Posted on 06/13/2007 1:12:42 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan
TOKYO - Japanese are staying cool as a cucumber this summer with "Pepsi Ice Cucumber" — a new soda based on the crisp green gourd.
The soft drink, which hit stores here on Tuesday, doesn't actually have any cucumber in it — but has been artificially flavored to resemble "the refreshing taste of a fresh cucumber," said Aya Takemoto, spokeswoman of Japan's Pepsi distributor, Suntory Ltd.
"We wanted a flavor that makes people think of keeping cool in the summer heat," Takemoto said. "We thought the cucumber was just perfect."
The mint-colored soda is on sale just for the summer and only in Japan, Takemoto said. She said initial sales were brisk, and Suntory aims to sell 200,000 cases over the next three months.
Pepsi trails behind industry leaders Coca Cola (Japan) Company, with about 15 percent of the Japanese cola market, and also faces stiff competition from non-fizzy bottled drinks like green tea and coffee, which are popular here.
Suntory said it sold 20.5 million cases of Pepsi brand drinks in 2006, including its popular Pepsi NEX zero-calorie soda.
I had a yogurt drink in Turkey that I believe was called “Ayran”. It didn’t have cucumbers in it, though.
( actually , this is just a FR *bookmark* )
but you’re correct-a-mundo Uncledave , ...
ask me if you’d like me to FReepmail you with some of what I’ve learned , .. and my dietary intake , as of late
no , I’m not a goofy healthNUT , my wife scolds me , “DON’T eat the kids’ snacks!”
I'm with you. I think it can be accomplished by adjusting a few settings on the amazing "Bass-O-Matic".
You lika da sauce eh?
This is a staple at a lot of delis. It's an "acquired taste..."
Mark
Don't get me started on the health drinks. I had a miserable head cold one winter and one of the girls at the office asked me to give her 200 yen to buy something guaranteed to cure me. She brought back a little brown bottle that tasted like dredgings from a bilge tank. But damn, it worked! I still don't know what was in it.
Thanks...you just reminded me of something I have repressed for several decades....when I was young I was chewing a wad of gum it fell out of my mouth and into the grass, I picked it up and popped it back into my mouth only to crunch on a slug.
So, I take it neither you nor any of the other folk sneering at the idea have ever been stuck waiting for your wife at an upscale hair salon where they serve ice water with cucumber slices floating in it.
It’s actually a pleasant beverage, more thirst quenching than plain water, though no where as good a beer.
No. We have two cars in our family.
I really miss Calpis (known over here as Calpico). We used to buy the big bottles of concentrate. Who'd a thunk something that good was made from fermented milk???
So do we, but my wife’s salon for a couple of years was in a mall I liked shopping at. . .
I don’t know about trout flavored coffee but in Thailand, I have come across fish flavored ice cream and grass flavored soda. Yummmmmm.
We just had a Mediter-Meditter-a Greek restaurant open here in town. It is sooooo nice having something besides Chinese, Mexican, burgers, and pizza from which to choose. And I love everything so far : the lamb kabobs, the pita and hummus, the tzatziki, the gelato, the-well, everything!
The perfect drink for washing down raw fish.
Actually, if it’s slightly sweetened, it would probably be a very refreshing drink; especially in late July to mid August in Japan when it’s hot and muggy in the cities.
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