Calpis Soft Candy Grape Flavour カルピス ソフトキャンディー ぶどう味

I think everyone is pretty familiar with Calpis - a yoghurt flavoured drink that sends all gaijin into fits of uncontrollable giggles when anyone actually says the word, which sounds like "cow piss" to foreign ears.

My friends and I always laughed when Yasu said it and he could never work out why - until I let him in on the joke, and even then he didn't think it was funny. I guess it's just gaijin humour.

Anyway, Calpis have the original yoghurt drink and they also have various takes on the original by mixing it with grape, apple, orange, and various other fruit flavours.

I've had the grape flavour Calpis drink and I quite liked it, so that is why I bought the soft candy in the same flavour. They also had another flavour which was apple & honey, but I thought it seemed too much like something you would have when you're sick with the flu.

The pack has 22.1 calories and 10 pieces inside. That works out to 2.21 calories per piece which is pretty good.

The soft candy resembles a high chew piece except it's a bit wider and flatter. It's a light taro purple on the outside and it has white on the outside. The outside of the pack has a picture and indicates that the purple outside is "budou" (grape), and the inside is plain flavour.

The outside of the candy is in between soft and hard. It's called soft candy, but it's not as soft as it could be. The grape flavour is really strong at first but then the "plain" Calpis flavour in the middle kicks in and starts to overtake the grape flavour. The yoghurt taste is overpowering and the grape ends up taking a backseat to the yoghurt.

I was slightly disappointed by this candy because I thought it was going to be like eating Grape Hubba Bubba, with that total grape experience. I don't mind the original Calpis flavour but why have something called Grape, if it's actually Yoghurt with a hint of grape? Rather confusing.

If you like yoghurt with your grapes then this won't disappoint you. If you are expecting loads of grape flavour then forget it.

Brand: Calpis Calories per pack: 22.1 Website: http://www.candypark.com

Calpis Sour Chuhai カルピス・サワー チュウハイ

Browsing Yamanaka Frante I found a whole aisle full of Chuhai. Chuhai is an alcoholic drink, usually made from vodka and juice or soda, the traditional type is made with shochu mixed with lemon, from which it gets the name chuhai - a mixture of shochu and highball.

A whole variety of flavours were packed into the shelves - peach, grapefruit, lemon, plum, pineapple, orange, grape, mango, apple, and the list goes on.

I chose one that interestingly had a soft drink mixed with it - Calpis - a kind of yoghurt flavoured uncarbonated drink. Because this Calpis has 5% Vodka mixed in, it is called Calpis Sour.

The can itself contains 350ml. On a further inspection of the ingredients I found that there is also filtered water, hence the image of the ice on the bottom of the can, I guess it is meant to be a similar feeling to "on the rocks".

When I opened the can I couldn't actually smell any alcohol, only the faintly sweet lemon-y smell of regular Calpis. The first taste is quite like regular calpis, smooth, sweet, lemony, with hints of yoghurt, but right at the end the strength of the alcohol kicks in, and I don't think it is sour, but it is quite strong and rather unpleasant.

The flavour emerges on the top of my mouth and the middle of my tongue, the real strength of the vodka and the lemon notes of the Calpis. I feel my cheeks going warm, and extending down my throat. This is strong for me, but I am not sure why. I usually drink mixed drinks, as in Vodka and juice, usually around 5%, so I can't really fathom why this rubs me the wrong way.

Maybe Japanese Vodka has a different taste to what I am used to. I definitely wouldn't buy this again, mostly because of the strong taste of alcohol at the end. It is not a drink that is mixed well, rather it is soft drink at the beginning and alcohol at the end. I also don't get any notion of the 'sour' mentioned in the name of the drink.

This wasn't even good as a novelty drink, though I am sure some people out there enjoy it. Sadly I am not one of them.