Ichigaku Carrot juice with ginseng : This bottle of carrot juice retains much of the pulp of fresh carrots, giving it a slightly grainy texture. The juice has been slightly flavored with ginseng and lemon. I was hoping it would either be more sweet or more carrot-y; overall, it's not particularly good or bad. 3.0/5.0
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Excel Bottling Lucky Cola Club: Over the years, I've developed an unfortunate dependency on diet sodas, particular Coke Zeros, which always seem to be around offices that offer free beverages. I wouldn't say I like the taste, but there's something comforting about getting the same flavor no matter where you are in the world. I've gotten used to the sugar substitute aftertaste that dominates beverages from large corporates like Coca Cola. But this bottle, from 80-year-old independent bottler Excel Bottling, is different. ... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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Sangaria White grape soda: This beverage comes in an aluminum bottle with a twist of top. It contains 20% real fruit juice and probably 80% sugar water, along with what appeared to be slightly chewy pieces of grape. Overall, it was extremely sweet and not something I could drink much of in a single sitting. Purchased at Family Mart. 2.5/5.0
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Ito En Vivit's Chiba Pear Soda: Even with lockdown measures (which I guess as of several hours ago have been lifted in Tokyo), I tried to take a daily walk to a vending machine to try something new. However, I stopped doing that about a month ago as I was running out of desirable options and was worried I might get diabetes. I got this from a discount vending machine having previously had the peach version of this line of sodas. The pear version tastes like a concentrated, slightly more balanced ramune, but still very swee... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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Kirin Sekai Kitchen Salty Litchi Drink: A surprisingly refreshing and balanced drink that's like an Asian version of salted lemonade. The salt takes a bit of the edge off of what could otherwise be very sweet litchi juice in the same way that salted lemonade doesn't taste salty. Has a milky semi-translucent color. Worth a try! 3.5/5.0
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Dydo Grandtime Vanilla Drink: I found this in a Dydo-branded vending machine at the Tameiko-Sanno Subway Station in Tokyo and decided to give it a try. I couldn't read the Japanese, but I guessed that it was flavored like vanilla ice cream from the graphic on the can. It has a milky, slightly-yellow semi-opaque color and tastes really strongly of Breyer's Vanilla Ice Cream, or something that I had growing up at kid's birthday parties. It was way too sweet and honestly pretty gross. I didn't want to finish the whole c... (read more) 1.0/5.0
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