Meiji Melon Soda Up Gummy

Melon soda is already one of Japan's great contributions to the world of beverages. Bright green, impossibly sweet, with a flavour that sits somewhere between real melon and a very enthusiastic approximation of melon, it is the kind of drink that inspires genuine affection in everyone who encounters it. Meiji looked at that flavour, decided it needed to be chewable, and produced the Melon Soda Up Gummy, which is either an obvious idea that took too long to exist or a moment of pure inspired genius depending on how you feel about things.

The gummy delivers that distinctive melon soda flavour with impressive accuracy, right down to the fizzy, slightly tangy edge that makes each piece feel like a tiny carbonated event. The texture is soft and satisfying, hitting that same sweet spot between gummy and jelly bean that makes the Cola Up so compelling, but this time dressed in the cheerful green palette of Japan's favourite summer drink. The bag is the enemy, as it always is with Meiji gummies. Each piece is small enough to feel inconsequential and delicious enough to make consequence entirely irrelevant. Summer, bottled, then turned into something you can chew. Meiji continue to operate at a level the rest of the confectionery world is still trying to understand.