Where did this Coke come from?

April 10, 2006 9:29 AM

Please help me identify a Coca-Cola product's country of origin.

I purchased this Coke at a shop right around the corner from my flat in Edinburgh. The shopkeeper did not know where it came from. Curious, I scanned the label and am asking for your assistance.

Looking at the image: the English-language sticker is not covering any other writing. There may be a phone number in the lower right corner, but I couldn't find any country code matching 00396(206). I poked around Omniglot, and I thought the writing looked vaguely Georgian, but I don't really have an eye for this kind of thing. Any ideas? And if you happen to read the language in question, does the label say anything interesting? Thanks, in advance, for helping me procrastinate.

Link to the 485k image.

posted by milquetoast to food & drink (12 answers total)

Here are the google results for the bar code. Maybe that'll help you.
posted by interrobang at 9:40 AM on April 10, 2006

shopkeeper did not know where it came from ...

or is just unwilling to say where it came from, or how he came to stock it ? The falafel shop near me ( in Brooklyn ) sells Coca-Cola from Egypt. It has writing on the can in English but mostly in Arabic. It tastes the same to me, but maybe it is made differently?
posted by R. Mutt at 9:42 AM on April 10, 2006

My stupid-wild-ass-guess is: Indonesia
posted by Good Brain at 9:47 AM on April 10, 2006

Its def. Georgian. What a great country.
posted by JPD at 9:48 AM on April 10, 2006

That's Georgian.
posted by Wolfdog at 9:56 AM on April 10, 2006

This seems to have been resolved, but I just wanted to add that the phrase "Soft Drink with Vegetable Extracts" seems to be a key phrase on european packaging. I've never seen it in North America, but have seen it all over europe. It might be required by some EU regulations.

You might be interested in this document on Foreign Language Labelled (pdf) Soft Drinks in the UK.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:57 AM on April 10, 2006

Real sugar!
posted by kindall at 11:00 AM on April 10, 2006

How peculiar. Why would a can of Coke from Georgia end up in Scotland? Would it be cheaper, somehow? Is it an unauthorized "knock-off?"
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:39 PM on April 10, 2006

I've seen a lot of foreign coke and pepsi products in the UK. Often in newsagents and those small 'super saver' type places that sell everything dirt cheap.

If I remember correctly, coke sells at a price point that is economically viable in any given country, so it's possible that the cost of coke from these other countries, on top of importing it, might actually still undercost the coke in this country.

It certainly doesn't work from all countries, my local asda is selling 2l bottles of passover coke and fanta from Israel at mad prices.
posted by iamcrispy at 3:30 PM on April 10, 2006

It's a knock off. I have seen all sorts of foreign soft drinks in Scotland.
posted by fire&wings at 5:43 PM on April 10, 2006

I have seen all sorts of foreign soft drinks in Scotland.

It's tough to compete with Irn Bru. Like Peru (with Inca Kola), Scotland is one of the few countries in the world where a domestic caffeine soda manages to outsell both Coke and Pepsi. I imagine local sellers are desperate for any cost advantage.
posted by meehawl at 4:05 AM on April 11, 2006

Thanks everyone. Turns out someone posed this question a couple years ago on some other blog, with mildly interesting results.
posted by milquetoast at 11:17 AM on April 11, 2006