am not gonna lie to you it is basically Pepsi although with a smaller budget le at iaband this available at much less locations. Taste wise it is almost Pepsi, but you can trace at least a tint sting of inferiority in a blind taste test.
#ColaQuest Score 7.5/10 which is a pretty high a score that has it almost up there with the best of the best when it comes to cola. As you see I take this rather seriously!
Est Cola and friends in 2024
Luckily for me 2023 and even 2024 have given me lots of chances to go back and visit Thailand, not to mention drink more Est Cola. This has led me to learn a few things, Est have now branched off into other soft drinks, such as a #FantaQuest entrant, as well a fruit punch type thing, but you can also get the drink as nature intended, in a glass bottle.
The following is a video of me drinking half a litre in the wonderful retirement home/city that is Hua Hin.
Can you mix Est Cola with Liquor
You most certainly can, but to have the most authentic Thai experience then head yourself to Khao San Road and have your cheap bad Thai whisky mixed with Est in a traditional Thai Bucket, like god intended.
Other possibilities of course include vodka, or even having Est Cola as part of a Long Island Iced Tea, again something that can be purchased in a bucket for around 500 Baht (often two for one too).
BUT, my favourite Est Cola + Liquor mix came when I discovered probably my favourtite new drink in 2024, namely Smirnoff Soju. As the name suggests this is Soju, but created by the vodka experts over at Smirnoff. You can read the article to get my full opinion on this, but in short it is damned good.
And this was all discovered in Hua Hin, so big shout out to that oh so great party city.
Wanna join me in Bangkok? Perhaps even mix something with Est Cola? Why not come on the Southeast Asian Adventure with The Street Food Guy.