I don’t speak Japanese. At all. I’m thankful to live at a time where Google is able to translate foreign languages for me. I came across this fun beverage at Uwajimaya and quickly learned two things. Suika is the Japanese word for watermelon, and Tomomasu is a Japanese beverage company.
Based on the ingredients alone I didn’t have high hopes for this soda. It looks like the same sort of corn syrup and artificial ingredient cocktail as most generic sodas in the US, but the cute packaging convinced me to give it a chance. There’s a special place in my heart reserved for products with novelty packaging. Also, this 10 ounce bottle fit perfectly in my hand. So, points for aesthetics, but how did it taste?
Fine. It was fine. While I’ve never had a watermelon soda before, I’ve had a lot of watermelon in my life. I’ve even had quite a few watermelon based juice beverages (agua fresca), but those were never carbonated and were generally mixed with coconut water and other fruits. This soda was bright and fizzy, had a distinct “this is watermelon” taste. That was about it. I’d call it a toned-down soda version of a watermelon Jolly Rancher. I felt it was a bit over-sweet and would have preferred something dryer.
Ultimately, I’m struggling to give it more than a 6 out 10 on my rating scale.
I understand anything on it, but here’s a link to their facebook page. If you want to find a bottle, I picked this up at Uwajimaya grocery store in Seattle. Sampled 9/2017.
The Sodafry 