Keep Cool This Summer With Ramune

I've written before about ramune, the Japanese soda that tastes a lot like Sprite. At it's core, that's what it is:

A sugary sweet clear soda. It comes in a bottle unlike any other, with a glass ball keeping the soda from spilling or going flat. Bottles of ramune are much smaller than the usual PET bottles of standard soda, but there is enough to give refreshment.

Ramune comes in a whole rainbow of colors with flavors to match, but until recently I've been stuck with only the regular flavor. My local 100 yen shop stocked the primary colors now that things have gotten hotter.

Green is melon. You'll find melon flavored candies year-round, and melon soda is always available in many restaurants. Bottled melon soda is more easily found in summer, but melon ramune (at least, this brand) is a little less sweet with a milder flavor. It was okay, but not something I'd drink regularly. I prefer regular melon soda, otherwise this would be good.

Next is the Blue Hawaii flavor. I guess Blue Hawaii is this year's yuzu (a lemon-like citrus fruit which was really popular last summer). I drank Blue Hawaii soda for the first time just a few weeks ago, and again the ramune version wasn't as sweet. But in this case that brought out the "blue" flavor, whatever that is. It reminds me a little bit of raspberry. Again, a tasty drink, but not one I'll chase after.

Finally, I went with the pink strawberry ramune. This wasn't overly sweet, but the mild strawberry flavor worked well and gave a nice balance. Of the four flavors here, strawberry might be my favorite, with the original lemon flavor coming in a close second.

By the way, ramune (rah-moo-nay) is a take on the word "lemonade" because the original flavor, like Sprite, is lemon.

If you're looking for a little more about ramune, here is my first post. Fuji mentioned he likes melon flavor... and since last year I've discovered that flavors like kimchi and octopus do exist. I found the company that makes them. And I will eventually have them in my belly. I just have to figure out how to order them...