Holy Cola

Zam Zam Cola, named after the holy-water well in Mecca, is the original anti-Western pro-Muslim cola. It was created in 1954 in Iran, initially a branch of Pepsi Cola. After the 1979 revolution, Zam Zam terminated its contract with Pepsi and was taken over by the 'Foundation of Dispossessed' (one of the powerful religious foundations ('bonyad') created by Ayatollah Khomeini--the second biggest corporation in Iran after the National Iranian Oil Company).

Today the soft drink is very successful not only in Iran but across the wider Muslim world--especially Saudi Arabia, who boycotted Coca Cola in 2002 and unofficially named Zam Zam the "Hajj drink". It is exported to parts of Asia, Africa, Europe (interestingly, Denmark was the first European country to sell Zam Zam) and North America. The Zam Zam group also includes Iran Behnoush which specializes in the non-alcoholic 'Islamic beer', Delster.

Zam Zam boasts its International Market, "Serving 26 Countries Around the World"

Meanwhile big European brands also scope out the Islamic market, with Heineken, Bavaria and Tuborg producing their own versions of non-alcoholic beer for Muslims who like to enjoy the bitter beer taste with their burger or pizza (Reminds me of vegetarians who like to eat 'fake meat'), although I hear that it is really impossible for beer to be 100% non-alcoholic.

Although Zam Zam, Coca Cola and Pepsi (Coke and Pepsi, who maintain a huge chunk of the market in Iran, dodge sanctions via Irish subsidiaries) are the most popular soft drinks in Iran, the majority of people still order cola -'noo-shabeh'- by three names: "Meshki, Sefid, or Narenji" --Black, White or Orange.

Struggling to keep up with the demand from the Muslim world (and others who like to boycott American products), Zam Zam's success inspired similar brands, such as Mecca Cola, Qibla Cola, and Parsi Cola.

The most famous of these is Mecca Cola, launched in France during Ramadan in 2002. Back in 2002 Mecca Cola, pledging 10% of profits towards a Palestinian cause, promised to "answer the needs of world citizens by contributing to the fight against American imperialism and the fascism of the Zionist entity." They also promised "to come up with a snappier slogan."

Mecca Cola Slogan: "Don't drink stupid. Drink Committed"
(but it looks just like CocaCola?)

During the Israeli attack on Lebanon in 2006, Iran's state television ran an advertising campaign denouncing Coca-Cola and Pepsi, among other big companies, as "Zionist," and claiming for example that Pepsi actually stands for 'Pay Each Penny to Save Israel."

Anti-Islam Conspiracy about Coca Cola

Out of all the imitations I have tried however, Zam Zam has proven to be the best tasting, and its wide popularity perhaps reflects this. There is one thing it just can't seem to get right: the logo backwards reads "Pi Pi" (a detail Iranian kids love to make fun of) !!



Can't beat the real thing