Kimura Annin Ramune 木村 杏仁ラムネ

I've had this bottle of Ramune sitting in my fridge for a while. I bought it on a whim. Annin is almond flavour. I've tried Annin Kit Kat before and so I thought Ramune would be good.

In Japan the most popular use of Annin is in Annin Dofu, a kind of almond pudding, borrowed from China I think.

I've noticed this brand of Ramune don't use the traditional glass bottles but a plastic version which is easier to release the small ball in the centre.

At first the soda just tastes like lemonade, flat lemonade at that, as there is not very much fizz at all. Then after swallowing there is a big hit of almond flavour at the back of my throat, and mixed with the lemonade flavour becomes a taste of childhood nightmares aka kids medicine.

Hubby had one sip of this and told me I could have his bottle as well, because no way is he drinking something that tastes like medicine. He said that the cold and flu medicine in Japan tastes the same.

Oh well. I'm not a fan of this Ramune, but I guess I'll end up drinking it. It's a shame they couldn't pull it off, at least the bottle cover is cute, I think that is the only thing going for it!

Meidi-ya My Syrup Blue Ramune めいじや マイシロップ ブルー ラムネ風味

It's getting quite hot in Australia now as we are well and truly into summer. Today was 36 degrees and the perfect day for Kakigori (かき氷).

So I decided to open a new bottle of syrup. It's by a company called Meidi-ya and the flavour is Blue "Ramune" which is a basic soda or "lemonade" in Japan.

The syrup is bright blue and smells sweet. It's quite thin but is full of flavour. It tastes really sweet and like lemonade without the bubbles. I had condensed milk over the top and it was a match made in heaven.

I would fully recommend this, it's so yummy. I'll be having this again soon I think!