New Soda a Not-So-Soft Drink

COLOMBIAN FIRM HOPES COCA LEAF EXTRACT STIMULATES SALES

BOGOTA, Colombia - A new soft drink made in Colombia may not be cola,
but it's definitely coca.

A Nasa Indian company in southern Colombia has created a golden,
carbonated drink made from coca leaf extract, and it plans to market
it as an alternative to Coca-Cola.

Coca Sek goes on sale this week in parts of Colombia, but its makers
say they probably won't be able to export to the U.S. or most other
countries because of rules blocking the entry of raw coca, the plant
from which cocaine is refined.

"Six years ago we took on the job of trying to re-establish the good
name of the coca leaf, which is a plant with enormous medicinal
properties," said David Curtidor, a Nasa who heads the company that
produces the drink in the tiny southwestern town of Calderas.

The soda looks like apple cider, has a tea-like fragrance and tastes
vaguely like a cross between 7-Up and ginger ale. The physical effect
of drinking it - even after several bottles - is minimal.

"It's an energizing drink," Mr. Curtidor said. "It's like coffee since
it is lightly stimulating."

Mr. Curtidor said the drink also is a political statement against
transnational companies such as Coca-Cola Co., which "symbolizes
imperialist domination."

Coca-Cola spokeswoman Kirsten Watt, in Atlanta, said such competitors
are welcome.

"They're entitled to create beverages as they see fit," she
said.

As for its own ingredients, Coca-Cola is tight-lipped.

"Cocaine has never been an ingredient," Ms. Watt said, though she
declined to say whether cocaine-free coca extract is part of the
drink's secret recipe, as has been widely reported. "We just can't
talk about the ingredients, the specific flavor composition."

Coca Sek's makers say raw coca leaf extract is a key ingredient in
their soda.

The company, which has 12 to 15 employees at a small bottling plant,
does not have the funds needed to carry out tests to pinpoint how much
naturally occurring cocaine alkaloid makes its way into the drink, Mr.
Curtidor said. But the company has done tests showing that all
alkaloids - which include cocaine and other substances - make up less
than half of 1 percent of the drink.

"The traces that can remain are minimal because the formula we have is
one with a very low level of cocaine," he said.

A group of Nasa Indians started selling 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, Mr. Curtidor said.

They decided to call it Coca Sek, which in their Indian language means
"Coca of the Sun."

Their company, Empresa Colombiana de la Coca, aims to benefit small
coca farmers, Mr. Curtidor said.

Similar drinks have appeared in Peru using a formula based on coca
leaves. But such products are banned in most nations outside the
Andean region.

Mr. Curtidor said his group has sold small amounts of coca tea in
Canada, France and the U.S. But he said it would probably be
impossible to export the soda on a larger scale because of import
restrictions.

For now, Coca Sek remains a very local product.