Inca Kola is one of the most fascinating and culturally significant soft drinks in the world – the proud national beverage of Peru, invented in 1935 by British immigrant Joseph Robinson Lindley on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Lima, and since then known as "El Sabor del Perú" – the taste of Peru – holding an almost mythical status in Peruvian identity. It has achieved the feat of beating Coca-Cola in its own home market, which in 1999 led The Coca-Cola Company to acquire 49% of the shares for 300 million US dollars without altering the original recipe. In the glass, Inca Kola appears in a bright, almost neon-like golden yellow – inspired by the Inca sun worship – with a distinctive aroma primarily derived from the South American lemon verbena Hierba Luisa and twelve other plant ingredients, producing an intensely sweet, fruity, and slightly floral taste that many first-time tasters associate with tutti-frutti chewing gum or marshmallows, fundamentally and memorably different from all other soft drinks in the world. Inca Kola is much more than a soft drink – it is liquid national pride, a piece of Andean culture in a can, and the only cult beverage in the world that has permanently relegated Coca-Cola to second place in its own country.
