Fanta Ume – Plum Flavored

I am a sucker for new soft drinks, and as much as I try to stay away from commercial stuff I can’t help but following all the new flavors put out by Pepsi and Fanta. Here’s a shining new star in the Fanta family – the Fanta Ume. Ume is the Japanese plum that is inedible to humans as a fruit but delicious when properly prepared, for example as pickled sour umeboshi or as a super sweet umeshu, ume liqueur. This one however is not sour at all, but sweet, very similar to the Apple flavored Fanta. Easily one of the best Fanta flavors ever, I give it four and a half fruits of five possible – it would have scored perfectly if it had been a bit more sour or even vinegary in taste. Still, it will be hard to go back to normal boring orange or grape Fanta after this.

By the way, I really wish Fanta would sponsor me for writing about these things. One can dream…?

Seasonal Pepsi – Summer and Winter

It’s been awhile since I blogged about soft drinks, but I found these two different label variations of the new winter Pepsi, Pepsi White. I think there is a third as well but I am not that desperate to get a perfect collection! The new ones made me think about an old one from the summer, Salty Watermelon, that I had bought but forgotten about. I still haven’t tried any of them but, if you’d like to give me a review I’d be happy! The winter Pepsi is Winter Mikan flavored, coming from the Japanese custom of staying snug and cozy under the kotatsu (a heated table common in many cold Japanese homes) while eating mikan. The summer one comes from another common Japanese custom of ever so slightly salting their watermelon to get a more intense flavor!

Fanta Strawberry Cream Soda

It has been a long time since I found any interesting new Fanta flavors (I haven’t posted about the massive soda machine at the Wendy’s restaurant in Omotesando), but I tried this one out on the shinkansen last week. It was actually quite good, like drinking a lollipop. I know sodas are very bad for your health, but I indulge every now and then, when something new comes along. If you see it, get one while it lasts!

Sapporo Soda – Penguin

I started buying these soda pop bottles just for the labels actually. Penguins have enjoyed a huge rise in popularity in the last few years and more and more items and food stuff are labeled with images of this cute little bird. It’s only natural that the famous beer brewery Sapporo (being in the mind of Japanese associated with snow and ice) would expand its line with this line of soft drinks. I got three bottles for this collective shot, but I missed both the melon and the kiwi flavored bottles. Still, three in one isn’t bad! From left to right: Pear, Grape, Cherry. I think Japanese label design has improved slightly over the last few years. For a while it looked like everything came right out of a dollar store but these days companies realize that a nice label design can help sell stuff. I hope they bring out Gooseberry next!