 Can and glass of Materva, showing the color of the drink | |
| Product type | Soft drink |
|---|---|
| Owner | Cawy Bottling Co. |
| Country | Cuba |
| Introduced | United States, Canada, Spain |
| Previous owners | 1920 – Materva Soft Drink Company |
| Website | cawy |
Materva is a mate-based soft drink, originally produced and popularized in Cuba prior to the Cuban Revolution. It has been produced in Miami since the 1960s by Cawy Bottling Company.
Materva is a carbonated drink made from yerba mate, a tea popular in Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. Unlike the somewhat bitter tea-like mate on which it is based, Materva is sweet, with a flavor described as similar to ginger ale [1] or cream soda. [2]
Current production includes a diet version called Diet Materva. [3]
The Materva Soft Drink Company was founded in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1920. Materva became known as a "famous Cuban brand" [4] and advertising included celebrity endorsements that touted the drink's energizing properties. [5] [6]
During the Cuban Revolution, the Materva bottling plant was targeted for strikes by revolutionaries, along with the Coca-Cola and Pepsi bottling plants in the country. [7] Materva was produced and sold in Cuba until 1960 when it was nationalized along with other private industry. It is no longer produced in Cuba. [8]
The Cawy Bottling Company of Miami was founded to produce the Cawy lemon-lime soda that had been popular in Cuba. The company began producing Materva in the United States in the 1960s in an attempt to diversify after the founder of the company realized that there were many large American companies already competing with lemon-lime drinks. [9] [10]
Materva has been described as a part of the "standard Cuban pantry", [11] and as "the old standby Cuban soda". [12] Because of its significance as a popular drink in Cuba prior to the Revolution, it is often cited as a source of "shared memories" and "nostalgia" of pre-Revolutionary Cuba by Cubans who live in the United States. [13] [14] [15] [8]
In Miami, politicians use the drink to symbolize Cuban-ness, such as when a congressional candidate told local media in 2010 that he had spoken about Materva to President Obama during a presidential visit to the city. [16] Travel books also often recommend the drink to visitors to Miami. [17] [18] In 2002, Materva was given the "Best Local Soft Drink" award by the Miami New Times. [19]
Cola is a carbonated soft drink flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, citrus oils, and other flavorings. Cola became popular worldwide after the American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, a trademarked brand, in 1886, which was imitated by other manufacturers. Most colas originally contained caffeine from the kola nut, leading to the drink's name, though other sources of caffeine are generally used in modern formulations. The Pemberton cola drink also contained a coca plant extract. His non-alcoholic recipe was inspired by the coca wine of pharmacist Angelo Mariani, created in 1863.
7 Up or Seven Up is an American brand of lemon-lime–flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo except the UK where it is distributed by Britvic, PepsiCo's designated UK distributor.
Crush is a brand of carbonated soft drinks owned and marketed internationally by Keurig Dr Pepper, originally created as an orange soda, Orange Crush. Crush competes with Coca-Cola's Fanta. It was created in 1911 by beverage and extract chemist Neil C. Ward. Most flavors of Crush are caffeine-free.
Sun Drop is a citrus-flavored soft drink produced by Keurig Dr Pepper with a yellowish-green color. Among soft drinks, it is known for its high caffeine content. Orange juice concentrate is an ingredient in the drink. Bottled Sun Drop uses real sugar cane, which contains some "pulp" giving Sun Drop it's distinct flavor and appearance. Sun Drop competes primarily against the Coca-Cola Company's Mello Yello and PepsiCo's Mountain Dew.
Shasta Beverages is an American soft drink manufacturer that markets a value-priced soft drink line with a wide variety of soda flavors, as well as a few drink mixers, under the brand name Shasta. The company name is derived from Mount Shasta in northern California and the associated Shasta Springs.
Slice was a line of fruit-flavored soft drinks originally manufactured by PepsiCo and introduced in 1984 but discontinued by PepsiCo in North America in the late 2000s.
Polar Beverages is a soft drink company based in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is a manufacturer and distributor of sparkling fruit beverages, seltzer, ginger ale, drink mixers, and spring water to customers in the United States. It is the largest independent soft-drink bottler in the United States.
Maté is a traditional South American caffeine-rich infused herbal drink. It is also known as chimarrão in Portuguese, cimarrón in Spanish, and kaʼay in Guarani. It is made by soaking dried yerba-maté leaves in hot water and is traditionally served with a metal straw in a container typically made from a calabash gourd, but also made from a cattle horn in some areas. A very similar preparation, known as mate cocido, removes some of the plant material and sometimes comes in tea bags. Today, maté is sold commercially in tea bags and as bottled iced tea.
Kirks is a soft drink manufacturer founded in Queensland, Australia in 1865, producing a selection of soft drink flavours.
Blue Sky Beverage Company was a beverage company that produced soft drinks and energy drinks. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Monster Beverage Corporation. The company was established in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1980, where it remained until it was purchased by Monster in 2000. Coca-Cola North America took ownership of Blue Sky Sodas, Hansen’s Juice Products, Hansen’s Natural Sodas, Hubert’s Lemonade, Peace Tea and other non-energy drink brands as part of Coke’s partnership with Monster Beverage Corp on Jun 12, 2015. Blue Sky Beverage Company now operates out of Corona, California. The southwestern look and feel of the artwork on the soda cans is reminiscent of the company's roots in New Mexico.
Filbert's Old Time is a beverage company based in Chicago, Illinois. Since 1926, it has bottled and distributed soft drinks as well as non-carbonated beverages. The warehouse is located on 3430 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60608.
Jarritos is a brand of soft drink in Mexico, owned by Novamex, a large independent bottling conglomerate based in El Paso, Texas. Jarritos was founded in 1950 by Don Francisco "El Güero" Hill.
Cawy Bottling Company is a soda beverage company founded in Cuba in 1948 and nationalized after the Cuban Revolution when communists took over in 1959. Two of the company's executives emigrated to the U.S. and restarted the brand in 1962, first offering lemon-lime soda and then diversifying outside of that competitive market by offering Materva and then other tropical flavors.
Champagne cola, Kola Champagne, or Champagne soda is a sweetened carbonated beverage produced mainly in the tropics of Latin America, former British West Indies, and Pakistan. Kola Champagne was invented in Puerto Rico by Ángel Rivero Méndez. Rivero Méndez was a Captain in the Spanish Army during the Spanish–American War. In 1902, a few years after the end of the Spanish-American War, Rivero Méndez founded El Polo Norte Fábrica de Sodas where he created the Kola Champagne, which became, and still is, a popular soft drink in Puerto Rico. While elaborating the drink he worked on his book, Chronicle of the Spanish-American War in Puerto Rico.
Bickford's Australia Pty. Ltd. is an Australian beverage manufacturer based in South Australia. The brand produces traditional cordials, soft drinks, and iced coffee mix originally manufactured by A. M. Bickford & Sons, a pharmaceutical chemist founded by Anne Margaret Bickford in 1864. In 1999, the brandname was acquired by the Kotses family and later renamed Bickford's Australia, after which the brand saw a revival in popularity with the introduction of new flavours and products. In 2006, Bickford's lime juice cordial was recognised by the National Trust of South Australia as a Heritage Icon.
In 1962, Vicente Cossio relaunched the Cawy brands in the U.S. ... eventually expanding its offerings to include ... Materva, a yerba mate soda.
tr.: "To read [this book] is to remember brands of products manufactured in Cuba [list including Materva] and many others that bring us the smells of great memories to those who are older."
