I should note that 7-Up is not a common drink in Tokyo. Occasionally, I see it in the odd vending machine, but it has much less market exposure than Coke or Pepsi. Note that 7-Up is distributed by the makers of Pepsi in Japan, so this isn't someone pilfering an idea (adding lots of caffeine as the selling point). It's more like a company that lacks imagination recycling one.
Just like the Pepsi Strong Shot, this boasts more caffeine, in this case 85 mg. for a 500 ml. bottle. This is about 10 mg. less than 8 oz. of brewed coffee so it isn't going to send you over the moon. Unlike the Pepsi Strong Shot, this isn't hyper-carbonated.
I passed on reviewing the Pepsi Strong Shot because I suspected that it was going to taste like regular Pepsi and, as the review from Marvo at the Impulsive Buy that I linked to above says, that is exactly what it was. The same can be said for this 7-Up. It tastes and smells just like regular Diet 7-Up with it's fairly clean lemon-lime flavors. The big difference is that the regular stuff is promoted as being caffeine-free as one of its selling points in the States and this Japanese version is full of wake-up drugs.
The main draw for me with this beverage is that it is a diet drink. This is the only zero calorie version of 7-Up in Japan and a welcome addition to the woefully small line-up of sugar-free and zero calorie soft drinks. While I am not a huge fan of 7-Up, I do like having the option to have it occasionally. Unfortunately, I'm guessing this "Clear Dry" thing will be short-lived and I'll have to stock up before it vanishes in the next few months if I want to occasionally enjoy a 7-Up without sugar.
If you are in Japan and want another calorie-free beverage, go buy up all of this that you can now. I found it at AM/PM convenience store for 147 yen ($1.72) and I think that it is unlikely that it'll show up more cheaply or at markets, though I hope I'm wrong about that. It's probably available at other convenience stores. However, if you're not a 7-Up fan, don't bother as this is certainly nothing special except for the extra caffeine.
9 comments:
The clear dry part sounds like deodorant to me and made me smile! I live in Canada now and here you can't have caffeine in clear (non-brown) soda, which mean so caffeine in your Mountain Dew (which totally defeats the only good point about Mountain Dew in my opinion).
I thought it sounded like a deodorant too! I always thought 7-Up was a little underappreciated. Its refreshing every once in a while.
I had no idea this was out there! Thanks for the post. I don't recall Coke putting out a unique drink this summer, do you?
I miss Pepsi so I quite liked the strong shot! It tasted a bit like the first drink out a machine that's just had new syrup put in it.
The 7UP is bland and shit like every other "zero" drink bollocks.
I probably wouldn't be able to drink any hyper-caffeinated drinks anymore. It's been more than a year since I've had to get up at 2am to get to work so my caffeine tolerance has probably gone out the window. Though I could see people mixing this with wine or something to get a bit of a buzz.
Have you tried Fanta Fun Mix? It's a blend of regular Coke with Fanta Orange. It's quite interesting - http://www.cocacola.co.jp/products/lineup/fanta39.html
They sell it at Daiei and Coop.
Have you tried Fanta Fun Mix? It's a blend of regular Coke with Fanta Orange. It's quite interesting - http://www.cocacola.co.jp/products/lineup/fanta39.html
They sell it at Daiei and Coop.
Japanibabe: I have seen that drink, but haven't tried it yet. I'm less likely to try something with sugar, but if I get through my backlog of snacks, I'll look it up!
That sounds like a really strange combination, you'd think the Coke would overwhelm the Fanta . . .
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