Ramune


Ramune is a Japanese carbonated soft drink. It was introduced in 1884 in Kobe by the Scottish pharmacist Alexander Cameron Sim. The name is derived from a Japanese loanword of the English word lemonade.

Bottle design

Ramune is known for the distinctive design of its bottle, called Codd-neck bottles after their inventor, Hiram Codd. They are made of glass and sealed with a marble; the codd head is held in place by the pressure of the carbonation in the drink. To open the bottle, a plastic device used to push the marble inward is provided.
The marble is pushed inside the neck of the bottle where it rattles around while drinking. Therefore, the drinks are sometimes called "marble soda" outside Japan. While the Codd-neck bottle was once commonly used for carbonated drinks, today Ramune, along with Banta, is one of its very few users.
People trying Ramune for the first time sometimes find it difficult to drink, as it takes practice to learn to stop the marble from blocking the flow. In one version of the bottle introduced in 2006, little slots were added to the cap where the marble was originally held. This prevented the flow from obstruction if the marble falls back into the cap. Ramune is also available in plastic PET bottles and cans.
Ramune is one of the modern symbols of summer in Japan and is widely consumed during warm festival days and nights. Empty bottles are usually collected for recycling at stalls where it is sold.

Flavors

The original ramune flavor is lemon-lime. Including Original, there have been at least 50 flavors of ramune: Banana, Blueberry, Blue Hawaii, Bubble, Bubble Gum, Candy, Champagne, Cherry, Chili oil, Chocolate, Coconut, Cola, Cotton Candy, Corn Potage, Cream Stew, Curry, Disco Dance, Flaming, Ginseng, Grape, Green Apple, Green Tea, Kimchi, Kiwi, Lemonade, Lychee, Mango, Mango & Pine, Melon, Muscat, Mystery, Octopus, Orange, Peach, Pineapple, Plum, Pomelo, Raspberry, Red Champagne, Root Beer, Sour, Strawberry, Sweet, Takoyaki, Teriyaki, Vanilla, Wasabi, Watermelon, Yogurt, and Yuzu.