"He who brings the kola nut, brings life.”

so goes the West African saying, where the kola nut is revered culturally for its ability to give energy, help digestion, and reduce fatigue. For these more agrarian indigenous communities that aren't as reliant on instant energy drinks or quick-fix pills, you could see how the kola nut feels all-giving, and as such, brings much joy. It's a common feature in celebratory ceremonies, as well as remains a practice when offering one's blessing and welcome.

Yet across the Atlantic, in 1885's Atlanta, Georgia, in the US, one pharmacist John Stith Pemberton was about to revolutionise culture for the rest of the world - once again with the humble kola nut. Permberton had been searching for a medical tonic that would alleviate the injuries he had accrued from the American Civil War, and would thus come up with a recipe that included various citruses and spices, but most importantly and uniquely, emphasised the use of the African kola nut. This would eventually (through many twists and turns) become Coca-Cola as we know it today. As it stands today, two major cola brands remain top of mind for the better part of the last century - but one Iyoshi Cola is here to add its name to the mantle.

Iyoshi Cola is the craft cola that's taken Japan by storm, and is now found across the country's convenience stores and in various departmental stores. Yet all of it is made in a little shop in the small and serene town of Shimo-Ochiai, that feels nothing at all like the Tokyo that it resides within. The Iyoshi Cola factory in fact sits along the banks of the Kanda River that runs through Shinjuku, where it is flanked by the seasonal blooms of beautiful cherry blossoms that takes place in the springtime.

This shop was once a traditional Japanese medicine shop owned by one Ryotaro Ito, who was a Harvard trained doctor that had returned to Japan to become a pharmacist (called a kampo), and would eventually set up his Shimo-Ochiai stall which he would name Iyoshi Yakko (with "Ryo" pronounced as "Yoshi" in kanji). Today it is his grandson Takahide Kobayashi who has turned it into Iyoshi Cola's factory and store.

Ryotaro Ito, Ito's kampo notebook, and his grandson Kola Kobayashi.

"Since I don't drink alcohol, I used to drink cola during company parties. The more I drank this carbonated beverage, the more I began to like it."

Takahide Kobayashi has what he calls Cola Mania, which is exactly as it sounds - a deep interest in cola. Growing up, Kobayashi had enjoyed fishing and loved nothing more than to sip on cola whilst he waiting for a fish to get on his line. He would eventually head off to the Hokkaido University School of Agriculture, and even further his studies in agriculture at the School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo. During his time in university, he would often travel on a budget around the world to fish, and would of course taste different cola's everywhere he went. Upon graduating, Kobayashi would start a job at a major advertising agency, and yet even under the intense work schedule and corporate strictness, he continued to cultivate his interest in trying different cola's.

One day, he chanced upon what was claimed to be a 100 year old cola recipe - the same one that was the basis for Coca-Cola's syrup! This was a big surprise to Kobayashi, who thought that perhaps he could actually make his own cola, and so he had to try putting together the recipe himself. Even though he had reservations as to whether it was legit (after all, it's well known that Coca-Cola's actual recipe is closely guarded and even kept in a secret facility that very few have access to), he had figured that the recipe seemed simple enough, and so suspending disbelief, he would go to the nearby supermarket and pick up the spices he needed to make his first cola. Perhaps even more unsurprisingly, the cola was pretty ordinary and wasn't all too enjoyable. Yet more crucially, it sparked an interest in Kobayashi that made him want to crack the code of creating an even more tasty cola.

From then on, he would excitedly get home from work and begin coming up with various iterations of cola all through the night. This would go on for several years, and yet Kobayashi found himself still deeply frustrated and dissatisfied with his cola - he started to figure that perhaps it was time to give up.

Around that time, his grandfather, Ryotaro Ito, would pass away, and as such, Kobayashi and his family would set about cleaning up his Shimo-Ochiai workshop and packing his things in order. During the emotional process, Kobayashi and his family would reminisce about their grandfather, and it was then that Kobayashi had struck inspiration that perhaps he could apply some of his grandfather's craft to his cola-making. Kobayashi began using his grandfather's tools and began studying his notebooks, which gave him a better understanding of how he could prepare the numerous ingredients needed to make cola syrup - in particular how several ingredients could be heated.

With more tinkering, Kobayashi would end up with a new cola formula, which he found way more flavourful and delicious, with spiced and herbal notes coming through, as well as featuring a deeper, more earthy colour. He would excitedly bring some to work and it was when a colleague had tasted it and told him it was so good that he'd pay for it, that Kobayashi knew that he had something great on his hands.

Seeking more market validation, Kobayashi would start selling his cola at various fairs and festivals on weekends and days off - and true enough, his craft colas sold well! He would call his craft cola Iyoshi Cola, so named after his grandfather's traditional medicine shop in order to carry on his grandfather's legacy (he would also inscribe 1954 on Iyoshi Cola labels, indicating the year his grandfather's shop was first opened), and would adopt the Kingfisher (called kawasemi in Japanese) as its mascot, inspired by Kobayashi's own love for fishing and his observation that kingfishers unlike other birds have to constantly break the surface of the water to find fish, which embodied Kobayashi's own journey in overcoming challenges and also his desire to constantly break the mold to find success. Kobayashi would even nickname himself Kola Kobayashi!

"I want to reverse the unhealthy image cola has, and share the spicy handmade flavor that brings wonder and joy."

With more tweaks and even travelling from Europe to South America and Asia to try various colas (he touts having tried at least 30 different colas!), he would eventually perfect his recipe, eventually adding over 15 more spices than the first recipe he had attempted from the Internet - more importantly, it was more natural, completely plant-based, without high fructose syrup, was more healthy, and tasted more delicious and nothing at all like the cola of Coca-Cola and Pepsi (with many commercial cola brands no longer use kola nut in their recipes). By 2018, Kobayashi would go all in and quit his job to become the world's first Cola Craftsman, and would set up a booth in the Farmer's Market in Aoyama, Tokyo. For this, he would build his very own mobile foodtruck stand, which he would call the Kawasemi-Go (or The Kingfisher), and would furnish it with a sailor's theme, with even himself donning a sailor's outfit, this time paying homage to the Kanda River that flows past his grandfather's shop, which he symbolises as a path for Iyoshi Cola to flow from and eventually into the world, with The Kingfisher a ship that's ready to set off into the world to bring the joys of craft cola.

Iyoshi Cola became very popular, and was sold in plastic pouches (topped with a sprinkle of black pepper as a finishing touch when served) that was inspired by Kobayashi's experience drinking cola in Philippines and Indonesia, which he felt gave the drinker the ability to also see the soda bubbles burst and the grains of spices sink as soda water was filled onto the cola syrup. It would start to become known for the long lines outside the stand, and would win over folks who did not even typically enjoy cola!

"Even as a child, I have always loved that view, and I would be delighted if my store can help more people notice the beauty and tranquility of this area, as well as the value and other attractions of Shimo-Ochiai, and hopefully bring in more people and stores. Through my store, I want to share the charm of Shimo-Ochiai and contribute to my hometown."

In 2020, Kobayashi would successful refurbish his grandfather's Iyoshi Yakko shop at Shimo-Ochiai and turn it into the Iyoshi Cola factory, with a retail shop next door where customers can purchase ready to drink Iyoshi Cola - this was deliberately made to be as such so that Kobayashi could evoke a sense of visible manufacturing, where customers could see how the cola syrup was made and then also try it. And so it is here that Kobayashi creates the Iyoshi Cola syrup, and has kept his grandfather's spice grinders amongst various other traditional herb and spice preparation tools that his grandfather had once used, which are now used once again and given a new lease on life. It's from this little shop that Kobayashi comes to define the term "craft cola" to mean cola that is "painstakingly made in a small scale workshop by a craftsman using all natural ingredients" which runs against the current backdrop of large scale industrial factories that power two of the biggest cola makers in the world today - ultimately it is Kobayashi's desire for his customers to have a relationship with his cola.

Kobayashi's work here starts with blending the kola nuts, which he now journeys to Ghana where it is grown and harvested in order to better source and understand the key ingredient, along with 10 other base ingredients of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, coriander, vanilla beans, lavender, as well as citruses of lemons and lime. Each ingredient is prepared separately and differently in order to extract the desired flavours, where Kobayashi believes that how each ingredient is processed matters even more than say the ratios in which they are mixed. “You have the options, for example, of adding those ingredients in powder form, processing them into liquid extract, and distilling them. I am the only person who knows the exact content of my recipe, including how the ingredients should be processed.” says Kobayashi. Once the ingredients are prepared, Kobayashi then formulates the syrup in the same way a perfumer would go about creating a scent, where a top note, middle note and last note is deliberately orchestrated and harmonised so as to give his craft cola's more depth and complexity.

"I think that cola is an interesting drink, in that orange juice and coffee are made with one ingredient, while cola is made as a combination of many ingredients. In that respect, I think cola is actually quite Oriental."

More recently, with additional research and travels around the world in exploring the ingredients and cola's of different countries, Kobayashi has since added Reishi mushrooms and ginseng to his flagship Iyoshi Cola. Even though there's not a big flavour impact from the addition of these herbs, Kobayashi has added them to the recipe for their health benefits, tying back to the philosophy and work of his grandfather as a traditional medicine kampo pharmacist. He has since also developed a Japan Edition which makes use of botanicals from all over Japan, including the likes of yuzu citron, Lindera umbellata (a type of spicebush) and Japanese honey. New formats and combinations have also been created, for example the Milk Cola where his Iyoshi Cola syrup is topped up with milk instead of soda water, as well as bottled and canned versions of ready to drink Iyoshi Cola with the syrup and soda water already mixed. Looking into the future, Kobayashi has expressed his desire to developing cola-based alcohols such as a Cola Shochu, as well as gins, rums, vodkas, wines and beers.

“Cola is a special drink that’s part of people’s lives. I hope people will one day be saying: ‘Coca, Pepsi and Iyoshi.’”

In 2021, Iyoshi Cola was able to successfully crowdfund to open its second store along Cat Street, between Harajuku and Shibuya, whilst the canned Iyoshi Cola has been shipped out to wholesalers around the country, with even select importers bringing Iyoshi Cola to Taiwan, London and Paris. 

Yet ultimately even as Iyoshi Cola has now expanded beyond its one-man show foodtruck to having several employees help with the sales and operations, Kobayashi is certain that Iyoshi Cola will stay safely in Tokyo, Japan. "There aren't a lot of brands out there born and raised in Tokyo. I was able to perfect my craft cola by drawing on my grandfather's traditional Japanese medicine-formulation techniques from two generations ago. I'd like to keep this legacy going and leave behind a uniquely Tokyo-made drink for the next generation," says Kobayashi, which is also why Iyoshi Cola bottles and cans sport proudly the tagline "Drink Japan".

In the grand scheme of things, it might seem like craft cola is just a beverage, yet Kobayashi hopes that through his efforts at Iyoshi Cola, he is able to encourage other folks to pursue their passion and to be willing to try different things, as well as to be open to a diversity of ideas and the possibility of reinventing what is accepted as convention. But in the meantime, Kobayashi hopes that Iyoshi's success can help the local economy in some small part, shape a new wave of Japanese culture, and can bring joy to his customers who can better appreciate what Japan has to offer.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot