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TravelOct 7, 2026

Vita 500: Korea's Vitamin Drink, and Why It Beat Bacchus to the Shelf

Vita 500 is not classified as a drug in Korea, and that single decision let it into convenience stores ten years before Bacchus. It has sold over 7.5 billion bottles since 2001. Here is what is in it and which version to buy.

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Vita 500 beat Bacchus to Korea's convenience stores by ten years. The trick: it isn't legally a drug. 🧡 • Kwangdong launched Vita 500 (비타500) in March 2001: 500mg of vitamin C in a 100ml glass bottle. The 500 is the milligrams. • It was registered as a 혼합음료, a plain mixed beverage, so any shop could stock it from day one. • Bacchus was an over-the-counter medicine until July 2011, kept in pharmacies. Only then did it reach convenience stores. • No caffeine at all. It won't wake you up; convenience-store coffee does that job. • "Zero" means zero sugar, not bubbles. Plain Zero is still (무탄산음료); the blue Zero Sparkling (May 2024) is the fizzy one. • 7.5 billion+ bottles sold as of Feb 2025. Try one, then buy the 10-bottle box. Vita 500 or Bacchus: which one's in your fridge? 👇 → epickor.com/blog/347 #KoreaTravel #KoreanDrinks #KoreanConvenienceStore #Vita500 #Bacchus #SeoulTips #비타500 #박카스 #편의점 #광동제약

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Dong-A Pharmaceutical official photo of a 박카스D (Bacchus-D) 100 ml brown glass bottle, blue-and-white label, lit on a dark blue ground among silhouetted bottles (sides extended in the same dark tone)

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A GS25 convenience store at Gwangju Airport, Korea, May 2019 — Korean signage and 1+1 banners in the windows

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Kwangdong official pack shot of one 100 ml 비타500 (Vita 500) brown glass bottle, orange cap, label printed 카페인 대신 비타민C 500mg

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A 7-Eleven convenience store at Muan International Airport, Korea, May 2019 — travellers with suitcases at the counter

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Kwangdong official pack shots side by side — 비타500 ZERO (Vita 500 Zero) 100 ml bottle with orange-and-black label, and 비타500 ZERO 스파클링 (Zero Sparkling) bottle with a blue label

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A 비타500 (Vita 500) 10-bottle box beside one 100 ml bottle on a grey concrete surface (sides extended in the same tone)

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KOREA · 비타500

WON BY NOT BEING A DRUG.

Korea's orange bottle reached every shelf ten years before Bacchus.

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