Local News

Rainbow Ramune, a popular line of soft drinks manufactured by Hita, Oita Prefecture-based Maruhachi, will add its seventh flavor (peach) this August to complete the rainbow series it first launched in 1995. The pink drink joins purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Maruhachi first produced ramune in 1899 alongside its lineup of soy sauces and misos. The Rainbow Ramune series is made by adding natural coloring agents to the company’s original ramune. The lemon-flavored yellow ramune is colored with safflower, the Hawaiian Blue-flavored blue with gardenia and the grape-flavored purple with red cabbage. The apple-flavored red, orange-flavored orange, melon-flavored green and peach-flavored pink all use different combinations of three coloring agents. Special ochugen (mid-year gift) sets of 15 bottles are now on sale for a limited time at Mitsukoshi stores across Japan and the Iwataya in Fukuoka. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 7/11

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