02.20.10

Marble Pop Original Flavor

Posted in 1.5 Wasabi Pea Rating, Beverage, Ramune at 12:38 am by Boo



Oh this is quaint. While I was shopping at Meijers (a local super store chain) I happened to be looking at the Jones Soda/Stewarts Soda etc. shelf (they separate them funny sodas from the regular Pepsi and Coke sodas) and lo! Ramune! At first I thought Meijers had gotten all international on me but when I picked up one of the Ramune (Marble Pop as it says on the label) I discovered that this “Product of Japan” is distributed out of Santa Fe Springs, California and the labeling is clearly designed for the American Consumer. There is even the standard list of states of refunds along the side and all sorts of warnings on the label. Do not Swallow plunger. Contents under pressure, open carefully. Adults should open the bottle for small children and supervise drinking. Do not try to remove glass ball to avoid injury. Do not freeze bottle or store it in direct sunlight. Do not consume if glass ball is broken, missing, or descended before opening. Refrigerate before opening.

Woah, that’s a lot of warnings. So what can you do? Well, you can “Pop for fun” (written on the wrapper near the bottle opening mechanism) and there is a helpful schematic on the side with wooshy action lines telling you how to open the ramune.


Hee, there is even a fun Bubble Pop mascot.

Fortunately, I was reviewing this over at Guinea Pigs Badmovie and LunarGeography’s house and LG had some Ramune in original flavor so we did a compare and contrast. First of all…


The contenders. On the left: Marble Pop. On the Right: Ramune. Marble pop is a little taller and in general bluer looking. I think that is because Ramune has a while label.


The poppers. Ramune wins for bubble poppers because the rounded holder bottom fits snuggly over the drinking platform while the Marble Pop just sort of hovers there…until you take the wrapper off. At which point it is most likely to skitter off to somewhere.


The stupid drinking platforms are pretty much identical. ARGH!

And now, taste. Ramune was carbonated beverage-y with a unidentified citrus quality and a very disappointing bubbly. Marble pop is…well following nicely in Ramune’s footsteps. It has that small disappointing carbonation and tasted generically pop-ish (soda-ish, cola-ish, coke-ish, whatever) with not much flavor at all but a slight sweet with a poor quality bubblegum aftertaste. There isn’t even a vague citrus to add character. In comparing Ramune to Marble Pop, I hate to say it but Ramune is coming out the winner by a citrusy hair and a touch more carbonation. I never thought I say THAT about Ramune!

Rating of 1.5 Wasabi Peas out of a possible 5.

4 Comments »

  1. Edward said,

    March 12, 2010 at 9:28 am

    The ramune that I have tried also had a bubblegum taste. I was under the impression that Ramune could be any liquid that was carbonated and sold in a marble bottle, was I wrong?
    I digg those bottles though! I wish I could find some glass ones arond here…

  2. Boo said,

    March 29, 2010 at 10:42 am

    Huh! I always thought Ramune was the name brand of bubbly soda like liquid rather than a generic term for bubbly soda like liquid. I will have to ask my Japanese friends (or perhaps wait for someone with more knowledge to post a comment here) what the case is with Ramune. I do like the feel of holding the bottle (and also rattling the marble around) but I still hate the drinking platform. Always will. FAH!

  3. Sara said,

    September 14, 2010 at 8:03 pm

    I love these drinks! They are so good and I like how if you end up dropping it, the small ball stops it. Only a tiny bit gets out before the ball stops it and it works like a lid. Yeah that is a lot of warnings but I think with todays world, you need the warnings because some idiot would try to do these things. And may end up suing so if they do put them on, they can’t get in trouble. Smart on their part all the way around.

  4. Boo said,

    September 27, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    HOHA! OK so there is a redeeming feature to the gerbil ball drinking platform, I didn’t think about what happens when you drop one of these. I still don’t like it but at least it has a function now.

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