Maaza (pronounced "Mahza") is a Coca-Cola fruit drink brand from India and marketed in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. Its most popular drink is its mango fruit drink.
History
Maaza was launched in 1976 in India and was acquired by Coca-Cola in 1993 from Parle Bisleri along with other brands such as Limca, Citra, Thums Up and Gold Spot. The Union Beverages Factory, based in the UAE, began selling it as a franchisee in the Middle East and Africa in 1976. By 1995, it had acquired rights to the Maaza brand in these countries through Maaza International Co. LLC Dubai. Maaza was acquired by House of Spices in 2005 for the North American market. In 2006, Infra Foodbrands acquired Maaza for the European, Caribbean and West-African markets and cooperates with House of Spices for the North American market.[1]
Products
Initially, Coca-Cola had also launched Maaza with orange and pineapple fruit drinks in addition to their mango drink, but these variants were subsequently dropped. Coca-Cola later re-launched these variants in the Indian market.
Maaza's mango drink competes with Pepsi's Slice brand of mango drink and Frooti, manufactured by Parle Agro.
While Frooti was sold in small cartons, Maaza and Slice were initially sold in returnable bottles. However, all brands are also now available in small cartons and large PET bottles.
Maaza has a distinct pulpy taste as compared to Frooti and tastes slightly sweeter than Slice. Maaza claims to contain mango pulp of the Alphonso variety, which is known as the "King of Mangoes" in India.