06.04.11

Pocari Sweat

Posted in 2.5 Wasabi Pea Rating, Beverage, zJapan at 12:32 am by Boo



Sweat? Really? That’s…an odd marketing choice (and also why we picked this up). Rob threw this in the basket on our great snack hunt of Ought Eleven because it “Is some nasty tasting…stuff”. Rob may have been a little more unfettered with his choice of descriptive words but that is the gist.

So what is Pocari Sweat of which the Japanese are all agog about? Or at least what is it that keeps this on the Japanese market? It smells a little like a nice grapefruity lemon-lime soda (I peg it as a mild Squirt) and it does say “soft drink” on the slapped on English label. The bottle says “ion supply drink” which sounds a little sci-fi and space ship engine room-y to me. Mr. Scott, can we get any more Ion Supply Drink?


According to the wordage on the label, Pocari Sweat functions a lot like Gator-aid or any of the other sports drinks. I’m not sure the other sports drinks tout that they are formulated “close to that of human body fluid” but the idea is similar.

Close to body fluid? Makes me want to drink it even more than when they said “sweat”. I also don’t want to know what their marketing team rejected if this made it through.

Taste wise…you are better off with the Gator-aid. Or even water with stuff added because while Pocari Sweat tastes a little like Squirt (or whatever grapefruity lemon-limey soft drink you may choose) it has no carbonation whatsoever. Flat Squirt isn’t grand but Pocari Sweat also tastes a little like Alka-Seltzer (minus the fizzy) and it’s weirdly thicker than either soda or seltzer. It’s about the thickness of hot Jell-o (minus the hot in this case) and Squirt Alka-Seltzer flavored Jell-o is…not what I would want to pick up after a hard day of losing electrolytes.

Rating of 3 Wasabi Peas out of a possible 5.

2 Comments »

  1. Rodzilla said,

    August 2, 2011 at 9:01 am

    gatorade? :p

    this does not sound good.

  2. S.Emerald said,

    December 18, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    I wouldn’t mind trying this out, but the name isa huge turn off. Then again, I did try calpis and that was delicious! I don’t know if H-mart sells this or not….

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