Pepsi launches cucumber drink

Japanese will be able to stay cool as a cucumber this summer with Pepsi Ice Cucumber.

The soft drink doesn’t actually have any cucumber in it – but has been artificially flavoured to resemble “the refreshing taste of a fresh cucumber,” said Aya Takemoto, spokeswoman of Japan’s Pepsi distributor, Suntory Ltd.

“We wanted a flavour that makes people think of keeping cool in the summer heat,” Takemoto said. “We thought the cucumber was just perfect.”

The mint-coloured soda is on sale just for the summer and only in Japan, Takemoto said.

She said initial sales were brisk, with Suntory aiming to sell 200,000 cases over the next three months.

Pepsi trails industry leader Coca Cola (Japan) Company, with about 15% of the Japanese cola market, and also faces stiff competition from popular non-fizzy bottled drinks such as green tea and coffee.

Suntory said it sold 20.5 million cases of Pepsi brand drinks in 2006, including its popular Pepsi NEX zero-calorie soda.