JOSTA

Does anybody remember the soft drink Josta? It was around in the mid-late 90's. I practically lived off it for a year or two - my freshman and sophomore years in college, 1997-1998, I probably went through a case every one or two weeks! Josta was the only Pepsi drink that I would buy (being from Atlanta, I have a loyalty to Coca-Cola, you see).

I cannot even begin to describe the taste of Josta, for those of you who never had the joy of tasting it. Its color was a deep reddish-purplish brown... really more red than brown, but a really really deep red. But there was something so distinct, so refreshing, about its taste... ahh, I can almost taste it as I type!

I stored my case of Josta in my dorm closet, and each evening I would remove a can, pour it over ice, and enjoy it while I studied or watched my tape recording of Days of our Lives. I especially liked to drink it out of my huge, green St. Patrick's Day mug that I got from Savannah (boy, did those people look at me weird when I asked if I could just buy the mug with no beer in it!). Occasionally I'd drink it out of a baby bottle that I got at Wal-Mart (don't ask me why - I was strange as a teen).

I loved the Josta cats... the panther-like animal was like their mascot. Since I drank so much of the beverage, I had the opportunity to collect a whole bunch of the panthers. I'd cut them out of the box and then hang them up in my dorm room. At one point, I had a whole parade of them along one of the boards on my loft bed! If it weren't for my license plates, I would've done a border around part of the room!

My friend Aura Lee also loved Josta - it was not her favorite (I think her fave was some kind of Swepps ginger ale that got discontinued), but it was pretty high up there. We drank Josta together in our dorm room on many occasions. It also got us through stressful situations. Once it was becoming harder to find, we had a small stockpile (in retrospect, we should've bought out the entire supply at Wal-mart!). We began drinking it sparingly to make it last. One day, the two of us were making a birthday cake for Phil (we were going to celebrate that evening) and the cake burned all around the edges. We barely had time to run out and get more ingredients to make another (non-burned) cake. So Josta was needed to get through the situation... we split a can.

Sadly, Josta faded away almost as quickly as it came on the market. There was a very short time period between my finding out that it would be discontinued and once it became impossible to find. In my last-ditch effort, we went to every convenience store in the town, looking for any remaining Josta. At the last place we went, I became very excited - from across the store, there it was! A 12 oz. bottle of Josta, sitting on top of a stack of cases of other beverages! but when I picked it up, I noticed that the top had already been opened and it was covered with dust... who knows how long it had been sitting there.

Ah, Josta! The sweet taste lingers in my mouth! I'll always have my memories: that red can with the turquoise details, the legend of guarana written on the side; the slogan "Unleash it" which was used in all their advertising; calling the Pepsi Bottling Company to try to find out the fate of my favorite drink; and the only vending machine where I ever saw Josta: the machine in Alps shopping center in Athens, where I could buy a can of Josta for only a quarter! And I bought it every time I was there. Josta, I tried to save you with my loyal purchases, but unfortunately, there weren't enough of us! So I'll just keep my memories, and perhaps I'll find Josta one day on EBay...