Lotte Drink Mix Candy いろいろたのしいドリンクミックス

This bag of candy was another gift from my generous sister in law in Japan. The packet is meant to look like a vending machine.

All the drinks in this bag you can actually buy from vending machines, but also supermarkets and convenience stores. They are what one would refer to as "for your health", or what I think Japanese people think are for their health but are not actual health drinks bar one.

They are all citrus in flavour, but apart from that they probably have loads of sugar, so not actually a 'real' health drink if you know what I mean!

There are 5 drinks and 5 individually wrapped candies for each flavour, making 25 candies in the bag.



Dakara

This has the refreshing taste of white grapefruit, just like the drink that I love so much! I really enjoyed this candy, it only had a hint of sweetness, more sourness, which I liked because it didn't make me thirsty.

C.C. Lemon

An oldie but a goodie, a big hitter in the popularity stakes, kind of a staple like Vegemite to Australia. This has a fizzy texture and a tart lemon flavour. The texture of the candy is quite hard and has a lot of lines in the candy itself, abit hard on my tongue, but the flavour is consistent with the real life drink. I liked this but my tongue didn't.



Natchan! Orange

My husband loves this drink, it's his absolute favourite. I'm not sure if it's because of the cute image on the packaging or the taste itself, but I have to admit, I like it too. Natchan! kind of reminds me of the from concentrate orange juice drinks we get here that are diluted with water. It's not 'real' freshly squeezed juice, but it has that smooth flavour that kids love. The candy was exactly the same in flavour and texture as the drink, the candy is quite smooth in texture, the taste is very orangey.

Bikkle

A stalwart of the yoghurt type drinks in Japan, this is along the same lines as Yakult pro-biotic drink. You can taste the custard like notes in this first off, and the the tang of the yoghurt. Very true to the real life drink, I really enjoyed this candy because it offered something different. It was smooth and tangy but with a real dairy feel.

Dekavita

This comes in a brown bottle in Japan - this is how Japanese manufacturers know they are not messing around, this is the real deal mate. Or something like that. Well, it looks more professional for a 'health drink' than coming in a pet bottle! I've never actually had the real drink and judging from the candy, I'm not sure if I want to! It's quite fizzy, sour, and with no real sweetness at all. It's like sucking on a sour lemon candy. The texture of the candy is quite rough too so it ripped up my tongue when I sucked on it too hard. No smiles here.

These are all real winners for me except Dekavita. Though if you like your candy sour, then I'm sure you would like it.

Natchan なっちゃん

I picked up this bottle of Natchan! at the same time as the Vitamin Water in my previous post.

It too, was only ¥98. The front of the bottle claims that there is Vitamin C and 20% juice. This is the original orange flavour and is a childhood favourite of Yasu's. I kind of feel guilty having it while he is not here!

The side of the bottle states that Florida Oranges were used for the juice contained in Natchan!

There are 39 kilocalories, and 16~60mg of Vitamin C.

I love the bottle for it's cuteness. The smell when I open the lid is kind of a very weak orange scent, but when I take a sip I get the taste of freshly squeezed oranges, some sweetness and kind of tart. The aftertaste is a slight watered down flavour, the majority of the taste of orange is when it is in my mouth. It is not overly sweet either, like some juice can be. I'm not so much a fan of the aftertaste, I've never liked watered down orange juice. I do like the taste of the drink though. It reminds me of sunday morning, drinking freshly squeezed juice with eggs on toast.

This is a great children's drink, and great to revisit as I haven't had it for over 5 years. I am not sure if the taste may have changed since then, but I like it the same as I did then.

If anything, if you don't like the taste, I am sure you will like the bottle, I give it 10 points for cuteness!