"Pepsi Baobab" to be Pepsi Japan's Next Wacky Flavour

Since the sensational Pepsi Ice Cucumber released in June, 2007, Pepsi Japan has been coming up with wild variety of seasonal special flavours including Blue Hawaii of 2008, Shiso (Japanese Basil) of last June and Azuki (red beans) last October. You might have guessed they should be running out of flavours soon, but who could have seen this one coming?

Baobab-flavoured Pepsi sounds way beyond imagination, at least to us Japanese.

Read on for details.
(Japanese)Season's Special "Pepsi Baobab" -SUNTORY News Release 2010.4.27

Most people know the taste of cucumber, the taste of the Blue Hawaii cocktail, and most Japanese know the taste of shiso and azuki so we did have some idea of what to expect for the past seasonal wacky flavours.

But the closest most Japanese come to a baobab tree must be a baobab bonsai (yes, it's possible to grow a baobab as bonsai) or when they read The Little Prince (the book's quite popular in Japan), so this can possibly be the first encounter for many of them.

According to the press release, Pepsi Baobab has a "refreshingly spicy" flavour "inspired by" baobab fruit. Nope, it doesn't actually contain the juice. Too bad, since the fruit is said to be quite nutritious, possibly having more Vitamin C than orange and containing more calcium than milk.

Apparently the baobab fruit tastes similar to grapefruits and lately it's becoming the It fruit in Europe and North America, so maybe this one won't taste so weird afterall.

The label design features a baobab tree against beautiful African sunset. You can see a giraffe in the background as well as the words "無果汁"(mukaju: contain no fruit juice) on the bottom right.

Pepsi Baobab will go on sale on May 25th for 140 yen (about $1.50).