Ramune is the famous Japanese drink which has a glass marble inside. I've had Ramune in Australia (from Asian grocery shops) and fish_fish [blogspot.com] was kind enough to bring back a bottle of Ramune from Japan from me about a year ago. I didn't think Ramune is available here until I saw it on the shelves of Ta Kiong.
Ramune retails for RM 5.80 for a 200 ml bottle and the unique bottle design is as much of an attraction as the drink itself. I got the original flavored version of Ramune which tastes like soda and bubblegum.
The instructions for opening the Ramune bottle is printed on both the bottle itself...
...and also the cover wrap on the bottle neck for Ramune virgins.
The top of the Ramune bottle has a "false cap" on top which contains the pop-out device to open the bottle of Ramune.
Ramune is unusual due to the unique glass marble that acts as a stopper and a liquid flow control device when it "drops" down to the first chamber (the top of the glass).
The glass marble on top of the Ramune bottle keeps the bottle pressurized until the push-down device (shown above) in the "false cap" is detached to release the glass marble.
There are various ways to open a Ramune bottle - some people like to push the glass marble down into the chamber and hold the stopper in place for a couple of seconds until the pressure stabilizes before drinking.
Personally, I like to just push to glass marble down and immediately start drinking - the fizzy bubbles will come out when the glass marble is forced down into the first chamber so its best to hold the Ramune bottle ready if this method is used.
There is a technique for drinking Ramune - notice the two indentations in the bottle chamber on the top? It can be used to hold the glass marble in place or release it, which controls the liquid flow rate.
Ramune - the drink that's as much fun to open as it is to drink. ;)
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