Ito-en Oolong-cha(Oolong Tea Drink)

About
Ito-en's Oolong Tea was first born in 1980, and sold soon after in March 1981 as a canned Oolong Tea drink. It was claimed by Ito-en to be the world's first Oolong tea drink. In 1986, the PET bottle version of the drink was sold, also a world first.

Taste
The taste is surprisingly good and makes for a good refreshment.

Caffeine Zero Namacha (カフェインゼロ生茶)

About
Namacha is a brand of bottled green tea sold by Japanese beverage company, Kirin. Namacha was first sold on March, 2000 while the caffeine-less version was sold on April, 2014.
Shown here is the "Caffeine-Zero Namacha". On the label, it is printed that they now use 1.6 times more tea leaves than before and brew the tea at 70°C. It is also claimed on the label that Namacha is the world's first bottled green tea to have less than 0.001g/100ml of caffeine.

Taste
Compared to other bottled green tea brands, Namacha seems to have a smooth, velvety taste and also has a subtlely sweet aftertaste. It's a good drink, but don't expect bottled green tea to taste like freshly brewed green tea; the taste is a little different. The same can be said for other bottled green tea brands as well.
Compared with the normal Namacha, there seems to be no difference in taste.

Fanta Mango ファンタ豊潤マンゴー

Fanta Houjun Mango is a mango-flavored Fanta drink sold in Japan since 2014.

Taste
Despite having no mango juice inside, the taste of the drink is not artificial at all. This maybe due to the drink not using any artificial sweeteners. Overall, it's a fruity drink that tastes like carbonated mango juice.

Calpis Welch's Crush Muscat

Calpis Welch's Crush Muscat is a carbonated, muscat-grape-flovored drink sold by Calpis in Japan. It's quite unique in that it contains 20% real muscat grape juice; most drinks only have a few percent of juice contained inside.

Taste
The first impression I got from the drink was that it was a very fruity drink with a strong muscat flavor. The drink contains sweeteners and is very sweet; personally, I find it a little too sweet. There is some fizz to the drink, but not much.
Overall, I would describe it as "sweetened carbonated muscat grape juice".

Sokenbicha Sukkiri Blend

Sokenbicha(爽健美茶) is the most popular blended tea drink sold in Japan. It was originally introduced into the market as a rival product to Asahi's "Jurokucha".

A New Blend
Last year, a vote was held to decide whether or not the new "Sukkiri Blend" tasted better than the old, original blend. Personally, I preferred the original blend as the new blend tasted a bit watery and light. That was not surprising as, "Sukkiri(すっきり)" literally means "clear / refreshing". The new blend incorporates 2 new ingredients, yomogi and black sesame, while ridding of pu-erh, green tea, biwa leaves, tochu leaves, and germinated brown rice. By ridding of green tea and pu-erh, the the new drink has become caffeine-free.
The results of the voring, announced May last year, was 824,441votes for the new taste and 716,504 votes for the old one.
So now, only the new Sokenbicha can be seen around Japan.

Taste
Sokenbicha tastes mainly of barley and brown rice, but the other ingredients give it a nice flowery and aromatic taste to it. This can be said for both the new and old tastes of Sokenbicha.
Since Sokenbicha has such a unique flavor, the best way to find out about the taste is to drink it yourself.

Comment
Even after the change in blend, Sokenbicha is still one of my favorite drinks. Healthy, aromatic and refrshing, Sokenbicha is something I would likely buy on a hot summer day.

Schweppes Fruit Vinegar Zero - Muscat Lemon

Introduced into the Japanese market on July 28, 2014, “Schweppes Fruit Vinegar Zero - Muscat Lemon” is one unique drink that uses 10ml of lemon, wine, and muscat grape “fruit vinegar”. It is also zero-calorie and is targeted at women in their 20s~40s.

Taste

“Schweppes Fruit Vinger Zero – Muscat Lemon” does not contain any juice whatsoever, and I was surprised that the drink tasted so fruity. I would say that the taste of grapes is stronger than that of the lemons.

As the name suggests, you can taste the sourness of the vinegar which tastes more acidic than that of lemon juice. However, the sourness goes well with the drink and is not disturbing at all. And as with most zero-calorie drinks, the drink uses sweeteners and is quite sweet, maybe a little too sweet.

Overall, it's a fruity, sweet and sour drink.

ZERO SPARKLING Lime - Pokka Sapporo

Today's review is about this seasonal, limited-time, drink that was introduced in July 7th, 2014.

With a scent of citrus bursting out with every bubble, "ZERO SPARKLING Lime" is one very refreshing drink.

The drink is slightly bitter, just like real lime. However, the taste of lime maybe a little weak compared to the sufficient acidity of the drink.

Sweet and refreshing, and also zero-calorie, it's a nice drink to have in the summer.