07.31.10
Mikakuto (soda & cola)
Here’s another taffy like entity from the In-Law’s grand Hawaii JSF snack buying trip. These particular taffy entities are cola and soda flavored and for a good part of the (American) country you may be confused because “soda” and “cola” are general terms for any carbonated drink. This could include Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Root beer, Sprite, Orange Pop or any other carbonated beverage you can think of save Rock & Rye and probably Vernors. The last two originating in Michigan or “pop” territory. So these particular candies are actually taffy representations of a Pepsi or Coke like drink as well as a Sprite or 7-up like drink.
They are also jauntily stripy…huzzah for pretty presentation. Each piece has a neat little surprise in the taffy too: Fizzy sweet tart like bits which feel like carbonation on the tongue. I dig that quite a bit, it’s a very nice touch.
Cola: This is a tart yet definitely cola flavored taffy. I find the tart a bit odd as I’ve never really considered cola as tasting tart (it tastes like cola!) but I guess the Japanese (or at least Puccho) do. Perhaps the tart is supposed to represent the flavor carbonation gives the liquid while the fizzy sweet tart like thing simulates the carbonation. The Guinea Pigs who tried these all commented that the cola was LE TART and that it was not the better of the two flavors.
Which brings us to Soda. Soda is also tart but much less so than cola. Of course if you think of these as a Sprite/7-up lemon-lime like soda than the tart is exactly where it’s supposed to be (although I will allow that if I tasted a lemon-lime soda with this much citrus-y tart it would be my favoritest soda ever). The tart is only scaled down slightly from the cola flavor tart but meshes superbly with the sodaness of the taffy. The Pigs all like this one much more than the cola but over all, the fruity Mikakuto came up more of a winner.
Rating of 3 Wasabi Peas out of a possible 5.
