Trader Joe's Mango Jalapeño Apple Fruit Snacks: These strawberry shaped dummies are shaped as if they've been stamped rather than molded, a straight extrusion of a 2d profile. They have a dense rather than chewy texture similar to a thick piece of fruit leather. Its flavor combines several concentrates, including apple, mango, and lemon, and it's finished with jalapeño pepper powder. You can definitely taste all of those individual ingredients – there's a pleasantly spicy aftertaste and the lemon juice helps balance out the sweetness of... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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Asahi Mitsuya Apple Cider Soda: This Japanese apple soda tastes really similar to one of my favorite Taiwanese sodas, Apple Sidra. It has a crisp and refreshing apple juice flavor, is well carbonated, cheap, and readily available at convenience stores. Solid staple. 3.5/5.0
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Nihonbashiya Apple Mochi: This shop adjacent to the Akihabara station has mini fruit-shaped mochi that are incredibly cute. I bought two to try: apple and persimmon. This apple one was my favorite with a surprisingly concentrated apple-flavored paste at its center. I didn't realize it would actually taste like apple, and it was well balanced and not too sweet, even though it's covered in sugar. 3.5/5.0
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Sun Fruits Apple Juice: In the basement of the swanky Tokyo Midtown department store is a speciality fruit shop called Sun Fruits, the type of shop where sumo oranges (dekopan) are individually wrapped in a form-fitting web of styrofoam and boxes of pale white strawberries go for 8,000¥ ($73 USD). The one item I felt I could afford, and also I was most interested in trying, was a bottle of what I presumed to be a barely-pink fruit soda, which cost $3.50. It turns out that it was a bottle of apple juice, with frui... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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Milk Bar Apple Pie Soft Serve: While I generally find many items at Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar to be overly sweet, one thing that I’ve always loved is their soft serve. The cereal milk soft serve, in particular, is very well judged. This apple pie soft serve, available at the Flagship Milk Bar, is another great example. The tartness is surprisingly great, and the texture is perfectly smooth - more sorbet-like than ice-cream-like. The mix of spices (cinnamon, allspice, clove, and probably ginger, I’m guessing) is way mo... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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Tea Era Apple Seed Green Tea: Got to visit an old favorite with old friends on my last trip to the South Bay. Tea Era is a bubble tea shop on Castro in Mountain View that always has an expansive menu of uniquely-flavored beverages. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the apple seed green tea, which is why I decided to purchase it. The least amount of sugar they could do was 50%, and I purchased the tea hot on a brisk evening (though you could also get it cold). Half sugar was the right amount, as it had a somewha... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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