Eagle-eyed fans solve the mystery of the new Japan Cola before its official release.
Here in Japan, Pepsi has given us some weird and wonderful flavours over the years, ranging from Salty Watermelon through to Sakura cherry blossom and even Japanese Christmas Cake. Now, as we enter Halloween season, Pepsi has announced it will be releasing another limited-edition flavour, but in the lead-up to the release, they were coy about what exactly the new flavour would be.
Pepsi announced the new product with this tweet on their official Twitter account, hinting that its name would be “○○○○○パンチ” ( “_ _ _ _ _ Punch”).
With nothing but a black silhouette of the bottle to go by, the image piqued everyone’s interest online. However, if you look really closely at it, you’ll be able to see that the bottle isn’t entirely black — in fact it kind of looks like you can almost see what appears to be a label on there.
▼ One Twitter user lightened the image with photo editing software, and sure enough, the mystery label appeared.
It was neat marketing trick from Pepsi Japan, who released a colour image of the product a day after the black teaser silhouette.
The new limited-edition drink was revealed to be “Caramel Punch”, featuring “Japan Cola”– a special blend designed to appeal to local tastes — at its base.
According to Suntory, who produces Pepsi in Japan, the new beverage adds a sweet and rich caramel flavour to the refreshing Japan Cola, with the secret ingredient of salt included to satisfy the palate and create a taste perfect for autumn.
Salted caramel is a winning combination when it comes to sweets, so there’s a lot of interest from customers keen to try a salted caramel Pepsi. There are also a lot of people obsessed with the “punch” in the name, with some saying it reminds them of Captain Falcon’s Falcon Punch from Super Smash Bros.
The new Caramel Punch Pepsi will retail for 140 yen (US$1.33) and can be purchased at stores across Japan from 20 October.
Top image: Twitter/@pepsi_jpn
Insert image: Suntory
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!