() is a

carbonated Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids. In inorganic che ...

soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...

served in a

Codd-neck bottle A Codd-neck bottle (more commonly known as a Codd bottle or a marble bottle) is a type of bottle used for carbonated drinks. It has a closing design based on a glass marble which is held against a rubber seal, which sits within a recess in the li ...

. It was introduced in 1884 in

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

as a carbonated lemonade by the Scottish pharmacist

Alexander Cameron Sim Alexander Cameron Sim (28 August 1840 – 28 November 1900) was a Scottish-born pharmacist and entrepreneur active in Japan during the Meiji period. He developed the ''Ramune'' soft drink and founded the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club. Biograph ...

. The name is derived from the English word ''

lemonade Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored drink. There are many varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In some parts of the world, lemonade refers to an un-carbonated, traditionally, homemade drink, using lemon juice, water, and a sw ...

''.

History

In 1884, Alexander Cameron Sim introduced a lemonade

carbonated beverage A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) carbonated, and typically including added sweetener. Flavors used to be natural, but now can also be artificial. The sweeten ...

to the

Kobe foreign settlement The , also known as the Kobe foreign concession, was a foreign settlement (Japan), foreign settlement located about 3.5 kilometers east of the Port of Kobe, in the future Chūō-ku, Kobe, Chūō-ku of Kobe, Japan. Established based on the Ansei T ...

. The drink soon became popular with Japanese people after it was advertised in the Tokyo Mainichi Newspaper. is one of the modern symbols of

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

in Japan and is widely consumed during

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

days. As is popular among children, there have been package design collaborations with popular Japanese franchises such as

Hello Kitty , also known by her real name , is a fictional character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as a British anthropomorphized white cat with a red ...

. The original flavor is effectively identical to the modern Japanese use of the word "cider" (a lemon-lime soft drink), making the distinguishing characteristic of its Codd-neck bottle. Any soft drink in a Codd-neck bottle is generally regarded as , while ciders and soft drinks in any other container are generally not called . It is not a brand name and it is produced by several companies. Like

tofu or bean curd is a food prepared by Coagulation (milk), coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness: ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', and ''extra (or super) firm''. It originated in Chin ...

, its manufacture in Japan is restricted to small-to-medium-sized businesses. There are many flavors of , including peach, cola, melon, and bubble gum.

References

{{Japanese food and drink Japanese drink brands Lemon-lime sodas Soft drinks Scottish inventions 1884 introductions

History

See also

References