We gave ourselves a preview of the new Super Combination Cup Noodles!
Nissin Foods might be one of Japan’s biggest companies, but they haven’t lost their spirit of fun. This is evident in their “Super Combination Series” Cup Noodles, where two different flavors are combined to provide a whole new Cup Noodle. Last year’s flavors, which made up the first line in the series, earned a lot of attention on social media, not least because they were actually really good, despite being unorthodox. They were:
Siupoodle (Sio [Salt broth] and Shoyu [Soy sauce broth] Cup Noodle)…
Searry (Seafood and Curry Cup Noodle)…
Cheechili Curmato (Cheese Curry and Chili Tomato Cup Noodle)…
…and Tonso (Tonkotsu and Miso Cup Noodle).
These flavor combinations were selected after an intense taste-testing of 28 different combinations of Cup Noodle’s eight staple flavors. That had us wondering…would this year’s selection be a downgrade from last year’s? As it turned out, it definitely didn’t disappoint. Well, we guessed it didn’t. Since they’re not for sale yet, we ended up buying separate cups of the different flavors and combining them ourselves to match the upcoming lineup, but even so, we gotta say: there are some great flavors in this mix!
First up was the Seapoodle, made by combining Seafood Noodle and Cup Noodle Shoyu.
This one wasn’t particularly exciting. It didn’t taste especially good, but neither did it taste especially bad.
Both Cup Noodles have lighter soups, so you could say that combining them both provided a well-rounded broth. But on the other hand, it didn’t bring anything new to the table. If you were to do a blind taste test, you probably wouldn’t even know it was a new flavor.
Next was the Cheecurso, a combination of Cheese Curry and Miso.
On first bite, it had the impression of a nice, mild curry, and didn’t really have much of a punch.
But the more we ate the more delicious it became. The combination really brought out the deep, rich flavor of the miso! This one stood out the most for us. The combination was so good we’re considering regularly combining them.
The third was the Chilitomkung, made from Chili Tomato and Tom Yum Kung Cup Noodles.
Eh, we’d eat this, but we wouldn’t say it’s delicious.
The Tom Yum Kung soup really dominated the flavor, almost extinguishing what’s good about the Chili Tomato broth. It wasn’t bad, but unfortunately, that left it at the bottom of our rankings.
And lastly was Karabone, a mix of Karamen, spicy Cup Noodles, and Ninniku Tonkotsu, or garlic pork bone broth.
The soup in this Cup Noodle had an interesting sweet and spicy flavor.
We felt that it was sort of like a not-very-spicy brand of Korean instant noodles. Of course, mixing garlic and chili peppers will always be delicious, so this has plenty of appeal.
In conclusion, based on our rudimentary combining of the specified Cup Noodle flavors, we would rank the Cheecurso as the best, followed by Karabone, and then Seapoodle, which was neither good nor bad. Sadly, the Chilitomkung ended up being a bit of a disappointment.
▼ All four of the new Super Combined Cup Noodle flavors go on sale September 12
However! It could be that Nissin put more into devising each of their new “Super Combination Series” than simply combining the two original soups. Perhaps they took into account the overpowering nature of the Tom Yum Kung broth and added more of the Chili Tomato to compensate for it. There’s still hope for the Chilitomkung!
We’ll just have to try them when they come out. And then we’ll have to wonder…can we make the ultimate combination ramen by using their “instant ramen booster packs”? There are endless opportunities for flavor growth here!
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