Cola (Page 3)
Warabi mochi is usually flavored with soybean powder, but not in the case of these treats from Osaka.
Although they are stopping just short of calling it an actual “health cola,” Coca-Cola Plus is the latest addition to the health-oriented cola war in Japan.
While a one-litre (two-pint) bottle of Pepsi usually contains 1.0 GV (gas volume), these much smaller bottles now pack 5.0 GV in more than half the size.
Finally, the great taste of a fried pork cutlet drenched in thick curry that you can slip in your coat pocket without getting wet!
A young man recently had a brush with death after his epic snacking caused his stomach to fill with so much gas that it nearly exploded.
Both foreigners and Japanese folks agree, Calbee’s new cola-flavored chips are a big win. But you’ll have to be pretty lucky to get some for yourself!
Among brands who like to get adventurous with the flavors in Japan such as Kit Kat or Häagen- Dazs, Pepsi is certainly one of the most prolific. Past Pepsi flavors have included cucumber, strawberry milk, and salty watermelon.
This time, everyone’s favorite alternative to Coke has unleashed a new flavor called Pepsi Ghost, especially for the Halloween season. They’ve really outdone themselves too, because for this limited-edition outing the special flavor is unknown.
So unknown, in fact, that even after drinking about a litre of the stuff I still can’t quite put my finger on it.
Just last month we brought you news of its arrival and now it’s finally here! It’s the delicious/disgusting-sounding Eel Cola, made with real eel extract.
If the thought of drinking it makes you shudder, never fear: your intrepid RocketNews24 reporters have done the tasting for you. All the details after the break!
There are some food and beverage pairings pretty much everyone finds complementary. Wine and red meat. Milk and cookies. Draft beer and edamame soybeans.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are certain combinations we’ve learned to stay away from. Soda and Mentos, for example, are well-known to produce a volatile reaction if consumed together. But just where exactly is the human body’s threshold for these two incompatible mouth-mates?
Or, more specifically, where is RocketNews24 reporter P.K.’s body’s threshold?
So this morning, my boss asked me if I wanted to do a taste test of a new drink that just went on sale in Japan. I figured this was a pretty sweet assignment to snag for the day, and not just because at that same moment my boss was having some of the other RocketNews24 writers strip down to their underwear and pose for pictures as part of another project, which I would then have an excuse to sidestep.
See, the taste test was of a new carbonated barley-based beverage, and since beer is one of the wells I go to as a writer, I assumed my boss was talking about the world’s most popular alcoholic beverage. But nope, it turns out that there’s now barley soda in Japan, so I was off to the store to try some of this drink that’s devoid of alcohol but surprisingly full of mystery.
Japan, thanks to its obsession with limited-edition and seasonal foods, has come to be known for its unusual drinks and snacks that come out throughout the year – matcha-flavored Kit Kats, purple sweet potato milkshakes, and sakura flavored hamburgers to name but a few.
Soda is no exception in the world of weird flavors, what with shiso and salted watermelon flavors having graced store shelves in the past. But here’s an even crazier one for all of you adventurous eaters out there: grilled eel flavor soda.
Garlic flavored cola. Just let that sink in for a moment. Fizzy sweet cola with a pungent garlic taste. Yum? Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of weird food and drink come out of Japan, and as of January 9, there has been a new addition to that list.
Hailing from Aomori, the garlic capital of Japan, which has previously produced such delectables as garlic ice cream and garlic beer, “Jats Takkola,” is brought to us from the garlic center of the garlic capital of Japan, also known as “Garlic Town,” Sannohe Districts’ Takko Town.
The story of Momotaro is one of Japan’s oldest folktales, but a lot of its elements seem a little silly. For starters, the hero’s name translates as “Peach Boy.” His companions are a monkey, a dog, and a pheasant, who he wins over by giving them some sweet dumplings in exchange for their help against the story’s villains, who all have outie bellybuttons.
Goofy as these details may sound, though, the core of the tale is absolutely epic. A young hero who harnesses the power of wild beasts, then sails into the heart of demon territory to rumble with them on their island fortress? In a world where every literary and comic character is a candidate to become a darkly stylish action hero (heck, even Batman’s gritty reboot is getting its own gritty reboot), why hasn’t someone revamped Peach Boy into something closer to Peach Man?
Actually, someone already has, but you won’t find the new Momotaro in theatres, and while you might catch him flipping through the channels on TV, you can’t find his adventures scheduled in the program guide. That’s because this amazingly awesome version of Momortaro is actually a series of commercials from Pepsi.
In Japanese cuisine, one of the easiest dishes to prepare is ochazuke, or a bowl of rice mixed with tea. While you can spruce it up with things such as plum, salmon, or spicy cod roe, the rice and tea are really all you need.
But while almost all Japanese people enjoy an occasional ochazuke session, some foreigners find it a little unnatural to pour what’s generally a beverage over their food. The whole thing becomes even less attractive if you’re not a particularly big fan of the Japanese green tea that’s normally used.
So if you’re interested in gradually easing yourself into ochazuke, maybe you’d prefer to start with a less astringent beverage, like cola.
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