What is Josta?

Josta was a very original soda made by the Pepsi company starting in 1996. Upon the first sip it blasted you with a sort of unexplainable flavor that you never realy got in any other drink anywhere. it was also one of the first readilly available drinks to use the Guarana Berry flavor and extract. Guarana is a natural source of caffeine.

This drink was one of the first drinks to advertise a different kind of power in addition to just "staying awake" which some of the more common drinks like MountaindeW and Jolt were known to do. This hype about Guarana and its intense caffeine and aphrodesiac properties really started the energy drink trend that we see today. it wasnt long after Josta hit the market that I had just about all my firends hooked on it. and it wasnt long after that before a ton of other companies were coming up with new energy drinks that proudly boasted the word guarana on their label.

above is the original label from a 20 oz bottle of Josta. Unfortionately thats about as big as it gets. I have a bottle here but I dont want to destoy it by peeling the label off. on the label there was a panther, some arrowheads, some tribal designs, and a little story about Guarana that read as follows: GUARANA grows DEEP within the jungle. For centuries, ancient tribes believed that GUARANA released RAW, PRIMAL POWER. Now the legend of GUARANA has been captured in the potent flavor of JOSTA. UNLEASH IT.

In 1999 Pepsi decided Josta wasnt good enough to stay on the market. I called them one day and asked them why it was getting so difficult to find and thats when I got the bad news. along with Josta, there were 2 other Pepsi flavors that got yanked around the same time. I was told the products didnt do well enough to keep them in production. I dont know how true this really was. Every time I went to buy it at one of the places I knew had it, it was sold out. so were the other flavors that supposedly didnt sell. it got to the point where Id have the store owner special order me the drink a case at a time and hold it for me in the back. he gave me a deal on it and everyone was happy. there werent a lot of stores I could get it at, because it was in a test market phase. well, I know my market was always sold out of it. and if there were other areas that didnt, maybe Pepsi should reconsider where these markets are. you cant get a fair idea of how something will see to the country if the whole country doesnt have access to it. of course sales will look bad. Josta needs a return and a fair trial. Im hoping that this site and some of the ones in the links section can help open some eyes.