Kimura Fukumaneki Soda: After having previously reviewed yuzu soda from Kimino (a 5.0!), I looked up other distributors of the fantastic beverage and came across Umami Mart in Oakland. I decided to pay it a visit to see what other tasty snacks it might sell. Umami Mart is a largely sake-focused store that sells a variety of barware and ceramics. In the back of the store is where the snacks are, with products like Japan’s famed KitKat flavors and bags of Umaibo. It’s basically a limited selection of what you can get... (read more) 2.5/5.0
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Fitz's Root Beer: I went to a conference in St. Louis earlier in the year, and since people are always talking about St. Louis barbecue, I checked out a recommended spot called Pappy's Smokehouse. Alongside my meal, I chose among around 8 different flavored sodas from a local brand called Fitz's, including an atomic purple Grape Soda and intriguing cream soda. I ended up going for root beer, a classic and usually my top choice if there isn't a ginger beer option. The soda is made with cane sugar rather tha... (read more) 2.5/5.0
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Brooklyn Crafted Mango ginger beer: I was hopeful about this fruit-flavored ginger beer, which I found at Brooklyn Fare in downtown Brooklyn. Purchased in a set of four bottles, the apricot-tinted drink contains bits of ginger sediments throughout. Sadly, the soda drank very sweet, reminding me of generic fruit-flavored gelatin snacks you can get from Asian grocery stores in the candy aisle. The ginger flavor was faintly present, mostly visually rather than in taste. 2.5/5.0
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Vermont Sweetwater Bottling Co Sparkling Maple Seltzer: This bottle of soda was purchased from a small cafe in upstate New York (Palenville). Extracted from maple trees, the maple water is weakly carbonated and has a faint sweetness, identifiable as maple, but otherwise largely absent of flavor. Contains no artificial color (the liquid is clear) or artificial flavors - very simply exactly what it states itself to be (maple water). 2.5/5.0
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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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Doraemon Cafe Grapefruit and peach cream soda: I had planned to go to the “Doraemon” museum from before I came to Japan (technically the Fujiko Fujio museum, the artist who created Doraemon) since the robot cat is a favorite from my childhood. Last weekend, I finally got a solo ticket from Lawson after accepting I wouldn’t be able to convince any of my friends to go all the way out to Kanagawa, about an hour from Tokyo. I ended my trip at the small yet lovely museum with a trip to their cafe, ordering their Doraemon grapefruit and peach ... (read more) 2.5/5.0
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