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beverage

World’s first matcha latte art competition to be held in Japan this year

What’s more, you can be the judge and help decide who wins!

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Caffè Veloce serves up tempting winter comfort drink based on hot sweet sake!

This white drink being served at the Caffè Veloce chain this winter may look like hot milk, but it’s something else all together — and much sweeter, too!

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Vending machines in Tokyo Station not getting restocked, exploitative “black company” to blame

Employees go on landmark strike to tackle unpaid overtime, receive overwhelming support from netizens.

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Suntory attempts to mess with our brains again with new milk-tea-flavored bottled water

Is milk tea still milk tea without the milk and the tea?

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Aloe and muscat grape: the new cool green flavor at KFC Japan this summer!

KFC Japan’s newest sweet offering is a beautiful green drink that looks to be eye-popping as well as thirst-quenching!

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It’s sweet, cool and green! McDonald’s Japan to offer McShake Kiwi

Get ready for some green fruity freshness from McDonald’s Japan.

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Join in the holiday cheer by drinking a baked apple at Starbucks Japan this winter

As their third holiday drink this year, Starbucks Japan will be offering baked apples in drinkable form – served either hot or cold! 

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New Frappuccino from Starbucks Japan to offer a piece of melon heaven!

Sweet, fruity bliss is coming to Starbucks Japan again, this time in cantaloupe flavor!

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Get a taste of the Force with these two new Mets drinks from Kirin!

Here in Japan, people are just as excited about the new Star Wars movie coming out in December as the rest of the world. (Yes, this writer is all geared up to go see Episode VII in warm and comfy Darth Vader UGG boots come December.) People are so excited, in fact, that Kirin is releasing two Star Wars-themed carbonated drinks next month! Star Wars fans in Japan will be delighted to hear that the major Japanese beverage manufacturer is collaborating with the movie franchise in releasing the “Kirin Mets Red Force” and “Kirin Mets Blue Force” on November 10, and we think the concept behind the drinks is actually quite cool!

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Slightly less sweet Coca-Cola Life has potential to do well in Japan, if it ever makes it there

This may be old news to any British, Swedish or South American readers, but most of North America and Asia have yet to experience Coca-Cola’s newest creation: Coca-Cola Life.

In the face of the all-natural health trend, last fall Coca-Cola released a green-labeled, Stevia-sweetened cola in select areas around the world as a kind of test run. Unfortunately, Japan was not one of those testing places, despite their predilection for weird-flavored sodas and possession of palates less accommodating to the super-sweet.

Rose Yokoyama, a writer from RocketNews24’s partner website Pouch, got her hands on some Coke Life in order to try to it before it makes its debut in Japan (if it ever does). Here’s what she thought of the green cola!

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The cold getting to you? Have a warm drink — from a vending machine!

Much has been said on the subject of the ubiquitous vending machines in Japan. Yes, vending machines seem to be lurking around every street corner here in Japan. And while hot beverages may not be among the most unusual products available from a vending machine, they can certainly offer you great comfort when you’re facing the bitter cold during the winter months.

And it turns out there’s quite a variety of hot drinks out there that you can buy from a machine, as a recent post on Japanese trend and information compilation site Naver Matome shows us. Let’s take a look at their selection of beverage options that may come in extremely handy when you’re caught outside in freezing weather.

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Lotteria’s new gum-flavored drink — refreshing treat or over-adventurous experiment?

We recently brought to you the news that fast food chain Lotteria will be offering their new Tsukemen Burger (dip-in-the-sauce noodles burger) later this month. Now, they’re following with another, shall we say … unique creation. This time, it’s a gum-flavored shake, and it comes in a bright green color!

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Carbonated tomato juice makes a reappearance in stores across Japan

Hate tomato juice? Maybe you’ll like sparkling tomato juice.

Kagome, a Japanese manufacturer of fruit and vegetable juices, has just announced the sale of Tomash, a carbonated tomato beverage. The drink is made from a combination of tomato juice mixed with lemon and ginger ale, and believe it or not, it’s back by popular demand.

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“Share a Coke” arrives in Spain! First Coca-Cola campaign in 60 years

The Coca-Cola Company recently launched a branding campaign in Spain, allowing consumers to personalize a Coca-Cola can or bottle with their name on it.

The global brand has achieved numerous marketing successes over the years, so it’s no surprise that the campaign received overwhelming response in just a couple of days. In fact, this award-winning “Share a Coke” campaign has been launched in several countries including Denmark, Australia, France and the UK, so some of you lucky people out there might already own one of those shiny red cans with your name on it. Nothing new, you might think, but there is a little twist behind the scenes this time.

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We Trick Five Beautiful Girls Into Drinking Feces Wine, “It has a refined and elegant flavor”

Ttongsul, or “feces wine”, is a traditional Korean beverage made from soaking human feces and medicinal herbs in soju alcohol for three to four months until it ferments.

Regular readers of our site may know that we managed to acquire two bottles of ttongsul earlier this year. This may have been a bit too much. While ttongsul doesn’t necessarily taste bad, it’s still poo and you don’t really feel inclined to knock it back like your nightly glass of scotch.

So here we are with several liters of feces wine that no one in the office wants to drink, the problem being that everyone knows what the stuff is made from. What does RocketNews24 do? Find five cute Japanese girls who have never heard of ttongsul, have them drink it for us, and then tell them there’s human feces in it after, or course!

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SoraNews24 Taste Test: Korean Feces Wine

As reported last week, SoraNews24 recently brought back two bottles of Ttongsul, or “feces wine,” from South Korea.

After running the story on our Japanese site, we received a fair bit of criticism from our Korean readers, who insisted that Ttongsul no longer existed in the country and this is just something Japan contrived to smear “mud” on Korea’s good name.

Getting our hands on the beverage was certainly no easy task, and we can tell you for certain that you won’t find bottles of it being sold on the shelves of Korean supermarkets. We imagine most Koreans today have never laid eyes nor lips on the beverage, nor would they want to.

Yet, believe it or not, here we are with two bottles of feces wine and only one thing left to do: serve a glass to the cutest girl in our office.

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Korean Feces Wine is a Real Thing and We’ve Got Two Bottles of it, Contains Cat Bones as Well

Ttongsul, or “feces wine”, is a Korean drink made by pouring soju, a distilled grain alcohol,  into a pit filled with chicken, dog, or human feces, and leaving the mixture in the pit for three to four months until it ferments. It is then extracted from the pit and drank straight, with the belief that it can cure illness and help in the aid of bone fractures.

It sounds like the stuff of urban legends, but Ttongsul is indeed a real beverage that, while by no means popular, can still be found if you know where to look.

How can we be sure? After nearly six months of extensive research, RocketNews24 was able to track down a private Ttongsul vendor in South Korea and procure a bottle of the elusive feces wine ourselves.

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