Ramune Japanese Soft Drink Original Flavor

Ramune has to be one of the coolest and most unique soft drinks that I have ever seen. My kids had been dying to try this stuff ever since they had come across it on J-Box, the popular Japanese import webshop. Ramune is incredibly popular in it's native Japan, and now it looks like the fun is beginning to spread here in the States.

To open a bottle of Ramune, you have to remove the top, pop out this little plastic plunger from it's casing, and then use the plunger to pop out a marble that seals the neck of the bottle. The neck of the bottle has two indentions that will hold the marble when you tip the bottle back to drink from it, keeping the neck of the bottle clear. Hold the bottle the wrong way, and the marble will clog things up. You can avoid carbonated overflow when opening by pressing gently on the plunger until it depresses the marble; knock it down with force and you're sure to get a fountain of spray.

The original flavor reviewed here tastes a lot like Sprite, but Ramune also comes in several other flavors. It uses high fructose corn syrup and/or cane sugar as a sweetener (It lists both on the label, which usually means that it uses whatever is cheapest on the world market at the time of bottling. Listing both also means that they don't have to change their labeling every time they change sweetener.)

This is a way fun product that kids (and most adults) will have a blast with. It's a smaller portion (8 ounces) than what we're used to here in the US, but that actually works out for us as we're trying to limit the amount of soda that our kids consume. Ramune works great as an occasional soda treat and the fun factor alone keeps us coming back for more. Ramune is easy to find at just about any Asian market, but for those who don't have easy access to one, ordering here on Amazon would be recommended.

Also, for the safety conscious, I can attest that these drinks are very safe. We've never had a problem with the marble, and I can't find any reports on the internet that would indicate any safety concerns with this drink. It's not a choking hazard, in other words. Ramune means 'carbonated' in Japanese, and I can highly recommend this wonderful and very different drink.