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The soft drink was introduced during a press briefing in Istanbul's Loft Restaurant last week. Fayrouz, which means turquoise in Arabic, was first developed in Egypt, the birthplace of beer. In the 10 years following its launch, the full-flavoured non-alcoholic beverage has become a popular soft drink in more than 15 countries.

“It's a product that will form its own category,” said Fayrouz Turkey Manager, Suat Roe. As a flavoured carbonated beverage, Fayrouz is a novelty in Turkey. “It's a product that is an alternative to fruit juice, soda, coke and iced tea,” he added.

What makes Fayrouz different from the other soft drinks already in the Turkish market is that it doesn't contain additives, artificial flavouring or colouring. The main ingredient of this lightly fizzy, mildly sweet, full-flavoured beverage is malt. The barley is heated, filtered, cooled and left to mature. However, as no yeast is added, Fayrouz doesn't undergo any fermentation process and therefore remains non-alcoholic (unlike other brewed products such as malt vinegar, beer and whisky).

The other ingredients are sugar solution, purified water, citric acid, natural flavour and carbon dioxide.The sugar solution is made of glucose and fructose.

The flavours are created in the Fayrouz Manufacturing and Technology Center in Switzerland. They're blended at the final stage of the beverage's production cycle to ensure freshness and pure flavour.

“We aim to reach 120,000 sales points and sell two million litres by the end of the year,” said Roe. The soft drink will be available in peach, pear and pineapple flavours.