Fujiya Mix Nectar

Back when I sampled Fujiya's Peach Nectar, one of the commenters asked me if there were other of this type of beverages. At that time, I hadn't encountered any other varieties. Unbeknown to me, Fujiya's fruit alchemists ("fruitologists") had been laboring in the laboratories perfecting new nectar concoctions. I'm guessing that they have enslaved legions of hummingbirds as guinea pigs for the quality of their nectar. Any day now, I expect PETA's Japan chapter to protest Fujiya's headquarters and insist on setting the tiny birds free.


This "mix" variety was released in February this year, but distribution seems to have been limited to certain markets. I found this for about a dollar (100 yen) at Seiyu supermarket. The size is smaller than the peach nectar, which comes in a 12 oz. (350 ml.) can. This is a small carton with 200 ml. (8.8 oz.). There's a straw strapped on to the back and a foil-covered hole on the top which you can use to violate the carton and suck out its sweet contents. Like the peach version, this also contains 30% fruit puree and a decent amount of sugar. The fruits included are peaches, apples, mangoes, bitter orange, orange, banana, and pineapple.

The juice doesn't have much of a strong scent, but if you inhale deeply, it smells like a generic fruit mix. The taste is like a fruit bowl in your mouth. It hits you all at once and most of the fruit can be detected in different sips. The apple is the easiest to pick out, but all of the other fruits are present as well. The banana seems to hit you last. The main difference between this and the peach is that the peach is smooth and sweet all the way through and this has some of the sour notes of pineapple and citrus in it.

This is very, very nice. I prefer the peach version to Fujiya's Nectar drinks, but if I didn't have the option of drinking the peach and was in the mood for some sweet, high quality fruit juice, I wouldn't hesitate to pick this up. Note that there is one more nectar flavor, mango, which was also released in late February of this year which I have not seen on any local shelves yet.