Nearly 2 years ago, I reviewed Fanta Mystery Blue. Sucker for liquid punishment that I am, when I recently spotted another version in a vending machine I had to get it.
This is the 3rd #WhatTheFanta drink, so clearly I let last year's Fanta Mystery Sweets soda pass me by.
Very early spoiler alert: I wish I'd let this one remain a mystery as well...
Fanta Mystery Retro is inspired by Japan's Showa era (1926-1989), but clearly only the 1980s part. The bottle and can feature the Fanta logo that was used in Japan up until around 1990. Next to the other options in the vending machine, it looked a bit like it'd been left in there by accident.
I was on a train when I opened the can, so I don't have a good photo of the liquid like last time, but it was super green. Like, 'melon soda served at old-school Japanese coffee shops' green. Classic misdirection, of course. Or was it? Only one way to find out.
The first sip was very sweet, with a hint of... some kind of fruit.
That was the best I could manage on a first try. Some kind of fruit. It's definitely in there, but what?
Ah, but dear reader, once again I would never know for sure by drinking it.
Last time, it was simply too hard to find a fruit flavour in the mix at all. This time, one of them found me.
That initial sugary taste quickly gave way to an aftertaste, and I instantly knew what that fruit was.
BANANA.
Maybe I've admitted this before, but: I can't stand banana.
(I also hate pineapple, and olives, and anchovies, and brussels sprouts, and restaurants that leave the prawns in their shells. The full list is a bit longer than that, but you get the idea.)
Eating real banana makes me sick. This artificial flavour was nearly as bad. It felt less and less sweet as the taste lingered, like it was rotting in my mouth.
I took one more, way less confident sip, to see if I could work out that first fruit.
Nope. Nope nope nope nope.
When I got to my destination, I fed the rest of the can to the nearest patch of grass.
On the special 'guess the flavour' website for Fanta Mystery Blue, there were 54 fruit options and you could pick up to 7 of them. This time, getting the right answer on the Fanta Mystery Retro website was way easier.
There were only 10, very specific options:
- banana and peach bubblegum
- lemon popping candy
- mango pancakes
- cherry konpeito
- green apple ramune
- pineapple ice pop
- candied apple
- honey lemon caramel
- tropical purin a la mode
- yuzu taiyaki
Well. Only one of those has the word 'banana' in it. Turns out that's the right answer. Yay.
Verdict: 0/10. What the FUCK, Fanta Japan. I may never trust you again.