Pokemon Sweets Pikachu Crackle Juice: I purchased this beverage from the Pikachu Sweets shop in Sunshine City, a mall in Tokyo featuring many Pokemon shops. The juice was pretty pricy, at $6, and tasted strongly of sweet pineapple. It had an ice cube in a shape of a round Pikachu head and contained pop-rocks so that it literally crackles. I like the creativity of the drink and think it's fitting for the game; it was too sweet for me to ever want to have again, though, and was priced for tourism. 3.0/5.0
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Fanta Socata Soda: This is a limited edition vending-machine exclusive in Japan from Fanta, the first in a series they're calling 'Delicious Flavours of the World,' where they introduce flavors only available in other regions of the world to the Japanese market. I found out about it because I was intrigued by the name SOCATA?! on the label, with the universal white and blue color scheme of mystery flavors (e.g. White Air Heads, Mystery Oreo, etc.) The label also features a castle in the background, hinting a... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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Coca-Cola Strawberry Coke: I saw this bottle at Family Mart, and while I typically drink diet soda, I decided this was too interesting to pass on. Strawberry coke is a Japan-only product introduced only earlier this year in January. Since I enjoy cherry coke, I was interested in the soda giant’s take on a beloved fruit, particularly in Japan (I’ve seen several boxes of light pink strawberries going for an inordinate sum here). In color, the coke looks exactly the same as regular Coca-Cola, but the taste is undeniab... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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Vivit's Peach Mix Soda: This was a vending machine purchase made out of dehydration. In the US, I had solely associated Ito En with calorie-free bottles of ice tea, but they own a wide variety of brands of sweet drinks in Japan. This one is extremely sweet and reminds me a lot of ramune, but tasting of peach instead of pear. It's also very fizzy and one of the more carbonated drinks I've had here. Maybe it's the nostalgia of drinking ramune as a kid, but I really liked this one, even though I could tell it was ... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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Bec Cola Organic Cola with Maple Syrup: Bec is a Montreal-based soda company whose original product is the Bec Cola pictured here. It contains just a few recognizable ingredients: carbonated water, organic maple syrup, sugar, citric acid, and cola flavour. Typically, I find maple syrup-based drinks to be overly sweet, but this one is very judicious - it contains 27g of sugar, so it's sweet but not too sweet, and it tastes first of cola with just a finish of rich maple syrup flavor. Definitely recommend! 4.0/5.0
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Family Mart Melon Gelato Frappe: I was perusing the offering at the Japanese convenience store Family Mart and found a selection of frozen "drinks," or frappes. They have a bunch of different flavors, including strawberry, peach, and banana. I decided to try the Melon, which seems to be a special flavor in Japan (I recently had melon-flavored soda at Moss Burger for example). The drink comes frozen but has a conical lid that extends almost to the base of the cup, keeping the center hollow. Once you purchase the drink, yo... (read more) 2.5/5.0
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