Snack Nation: Cheerio Nanchatte Cola
These Cherio Nanchatte Cola bottles should become icons for indicating "beverage sensationalism" -- like those little hot red peppers on menus that indicate spiciness. Five Cheerio Nanchatte Cola bottles means "Extremely sensational, only for those with high tolerance to marketing gimmick."With the constantly revolving product choices at convenience stores, we can't help but go for the latest and strangest looking thing on the shelf. This week I was sucked into the vortex of Cheerio Nanchatte Cola -- a red carbonated beverage that comes in a bottle identical to a Tabasco sauce.
The soda does not actually taste like hot pepper sauce, however. The "nanchatte" in the product name -- meaning "Just kidding" -- lets us in on the joke right off the bat.
Last year, relatively obscure Osaka beverage company Cheerio -- makers of fashionable camouflage soda Lifeguard -- released its first Nanchatte soda that came in a mock soy sauce bottle. The soda flavor was not soy sauce, but orange. Get it?
So what is the actual flavor for the pepper sauce Nanchatte? I just drank half a bottle, and I still have no idea. There is a slightly pepper-y taste, but I am pretty sure that is psychosomatic. The general effect is the "generic sweetness" that often shows up in wacky Japanese cola flavors like Pepsi Azuki, Pepsi Ice Cucumber and Pepsi Shiso. Why can't gimmicky sodas have an interesting taste?
Despite these complaints, I can't help but recommending Cheerio Nanchatte Cola. Just kidding.
