Jurokucha - Taste & Review

About
Jurokucha is a tea blend that was originally developed by Chanson Cosmetics in 1985 and was sold Japanese brewer and soft drinks company, Asahi as a bottled beverage in 1993. According to Chanson Cosmetics, the idea of Jurokucha is based on the philosophy of Kampo(Traditional Chinese medicine in Japan) and is marketed as a healthy drink.
In Japanese, "Juuroku" literally means "16" while "cha" means, "tea". The naming derives from the fact that the drink is brewed using 16 ingredients. The blend of ingredients change from time to time, and the ingredients inside the newest version(2015) are as follows:
Job's tears(hato mugi)
Barley
Habu
Brown rice
Germinated barley
Loquat leaves(biwa leaves)
Corn
Black Soybeans(Kuromame)
Chamecrista nomame
Germinated Brown Rice
Kelp
Shiitake mushrooms
Guava leaves
Mulberry leaves
Jujube
Young balrley leaves

Coca Cola Japan's "Sokenbicha", a blended tea drink similar to Jurokucha, was released following the success of Jurokucha.

Taste
The taste of the drink is much like barley tea but the added ingredients give the drink a distinct and sophisticated flavor. It is non-caffeinated and makes for a good drink on hot summers.

Reference
http://www.chanson.co.jp/product/16/16cha.html

Mitsuya Fruit Cider Lychee

Introduced in June of this year, this drink is "Mitsuya Fruit Cider Lychee" sold by Asahi.

Taste
Despite the fact that the drink only contains 1% lychee juice, the taste of lychee is strong and goes well with the taste of Mitsuya Cider. The carbonation is not that strong, which makes for one easy-to-drink soft drink.
Overall, it's one fruity and tasty drink that I might consider buying again.

Spiral Grape Gold

Gold vs Red
This is the gold version of Spiral Grape and was introduced after the original "red"(Idk why it's red and not purple officially) Spiral Grape. Unlike the "red" one, the gold one does not contain salsify and dandelion, and does not taste like liquorice. It's light with a strong aroma and taste of grape. Not surprisingly, the drink does not contain any juice and the taste of the grape is somewhat artificial like Fanta.
According to the official website of Spiral Grape, it claims the drink has a strong fizz to it but I would have to say that the fizz is rather weak. Overall, it's not a bad drink and I would say the gold version is better than the "red" (or purple) Spiral Grape as I don't like liquorice-like taste of the red one.

Advertising
The advertising for Spiral Grape was aggressive and I still remember the numerous commercials that were broadcast almost every commercial break a few months ago.
You can view the commercials at the drink's official site.

WILKINSON MIXING Blood Orange

Taste
The taste is something in between grapefruit and orange. I can't say if it tastes like blood orange since I haven't tasted blood orange in its raw form. Surprisingly, the drink does not contain any natural juice so the taste is somewhat artificial and fanta-like.
It  also uses natural coloring to give it that blood orange color.

Zeitaku Mitsuya Cider Green Kiwi

This taste of Mitsuya Cider was released on May 20th of 2014 and is a part of the "Zeitaku Mitsuya"series by Asahi.

Taste

Despite the fact that the drink uses less than 10% of green kiwi juice from New Zealand, the taste of kiwi stands out a lot and complements the taste of Mitsuya Cider nicely.

It is what it is, a Mitsuya Cider with a kiwi taste.