Meiji Cola Up: Japan’s First Gummy Candy

Yesterday I talked about the popular Japanese gummy candy Bourbon Fettuccine, but actually, together with it, I bought one more gummy candy at the store.

As with the flavor of the Fettuccine Gummi, the other gummy candy I picked up yesterday also had a cola flavor. However, those cola gummy candies were quite different in some respects.

Meiji Cola Up

Actually, what I bought yesterday is this “Meiji Cola Up” gummi. As its name indicates, Meiji Cola Up is a cola flavor gummy candy produced and sold by Meiji. It was introduced in 1980 and is known as Japan’s first gummy candy.

Meiji Cola Up vs Bourbon Fettuccine

Both the Bourbon Fettuccine I bought yesterday and this Meiji Cola Up are cola flavor gummies, but they are quite different in texture.

As you can see in the video below, the Bourbon Fettuccine Cola gummi has a texture like al dente pasta. In other words, it is soft on the outside and somewhat hard, chewy on the inside.

Meanwhile, the video below shows Meiji Cola Up has a pretty hard, rubbery texture. Accordingly, the more you chew on the gummy candy, the more the cola flavor comes out and the tastier it becomes.

Taste-wide, in a word, the Bourbon Fettuccine gummi is sour-sweet, while the Meiji Cola Up is not sour at all and less sweet than the former.

But unlike the Fettuccine gummi, the gummy candy Meiji Cola Up contains as much as 8500 mg of collagen per bag (100 grams). 

Meiji Cola Up, 100 g × 6 bags
Amazon.co.jp