The water used for a Pepita Cola originates from a 417 meter deep water borehole and is arguably the deepest water source for any cola.

The spring is owned by Mineralquelle Eptingen in Eptingen near Basel in Switzerland. The company has bottled mineral water since 1899 and more than a 100 years later the company is still owned by the same family. In 2024 it is run by a great-great-grandchild of the founder.

Pepita Cola was introduced in July 2019 but Eptingen have previously made several attempts to add a cola to their line of soft drinks.

Their first cola was Sissa-Cola in the 1950s and 60s. It was discontinued and Mineralquelle Eptingen instead signed an agreement with Pepsi to bottle its signature soft drink in Switzerland.

When PepsiCo established their own bottling plant in Switzerland in 2002 Eptingen quickly launched Colibri Cola but it failed to gain market shares and production haltet.

The third time was not a charm either. Swiss Cola was on the market for four years before being withdrawn, again due to poor sales figures.

In Summer 2018 Eptingen tried again and launched Baerg-Goggi which was discontinued after just a year and replaced by Pepita Cola a year later.

Let’s hope the fifth attempt will last longer than its predecessors.

Sources: Cola aus einer der tiefsten Quellen Europas (Basler Zeiting 23/07/2019), Wikipedia.de; Mineralquelle Eptingen, Interview mit dem Geschäftsleiter Matthias Buchenhorner (eptinger.ch)