Ting (soft drink)

Ting

Ting (green bottle on right) and Pink Ting grapefruit sodas
Manufacturer	Pepsi-Cola Jamaica Bottling Company
Distributor	Brooklyn Bottling Group Cott Beverage Limited (UK)
Country of origin	Jamaica
Introduced	November 1976
Flavour	grapefruit

Ting is a carbonated beverage popular in the Caribbean. It is flavored with Jamaican grapefruit juice (from concentrate) and is both tart and sweet. Ting comes in a green glass bottle, green plastic bottle or a green and yellow can. Like Orangina, the beverage contains a small amount of sediment consisting of grapefruit juice pulp. Ting is produced in the United Kingdom under license by Cott Beverages.^[1] Ting also now makes Pink Ting Soda, Diet Ting Soda, and Ginger Beer.

History

Ting was first produced in 1976 by Desnoes & Geddes Limited. Desnoes & Geddes Limited was acquired by Guinness in 1993 with a 51% share. With Desnoes and Geddes moving to focus on beer alone, its soft drink facility in Jamaica was acquired in 1999 by PepsiCo affiliate Pepsi-Cola Jamaica,^[2] located in Kingston, Jamaica. Ting is distributed throughout the Caribbean, the United States, and Canada. Outside these regions it is not commonly available, although it is also produced in the UK using Jamaican grapefruits, and is widely available at Tesco.

Ting has also been known to be mixed with citrus vodka to create Ving, an alcoholic version of the drink. On St. Kitts, it is frequently mixed with rum for the local favorite "Ting 'n Sting". It has become a popular mixer in addition to its success as a non-alcoholic beverage. A Ting and a patty is a very popular Jamaican snack.

Unrelated American soft drink of same name

An unrelated soft drink product, also called "Ting," was a local popular favorite soda in mid-eastern Wisconsin, which existed prior to the arrival of Jamaican Ting. Produced by the Kist Bottling Company and later by the Wisconsin Waupaca Bottling Company, Wisconsin-made Ting came in an assortment of flavors, such as cream soda, grapefruit, cola, orange, grape, and several other flavors. This version of Ting has not been available since 2009, due to a lapse in trademark renewal that allowed PepsiCo to take over the tradename "Ting" for soft drink products for distribution in the United States. Many of the original Ting flavors are now produced in the classic distinctive clear glass bottles under the tradename "Flavor 8" soda in New London, Wisconsin by Flavor 8 Bottling L L C.^[3][4]

Ingredients

• Carbonated water
• Sugar
• Grapefruit juice (6%)
• Natural grapefruit flavor
• Citric acid
• Sodium citrate

References