To say they do things a bit different in Japan would be a gross understatement with Fanta being no exception. In fact they have a ton of different varieties but one that stood out was Mellow Yellow Fanta.
WTF is Mellow Yellow Fanta and does it have anything to do with that weird 60s song or the old Coca Cola drink from Australia? Sort of but not really.
What is Mellow Yellow and why is it in Japan
Mellow Yellow originally came from Coca Cola in the US as a competitor to Mountain Dew. It was basically radioactive looking lemon soda with way too much sugar and caffeine. It bombed pretty hard in some markets but for some reason stuck around in Australia and a few other random places where people drink it because it’s nostalgic or because Mountain Dew is too mainstream.
The Japanese version though is not quite the same. First of all it comes under the Fanta label which is already weird and second of all it doesn’t really taste like the old school Mellow Yellow. Instead it’s more like a lemon cream soda. You get citrus but also this weird creamy back taste that kind of ruins the whole thing. It’s fizzy it’s sweet and it looks like what you’d get if you mixed lemon juice with a melted popsicle.
You don’t see it everywhere either. It’s one of those limited run things you randomly spot in a vending machine or tucked away in a FamilyMart fridge like it’s hiding from judgment. It’s more common in the summer but not something the average Japanese person gets excited about.
And Fanta Mellow Yellow
So the first thing that hits you is the colour. It’s bright yellow like cartoon piss and comes in a bottle that looks like it was designed in 1997. You open it and it smells like lemon sherbet and sugar. Not fresh lemon or lemonade just sugar pretending to be lemon.
The taste is exactly what you’d expect. Very sweet not that sharp or sour at all and with this bizarre creamy hint that makes it taste kind of fake. Like a lemon dessert turned into soda. You keep waiting for it to be more refreshing but it never gets there. It just sort of sits on your tongue like syrup and leaves a weird aftertaste that reminds you of flat soda and vending machine regret.
That said it’s not completely undrinkable. If you go in expecting it to be trashy and artificial then you won’t be disappointed. And it is kind of fun in that Japan does whatever it wants kind of way. There are worse things on the shelf.
How does Fanta Mellow Yellow taste
It’s fizzy sweet and yellow and tastes like someone tried to make lemon soda using a 1980s dessert cookbook. There’s no freshness just sugar and fake lemon with a creamy chemical twist. It might go with vodka at a push or rum if you’re trying to make a poor man’s tropical cocktail, but you’re going to need a shit tonne of ice and next to no self respect.
Overall a FantaQuest score of 6.5 out of 10 for Mellow Yellow Fanta.