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Jun 15 2008 6 Comments

Japanese drinks #2: Pepsi’s blue brew

The Japanese drinks industry is in no way deficient of diversity, with a constantly changing range of products to choose from. However, that said, foreign firms have still managed to find some space in a seemingly saturated market, and in particular, cola giants Pepsi and Coca have a considerably strong presence.

In fact, Pepsi’s position is so secure that it can happily subject an unsuspecting public to sickening summer specials, with last year’s cucumber-based abomination now being followed by the equally awful Blue Hawaii.

pepsi Blue Hawaii

A concoction that is a bizarre mix of pineapple and lemon along with the customary cola, which, while far from pleasant, just about conceals the colossal number of chemicals that must have been included to create its dazzling blue hue.

Meaning a comforting Kit Kat is the ideal treat to counter the beverage’s additive-addled aftertaste, while at the same time offering Pepsi a pertinent lesson in how to successfully produce a special edition that is not only tasty, but also way too tempting to turn down.

pepsi Blue Hawaii

Categorized: Food and Drink

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jamie says

    6/15/2008 at 10:12 am

    Cucumber was lovely, as is this. I picked some up on Friday, and personally I thinki it tastes very Hawaiian and very blue, both of which are good things.

    Blue color is pretty easy actually, like Blue Curacao. I think giving it no color at all would require a bigger dumptruck of chemicals. Anyone remember that clear drink? Tab Clear was it??

    Reply
  2. Neil Duckett says

    6/15/2008 at 4:07 pm

    Reminds me of a mouth wash ….. will give it a go when i see it in the shops though.

    Reply
  3. Paul says

    6/17/2008 at 8:45 pm

    Green tea Kit-Kats? The most elaborate you get here in the UK is Orange or Dark Chocolate.

    There may have been a Cappucino version, but you would probably get lynched on the street if found eating one here.

    Reply
  4. Ken Y-N says

    6/18/2008 at 7:25 am

    Paul, there’s about one new KitKat flavour every two months or so here! This year I’ve tried adzuki bean (excellent), strawberry (OK), salty caramel (excellent), and sakura cherry (not so good). I think I also passed on another flavour as their white chocolate base ones are usually sickly sweet.

    Reply
  5. Ken Y-N says

    6/18/2008 at 11:14 pm

    Funnily enough, just after talking about KitKats I went shopping and found not one but two new flavours; Double Berry, strawberry plus cranberry in Fun Size, then Triple Berry, double plus blueberry in standard four-finger pack.

    Reply
  6. Robert says

    7/10/2012 at 7:10 am

    the japanese have managed to make a tasty green tea version of just about everything.

    Reply

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