Anyone remember Josta?

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I did run across this Strange Soda? - Yahoo! Answers which about halfway down the page has a recipe for making a Josta-like concoction using Pepsi, Sobe Dragonfruit and Bawls energy drink. Haven't tried it, but it's an interesting concept to say the least...
 
Man I seriously thought I was the only one that liked that stuff. i LOVED it! That was my drink of choice in high school, so many good caffeinated memories!

I actually found a soda once in a Russian store, it did say it was a "guarana soda", tasted JUST like I remember Josta tasting! Came in a green glass bottle. But damn, went back, could never find it again.

I really miss that stuff...
 
I would kill to be able to make josta. Biggest problem is that I don't have anything to compare it to, so I don't know if I'm getting it right.
 
Hey all! I'm the SaveJosta dot org site admin! Check out our site and follow us on Twitter at @SaveJosta to help bring Josta back!

Thank you..
 
Guarana sodas of all types are common in Brazil, and they import them at least into Portugal (which used to "own" Brazil). I love them to death. I also had some at the Coke museum in Atlanta when they used to let you sample foreign coke-made flavors.

Guarana tastes a bit like a ginger-ale, but it's seeds have TWICE the amount of caffeine as coffee beans. It comes as a minor ingredient in various US drinks, often pricey. Among the Brazilian brands, I think Antarctica is relatively pure almost to the point of boring. A slight additive, like lemon and maybe strawberries would seem best to me.

330px-Guaranacans.jpg
 
I was watching an episode of Unwrapped on the Cooking channel and saw this drink called Bawls Guarana. Not sure if it tastes anything like what you had but at least its something available in North America.
 
Time to resurrect an old thread! I just got a Soda Stream (forked out for the KitchenAid model) and so far I'm very happy with it. One of the first things my wife said to me was "Now you can make Josta!" I was ordering Sassafras and Sarsaparilla root to make root beer, so I tossed some Guarana seeds into my cart and I'm looking forward to experimenting with it.

The main component to a "cola" syrup is a mix of spices and citrus. I imagine that I will simply include the Guarana seeds into this mix. The next component to making a Josta flavor will be the Dragon Fruit. I'm not sure if I should replace one of the citrus components in the cola syrup with dragon fruit? Or if I should simply add it to the already large list of ingredients. From what I read on Wikipedia, the Dragon fruit is relatively mild, so I'm wondering if there wasn't some other berry involved in Josta... perhaps some raspberries or something? That seems like it should be about the right flavor profile. Blackberries are too mild, and it certainly didn't use strawberry or blueberry.

I think my first attempt will be to make a straight up cola syrup. Once that is done I will make a guarana/dragonfruit syrup and simply mix those together. When I know how those go together I will then work on determining what components to replace in the cola syrup to replicate a single Josta syrup.
 
chadmart said:
Time to resurrect an old thread! I just got a Soda Stream (forked out for the KitchenAid model) and so far I'm very happy with it. One of the first things my wife said to me was "Now you can make Josta!" I was ordering Sassafras and Sarsaparilla root to make root beer, so I tossed some Guarana seeds into my cart and I'm looking forward to experimenting with it.

The main component to a "cola" syrup is a mix of spices and citrus. I imagine that I will simply include the Guarana seeds into this mix. The next component to making a Josta flavor will be the Dragon Fruit. I'm not sure if I should replace one of the citrus components in the cola syrup with dragon fruit? Or if I should simply add it to the already large list of ingredients. From what I read on Wikipedia, the Dragon fruit is relatively mild, so I'm wondering if there wasn't some other berry involved in Josta... perhaps some raspberries or something? That seems like it should be about the right flavor profile. Blackberries are too mild, and it certainly didn't use strawberry or blueberry.

I think my first attempt will be to make a straight up cola syrup. Once that is done I will make a guarana/dragonfruit syrup and simply mix those together. When I know how those go together I will then work on determining what components to replace in the cola syrup to replicate a single Josta syrup.
Click to expand...

I shall eagerly await your findings! I went from using a Sodastream to having a 5 gallon keg of soda water on hand and using soda syrups. I would love to have one of those be Josta.
 
Holy cow.. I'm not the only one who survived on this stuff. LOVED Josta. Would also love to figure out how to make it!
 
I wish we could still buy Jolt Cola! THAT stuff was awesome!!! "All the sugar and twice the caffeine!" :D

Edit: Holy Crap!!! You can buy Jolt on Amazon. I read awhile back that it had been discontinued after someone bought it out and went bankrupt.
 
chadmart said:
Time to resurrect an old thread! I just got a Soda Stream (forked out for the KitchenAid model) and so far I'm very happy with it. One of the first things my wife said to me was "Now you can make Josta!" I was ordering Sassafras and Sarsaparilla root to make root beer, so I tossed some Guarana seeds into my cart and I'm looking forward to experimenting with it.

The main component to a "cola" syrup is a mix of spices and citrus. I imagine that I will simply include the Guarana seeds into this mix. The next component to making a Josta flavor will be the Dragon Fruit. I'm not sure if I should replace one of the citrus components in the cola syrup with dragon fruit? Or if I should simply add it to the already large list of ingredients. From what I read on Wikipedia, the Dragon fruit is relatively mild, so I'm wondering if there wasn't some other berry involved in Josta... perhaps some raspberries or something? That seems like it should be about the right flavor profile. Blackberries are too mild, and it certainly didn't use strawberry or blueberry.

I think my first attempt will be to make a straight up cola syrup. Once that is done I will make a guarana/dragonfruit syrup and simply mix those together. When I know how those go together I will then work on determining what components to replace in the cola syrup to replicate a single Josta syrup.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing this never went very far..:confused:
 
Funny coincidence, the other day my girlfriend and I were talking about Jolt being revived and I mentioned how I wished they would bring back Josta.
 
I've been considering starting to make soda specifically to try and make Josta. Only problem I have is like most where I have an idea of what it tasted like, but nothing to compare it to.
 
exactly. I'm thinking either way I can end up with a guarana dragon fruit concoction that I like, but will it be the same? It's pretty doubtful. Now they have the "make your own Josta" thing that mixes several drinks together for the flavor. They say that is very close, so it could be a starting point.
 
Maybe if we were able to get enough interest Pepsi would be willing to give out the recipe or at least a general outline of the ingredients. I wish they would just bring it back like they did with Surge.
 
there is an interest group with a petition to sign.. been around for a while with to no avail though
 
I am a big fan of Guarana Antarctica when in Brazil.
I brew bottles of non- alcoholic Ginger beer.
My goal is to produce Guarana soft drink using the basic Ginger Beer idea.
The problem is to know how much Guarana to add (there are on-line sources for it) and how much sugar.
I am thinking make about 5-10 litres at a time. Say 10-30 g of guarana seed powder. and about 250 g sugar. Use a ginger beer or wine yeast.
It will be non-alcoholic

What do people think?
Cheers
 
Your experiments may justify it's own thread, and can then catch the eye of guarana fans better. I found Antarctica the weakest of Brazilian guarana sodas, and would personally aim for a stronger taste. But I didn't turn down Antarctica when finding it cheap in Lisbon grocery stores... lugged an armload back to the cruise ship.

I tried to make a soda from a delicious acai/guarana puree I can get, but it made a foamy mess with the sodastream technique. I'm gonna make one last try to come close with rainbow(?) ginger beer extract and agave syrup.
 
I'm revisiting this. Ordered some Guarana syrup and will be making some dragonfruit extract. Might cheat by using bottled pepsi though.
 
Okay I think I am pretty close. You'll need pepsi (yeah I cheated and used pepsi out of a bottle, but I figured it's okay since that's what it's based on), guarana syrup (AKA xarope de guarana), dragonfruit extract, and carbonated water. About 12 ounces of pepsi, 0.5 oz (maybe less) of guarana syrup, 1/8 tsp of dragonfruit extract, and 2-4 oz of carbonated water to taste. It's not perfect, but it's closer than anything else I've had in the past twenty years.
 
I used to work at a frozen yogurt stand while Josta was still in production and we used to mix Root Beer and Cherry Slushpuppy together. I swear is tasted like Josta to me at the time. Remembering what Josta tastes like now seems impossible, but when it was still available everyone I worked with agreed.
 

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