Ramune

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This article is about the soft drink. For the anime, see Lamune (anime).

Ramune
Image:Ramunebottle.jpg
Type	Soft drink
Manufacturer
Country of origin	Japan
Introduced	1876
Flavour	lemon-lime, pineapple, raspberry, kiwifruit, melon, strawberry, orange, lychee, Blue Hawaii, and peach

Ramune (ラムネ, Ramune^?) is a carbonated soft drink sold in Japan which was introduced at Kobe by Alexander Cameron Sim.

1 Bottle design
2 Flavours
3 External links
4 See also

Bottle design

It is widely known for the distinctive design of its bottle, often called Codd-neck bottles after the inventor, Hiram Codd. They are made of glass and sealed with a marble; the marble is held in place by the pressure of the carbon dioxide in the drink. To open the bottle, a device to push the marble inward is provided with the bottle. The marble is pushed inside the neck of the bottle where it rattles around while drinking. Two little glass nodes inside the bottle allow the drinker to hook the marble in place while drinking.

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. 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.

Flavours

Despite the unique design of the bottle, the Ramune flavour is quite conventional, similar to many other carbonated lemon-lime soft drinks. The word "ramune" is derived phonetically from the English "lemonade". Both fizzy lemonade and the unique bottles were imported from the United Kingdom at the same time, becoming associated with each other. In America, Ramune is often sold at conventions, certain Suncoast outlets and Asian speciality stores.

There are other flavors of the drink: pineapple, kiwifruit, melon, strawberry, orange, lychee, Blue Hawaii, peach, wasabi (available at Tokyu Hands), bubble gum and curry.