What Is Karma Cola? [Caffeine & Nutritional Facts Vs Coke]

I’ve been learning about different sodas and was wondering about Karma Cola.

So I did some research to find out what it is.

Whether you want to know how Karma Cola compares to Coca-Cola if it contains caffeine, is gluten-free, or vegan here’s everything you need to know.

Karma Cola vs Coca Cola

Below is a table that shows a side-by-side comparison of the karma cola ingredients and coke ingredients:

And here’s a side-by-side comparison of the sugar and calorie content.

As you can see most of the ingredients in Karma Cola are organic(Organic barley malt extract) and Fair Trade and Karma cola use raw cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. It is sometimes called organic coke due to its organic coke ingredients and Natural Cola Flavour. 

I recently wrote an article where I showed that Coca-Cola soft drinks made in each country use slightly different ingredients among Cola Brands.

For example, in the USA, and Canada Coca-cola drinks are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.

Whereas, Mexico and other countries use sugar.

You can read the details about this, and whether high fructose corn syrup is healthy for you by clicking [here, link: does Coke use corn syrup?] to go to the article.

They say that the recommended amount of caffeine per day is around 0.3g, as stated by Harvard Medical School here.

Most sodas that contain caffeine have really high levels of caffeine and have on average 30g to 50g of caffeine per 12 oz (354 mL) – 1 can.

So, it’s a big advantage that Karma Cola or real cola doesn’t contain caffeine. Karma cola caffeine content is zero.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has collated the caffeine content in popular sodas and showed that they contain the following amount of caffeine:

• Coca-Cola – 34g
• Pepsi – 35g to 38g
• Mountain Dew – 54g
• Fanta Orange – none
• Sprite – none
• 7Up – none

Amounts are per 12 oz – 1 can (354 mL).

Coffee is another drink that’s well known for having caffeine, and data provided by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the USA shows that an average cup of coffee contains 0.13g of caffeine.

Therefore, you can safely drink around 3 to 4 cups of coffee a day.

However, a cup of soda that contains caffeine by comparison has around 10 times the recommended daily intake.

Karma Cola’s flavors are 7 in total.

And most of their fruit-based flavors don’t list any Karma Cola (awesome soda) ingredients that have gluten on the label.

But, there’s still a risk it contains gluten since it can be bottled in plants where they make other products that contain gluten.

Healthline has stated that almost all sodas don’t contain gluten, and it’s interesting that Karma Cola contains barley malt extract because it isn’t a common ingredient in sodas.

Sodas that contain gluten are typical non-alcoholic beers, which are made using malt.

Malt is a wheat and barley product.

And is commonly used in beers and chocolate-flavored drinks.

Malt is the name for both dried barley and weed seeds, and is also used as the name for a barley and wheat seed extract, as I showed in [this, link: what is Malta Hatuey] article about the Cuban Malta soda – Malta Hatuey.

A Malta is a soda made from malt – not to be confused with the island in Southern Europe.

In my opinion, it’s very likely that it’s vegan. But, without it being certified vegan, it can’t be said for sure.

For example, the well-known soda Schweppes is trademarked by Keurig Dr. Pepper but is licensed to both PepsiCo and the Coca-Cola Company.

Pepsico and Coca-Cola have established bottling plants scattered throughout the countries they operate in, and this can make it cheaper to have Coca-Cola Zero or Pepsi produce other companies’ sodas.

And it also means that a brand can leverage its brand reputation.

Also, the ingredients in a soda differ based on the country where you buy it.

This implies that it’s because certain Karma Cola’s ingredients are easier to source in some countries over others.

So, in my opinion, Karma Coca-Cola bought in Australasia is made in Australasia, and Karma Cola bought in the UK is made in the UK.

But, Karma Cola doesn’t explicitly state where they’re made.

Each country where they sell it has different flavors that are available.

But, you can buy flavors you can’t get in your country on international websites as well.

For example, in Australia, they don’t sell sugar-free flavors. And in New Zealand, they sell more flavors than what is listed above.

In New Zealand they sell:

• Razza Raspberry Lemonade
• Sugar-free Karma Cola
• Cherry and Berry Kombucha
• Lemmy Lime and Bitters
• A range of different Kombucha flavors
• A range of different juices including apples and oranges.

For a full list check out their NZ-based website here.

Karma Cola is a New Zealand-based company, according to this press release.

And was started by Chris Morrison, who formerly owned Phoenix Organics. Here’s an article with an interview with Chris Morrison. 

And therefore, it looks like they trial different flavors in NZ first, before making them available overseas.

Here’s a summary of the key points covered about Karma Cola and what it is:

Karma Cola is a soda and juice company that uses Fair Trade and certified organic ingredients.