Outlandish Japanese flavors: Azuki (sweet bean) Pepsi
Not long ago you could find green tea flavored coca cola at convenience stores around Japan. Thankfully that scourge seems to have passed, but the age old rivalry between Pepsi and Coke wages on, and Pepsi has fired back with… sweet bean flavor? all…. right….
A bottle of Azuki-flavored Pepsi
Azuki is a bean commonly used in traditional Japanese sweets. I’m not sure if the bean itself is sweet or not, but it is nearly always used with a ton of sugar.
Azuki beans
Personally, I’m not really a fan of them. I like sweet things but Japanese candies made with azuki are usually just too sweet for me. But, since I have a blog about Japanese stuff I kinda feel obligated to try these things.
So, how is it?
Not bad. Better than the pizza-flavored instant yakisoba I had recently and the flavor does resemble azuki if you use your imagination a little. But something about it didn’t seem quite like azuki to me, so I checked the ingredients list for a hint…
Ingredients list on the back of the bottle.
A-ha! So that’s your secret: grapes. Actually, after reading that my mind picked up on the grapey-ness of the drink a lot better, and now I actually think it tastes more like grape than azuki. So, if you’re a grape soda fan, give azuki Pepsi a try! The drink contains no actual azuki, so it’s not like you’re drinking anything disgusting (well, not any more disgusting than a regular Pepsi).
Actually, Pepsi releases flavors that no one wants on a seasonal basis, probably in an attempt to try and build brand awareness and grab market share from Coca-cola, who is much more strongly positioned in the Japanese market. You can read more about stupid Pepsi flavors here: Shiso Pepsi and links to other silly flavors.
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More from Nihonshock…
My wife and I enjoy azuki bean soup and I assure you it is not sweet at all. They are actually quite bitter, which gives you an idea of just how much sugar is usually added.
I didn’t like the azuki pepsi, but I actually quite enjoyed the shiso pepsi.
by: David, Dec 27th at 5:30 am
Shiso Pepsi was passed out as the hazure prize for the losing teams at a Jubeat tournament a few months back. One guy took a swig and exclaimed how disgusting it was. It then turned into a competition of who could drink the most…
Around 80% of the 40+ Japanese there stopped after the first mouthful (myself also), a couple of people said they liked it, and one guy, while exclaiming that he loved it proceeded to grab the bottles from people who didn’t like it and downed 2 in less than a minute…
He was sick.
I have to state that my opinion on this drink is that it is the worst drink I have ever tasted…
…but then I’m not really into those “traditional” Japanese flavours…
by: DAZ-Y3, Jan 31st at 9:08 am
Just a note,果糖 ぶどう糖 is not “Grape sugar”, it is the Japanese for High Fructose Corn Syrup.
by: DD, Feb 9th at 8:24 pm
@DD: Oops! Thanks for the tip! I just read the ingredients label and took it at face value, should have researched better. (>_<;)
by: Lloyd Vincent, Feb 9th at 10:24 pm
Then don’t you think you should change the image if you realised you made a mistake? By now the whole thing is a bit misleading unless you take time to read the comments. And who the hell does that these days?
by: Kaleb, Jan 27th at 11:37 pm