Think summer in Japan, and an image of ramune being consumed on warm festival days and nights comes to mind. Almost every anime series set in summer has a scene showing a cicada on a tree and the characters with a bottle of ramune in the sizzling summer heat. Ramune is a carbonated soft drink, originally flavoured lemon-lime, widely known for its distinctive glass bottle that’s sealed with a marble. The name ‘ramune’ is the word ‘lemonade’ transliterated into Japanese.

This is Tomomasu Frula La France Pear, ramune flavoured with La France pear, a popular variety of pear originating in France and cultivated in Japan in Yamagata Prefecture. Yamagata is known as the Kingdom of Fruits, and La France is praised as the Queen of the Fruits in the Kingdom. Here, the distinctive fragrance and flavour of La France pears came through brightly in both the smell and taste, reminding one of sweet and juicy ripe pears. The beverage was colourless and just the right sweetness.

The delicious pear flavour was very refreshing as a result of the increased carbonation of ramune in Codd-neck bottles. According to Wikipedia:

The Codd-neck bottle was designed and manufactured to enclose a marble and a rubber washer/gasket in the neck. The bottles are filled upside down, and pressure of the gas in the bottle forced the marble against the washer, sealing in the carbonation. The bottle was pinched into a special shape to provide a chamber into which the marble was pushed to open the bottle. This prevented the marble from blocking the neck as the drink was poured.

Each ramune bottle comes with a device to push the marble inward. The increased carbonation creates tinier bubbles than soft drinks in ordinary glass bottles, PET bottles or cans, and indeed makes it a much more refreshing and thirst-quenching beverage. We’ve tried ramune in a PET bottle before and it just doesn’t taste the same! Although that might be because it wasn’t ice cold.

This Tomomasu Frula La France Pear contained 200 ml. It was bottled in Japan, and purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2016.