Kirin Suika Soda!

Well, uh... who has two thumbs and totally forgot to update this blog for like, two weeks?



orz

Sorry to disappoint! I hope to be better at it in the future!!



So let's get right down to it, shall we? The soda that started it all...

Kirin Suika Soda!



Back in early December, Caroline from Spooning with a Schoolboy and I were out in Ikebukuro when we spotted a vending machine stocked with a 50 yen bottle of Suika Soda. I mused that even if it was awful, I'd try it for 50 yen, and thus, this blog was born! The only problem? It was sold out. Whomp whommmp. But I found it again, and at long last, here is my review!

It smells like...



...watermelon-flavored Pop Rocks.

And it tastes like...



...liquid watermelon Pop Rocks!! It's just a little too artificially sweet for me to enjoy it, and there's a weird sour aftertaste to boot.



Packaging: A
Bouquet: B-
Interpretation of theme: C
All-around Taste: C
Final grade: C

Kirin Suika Soda is exactly what you'd expect: it tastes like artificial watermelon flavoring with bubbles in it. The packaging, with its red and green theme speckled with black "seeds" is pretty cute. All in all, eh, I guess it was worth 50 yen, but I still won't be finishing this one, either.

Hopefully I'll see you again soon... but, uh, I've used up my backlog of sodas!!
-Sarah

Sapporo Melon Cream Soda

I'm going to start this post by saying I'm disappointed in you.

That's right.

Because... seriously, guys. Why would you EVER think a soda claiming to be "melon float" [and on that note, I am terribly sorry, because I went by the picture rather than the katakana and called it that in error. (It is actually メロンクリームソダ, or "melon cream soda")] would be good?

I... I just honestly do not know what to do with you.

But this blog is here for your entertainment, even at my expense.

So at long last... I cracked open...

Sapporo Melon Cream Soda



And there it is, in all its neon green glory. Let's take a closer look, shall we?



It appears to say... がぶ飲み -- gabunomi? According to Google Translate, this means "gulp". So the full title of this beverage is "Gulp Melon Cream Soda." I think "gulp" is pretty appropriate here, because it is what I did in fear when I tremulously approached this drink. But anyway, when you turn it around, there's something on the back!



Mission 2, you guys! ... Alright, I'll bite: what's the mission?



...

Apparently, you have to... cosplay with the soda??

WHAT.



Really, I'm not kidding - it says "No.1 コスプレーヤー！！" (kosupure-ya-) and then shows this guy posing with the soda and getting his picture taken. This is truly bizarre.

Uh, so, points for originality there, Melon Cream Soda... but I haven't even begun, have I? Time to crack it open... and it opens with a sad fizz that does not indicate anything good. I am scared. Time to sniff it.



It smells like sugared-up ramune. If you've ever smelled normal ramune, you know to make it smell any more like bubblegum would be pretty hard and so this is a smell that that's... uh... pretty intense.

I am so scared.

I am going to drink this.



...



...



AUUGHHHHH. It is SO BAD. How bad? I WANT TO WASH IT DOWN WITH PEPSI NEX. IT IS AWFUL.

I TOOK THESE PHOTOS LIKE TWENTY MINUTES AGO AND I CAN STILL TASTE IT.

AUGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

For those of you who were like, "oh, melon float, sounds utterly charming", I wish I could send you a bottle so you, too, can enjoy this. It's great!

No, I'm only kidding. I don't hate any of you enough to inflict MELON CREAM SODA on you. I'll just send it to my enemies and then go to jail for putting biowaste in the post.

Auugggghhh.



Packaging: A-
Bouquet: F
Interpretation of theme: F
All-around Taste: F-
Final grade: F

Sapporo's Gulp Melon Cream Soda gets high points for its extremely bizarre packaging, and bombs everything else so badly I wish there was a lower grade than F. Grrrrroooooossssss.

I'm gonna hope to high heavens that Suika Soda isn't as much as of a gastronomical disaster as this sugared up sewer sludge.

Forever in your service,
-Sarah

Asahi Green Cola

Alright! Welcome back to your regularly schedule program, folks. I realized I never mentioned that the photos are clickable for larger sizes. They're still not terribly good quality photos, but hey, if you wanna seem 'em bigger, go for it!

With that out of the way... After doing Red Ginger, it seems only right that, for my first review of the new year, I have selected...

Asahi Green Cola



As you may or may not be able to see on the label, Asahi Green Cola totes itself as being "for your natural life". Huh. While the name is written in a Coca-Cola-style typeface, the rest of the label sorta misses the mark. Nothing about this bottle immediately says "natural" "green" or "made with fruit". Oh, and it is made with fruit, because...



...a closer inspection reveals that "'Asahi Green Cola is made from selected raw materials derived from plants such as fruits, with cola's own dynamism and briskness."

Wait. "Such as fruits"? You don't say.

But really, wow. With a byline like that... how can you go wrong? Well, let's see how they did with cola's own dynamism.



Smells pretty cola-like. I'm okay with it so far. Let's see if it has that cola briskness.



...



"Brisk" is not the adjective I'd use to describe it. In fact, I'd describe it as bitterly sour; a sad attempt at cola "flavor" that misses the mark almost completely.



So I'm cappin' this one back up.



Ugh. I was kinda optimistic because I do enjoy Japan's take on cola beverages way more than American ones, perhaps due to the cane sugar rather than HFCS usage, and to be honest, the idea of a "natural" soda is pretty appealing. But either way, Green Cola failed it. It was pleasing to the palate for all of two seconds and then immediately went sour. Gross. At least there isn't too much of a lingering aftertaste.

Packaging: C+
Bouquet: B
Interpretation of theme: D
All-around Taste: D
Final grade: D

With its slightly inappropriate packaging and its terrible flavor, Green Cola gets poor marks in everything but the bouquet, which smells deceptively like any other cola out there. Good thing it wasn't any more expensive than a normal soda. I can't recommend this at all.

Next time: I've been promising and promising it, but I will finally crack open that Melon Float! (Am I actually scared of it? Maybe a little...)

See ya!
-Sarah

A happy 2011, everyone!

明けましておめでとう!

What's that, you say? "Sarah, you're a little delayed on your New Year's greeting." Wellllllll, sure, it's January 9th at this point, but I think I have until, say, the 10th to tell you guys "happy new year"!

Anyway, I've been rather negligent because 2011 has been way busy so far! To utilize the 青春１８きっぷ, I've been to Tokyo more often than not, it seems, which is a thing I am in no way complaining about. But that's not what you people are here for, is it? You are here...

...for beverages.

And I sure would like to comply, but I am not, as my blog asks, thirsty. To make it up to you, this week I will do not one, not two, but THREE reviews, because I have a mighty backlog.

Monday: "Green Cola", a suspicious beverage claiming to be made out of fruit.
Wednesday: Melon Float Soda, which I've had for quite a while now.
Friday: SUIKA SODA! The one that started it all... sort of.

I'm pumped. Are you?

それを楽しみにして!
-Sarah

Guest Post: Strawberry Mille Feuille Dessert Milk Tea

Hey everybody! My name is Alice, and I'm going to be your host today. I'm a twenty-something girl living and working in Japan. You may know me as the former President of Otakorp Inc, the company behind Otakon, one of the largest Japanese Film and Culture Festivals in North America (ok, it's a really, really big Anime Con!) I also help run KawaiiBox! (http://www.kawaiibox.com) and am one of the leads of Super Happy Awesome Fun Time with Sean and Alice (http://superhappyawesome.wordpress.com/) all about all the awesome there is to see and do here in Japan.


One of the things I love most about living in Japan is the multitude of excellent beverages available in handy 500 ml bottles. Vending machines and convenience stores hold a cornucopia of refreshing treats, and while some of the staples will be around for ever (Coca-Cola, Ooi Ocha, etc.) there is of course, the ever changing roster of insanity. Sarah has mentioned some of the stranger sodas found on the shelves, and I love carbonated sugar water as much as the next guy—probably more. But one of the areas where Japan truly excells is tea. A cliché, but there's certainly truth behind this one.

In the US, bottled tea is usually full of preservatives, sweeteners, and artificial flavorings. The most popular green tea at my local 7-11 was always an abomination called “Diet Green Tea”, which sounds redundant until you realize how many chemicals they fill it full of—all of the disgusting “flavor”, none of the calories of ingesting you know, actual food!

In Japan there are an amazing range of teas on the shelf, from pure, plain green tea to barley tea to roasted tea. And that's before getting into the sweet teas—lemon tea, peach tea, apple tea, countless flavors! My favorite is Milk Tea. Milk Tea is apparently imported from the British tradition, if the Engrish on many bottles is to be believed, though it doesn't taste particularly British—Lady Grey surely would have turned up her nose. It's quite sweet and milky, and distinctly Asian. A bit like Chai without the spices, or like a Bubble Tea without the tapioca pearls. I can't drink it every day, but it's a delicious treat once in a while.


If you've ever been to the Coca Cola Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, you know that there is a tasting area with different Coke products from around the world. Well, this is one for the hall of fame—I'm talking today about the newest offering from the Kochakaden Desserts Series—the same people who brought you Sakura, Mango, and Caramel Almond Milk Teas. What insane new flavor of tea has Coca-Cola brought us this time?

Strawberry Mille Feuille.


That's right, not just strawberry, not just cream, but the creamy, layered insanity of a Strawberry Napoleon dessert, in tea form. But what does it taste like?

Upon opening the bottle, one is hit with an overwhelming slap of artificial strawberry flavoring. And the sweetness. Oh, the sweetness. I practically felt a diabetic coma coming on after just a few sips. But after the first drink or two, the flavors mellowed, and I noticed the overwhelming nostalgia and familiarity I was feeling. Why? What was making me miss a hot summer's day at the pool?

It tastes exactly like Strawberry Quik.

The milky creaminess on my tongue, the scent of plastic strawberries drifting through my nasal passages. It was actually pretty drinkable, as long as you don't mind feeling like an 8 year old sipping pink milk. Luckily they didn't feel the need to fill it full of artificial coloring, so it's a normal tea color. I didn't get much Mille Feuille flavor—there were thankfully no chunks of pastry floating in the bottle!





I doubt I'll buy it again (ok, maybe one more bottle...) but it was certainly good for a blast from the past. Thanks, Coca-Cola, for a strange new flavor that doesn't, in the end, taste very new at all.

Second Post: Suntory Red Ginger!

Let's see... dinner? Check. Laundry? In the dryer! Vaccuuming? Ehh, tomorrow. Is there anything else I need to do...



...



Oh. Right! This blog.

I wanted to make this a weekly affair, but I'll tell you what: on Monday, I was not in any kinda state to do a cheerful blog entry. And then I just kinda forgot yesterday. SO. Hi guys! I asked y'all to choose which soda I did next, and the opinions were fast and furious here and on my LJ where I originally posted the review. But I'm not going to lie to you, that while it was pretty much a tie, my taste buds ultimately chose the winner. Heh!

You might know their whisky from Lost in Translation ("For relaxing time, make it... Suntory time"), but Suntory makes a lot of Japanese beverages, both alcoholic and otherwise. And they bring us today's offering...

Suntory Red Ginger!



At first glance, the bottle is pretty nice. It has a red and black lace theme going on, and that typography for the drink name is kinda exciting! So, let's get started, shall we?



It smells like... ginger ale.



And it tastes like...



Ginger ale, too! What the... what is "red" about this?? Does it go three times faster?! (Thanks, Ali, for taking me to task on the lack of a Char joke! I'm ashamed...) And now I'm RED WITH ANGERRRR! Well, okay, I don't actually feel enraged, just mildly cheated. I like ginger ale a lot, so I'm okay with it being sort of a sub-par Schweppes, but c'mon, Japan. You let me down.



Packaging: B+
Bouquet: B-
Interpretation of theme: D
All-around Taste: B
Final grade: B-

Suntory Red Ginger was kind of a let down. Sure, it's drinkable, and I don't really know what I was expecting "Red" Ginger to taste like, but it wasn't far enough from regular ginger ale to really warrant being seperate from it. Ah well.

Next week, Melon Float. We shall see how this goes.


BONUS ROUND!!

I've invited a co-writer, Jose of Ichi's XBox Gaming Reviews, because he's tried quite a few of the specialty Pepsi flavors in the past few years. I'm not a fan of Pepsi in its original flavor, so I'm very willing to let someone else drink those, haha!

However, he brought it to my attention that Pepsi NEX Zero is doing a promotion with Gundam and Be@rbrick! Now, If you don't know me outside of this blog, then you probably don't know that I am absolutely coo-coo bananas for Gundam. Of course, I'm talking original, Universal Century timeline Gundam (although I did love X and I will always have a soft, vunerable spot for Wing), not the more recent stuff... but fortunately for me, Japan often remembers how much it loves First Gundam too. Last year was the 30th anniversary, and I went nuuuuts.

Anyway, back to this promotion: each bottle of Pepsi NEX Zero comes with one of 16 possible Gundam Be@rbricks. I went to one of the local 7-11s and saw that they had a huge selection, but someone had STOLEN the Char Aznable Be@rbrick from its package and just left it there. WHAT. What kind of jerk does that! I was pretty cheesed off. So I dug through the sodas (not a small feat, but fortunately, I have small hands, haha) and got a GM.



Now, I would have gotten more, but I was totally out of yen and also, Pepsi NEX Zero...



...sucks. I hate Splenda and its ilk, so "sugar free" versions of things and I don't get along. So now I have a bottle of Pepsi NEX Zero just sittin' in my fridge and I'll try to find someone to give it to so it doesn't go to waste, but still. Ew.

Alright, that's all for now. Until next time!
-Sarah

Welcome to Are Ya Thirsty? First post: Fanta Snow Squash

Alright! This is my inaugural entry. I'm pretty psyched. Let's see if I can actually keep up this blog, yeah?

So, first things first. I'm Sarah, a lady of 24, currently residing on a military base a little south of Tokyo with my husband, who will be henceforth known as Pillow. I enjoy soda. I've wanted to make a blog for a while, but to be honest, I don't think I'm at all interesting enough to warrant a blog that's just about me and my adventures, or something. But yesterday, I had an epiphany while trying to purchase a bottle of "Suika Soda" for 50 yen: there's a lot of interesting soda in Japan! There are many blogs about Japanese foods, or Japanese snacks, sure, but I'm not positive there's that many just for beverages. And thus, this blog was born Maybe sometime I'll branch out into other, uh, "interesting" topics, but my current vision is soda, and so, soda it shall be.

That's all you really have to know, I suppose. On to the review! Today's soda is:

Fanta Snow Squash (Strawberry Flavor)

Coca Cola Japan has released a bunch of cutely packaged sodas for the holiday season: they're shaped like ornaments! There's original Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, and a new flavor, Fanta Snow Squash.



I start by taking a sniff of the bouquet. You better believe I'm treating this soda like a fine wine.



And it smells... sickeningly sweet. I am immediately concerned that this is going to suck. But alright, since I've opened it, so I gotta drink it now, right?



At first, I wasn't sure what to think about it!



But then, after a few more sips, I realized...



...that I like it a lot! They somehow managed to make it taste JUST like shaved ice -- which is my favorite summertime treat!

Packaging: A
Bouquet: C-
Interpretation of theme: A
All-around Taste: B+
Final grade: B+

Fanta Snow Squash took me by surprise. I went into it expecting it to suck because of how it smelled, but it really pulled through in the end. It's too bad it'll melt out of circulation as soon as Christmas is over, because I'd buy it every now and then. I picked it up at the Commissary, of all places, so I'm not sure where to get it otherwise...

So, what's next? Melon Float or Red Ginger?

Bottoms up!
-Sarah